Essential Day Zero: A Quick Guide to Updating & Rebooting Oracle Linux 10
Aaron Rose
Software Engineer & Technology Writer
Introduction
You've just installed Oracle Linux 10—congratulations! Now that you're up and running, here are the first few things you need to know for basic system administration: how to keep your system software up to date, how to properly shut down or reboot, and how to verify that everything worked as it should.
1. Updating and Upgrading System Software with DNF
On Oracle Linux, the primary package manager is DNF (Dandified YUM), a powerful and modern tool that handles software installations, updates, and removals. This is different from the apt commands you might be familiar with on Debian-based systems.
To check for and install available updates, you'll use the dnf upgrade command.
# It's a good practice to run this command as a user with sudo privileges.
sudo dnf upgrade
When you run this command, DNF will first refresh its repository metadata, then check for any newer versions of the packages you have installed. It will then provide a summary of the packages to be updated and ask for your confirmation.
Dependencies resolved.
...
Transaction Summary
========================================================================================================================
Install 2 Packages
Upgrade 44 Packages
Remove 0 Packages
Total download size: 84 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Enter y and press enter to proceed with the update. DNF will download and install all the necessary packages.
2. Why and When to Reboot Your System
After a system upgrade, especially one that includes a new kernel image (the core of the operating system), it's essential to reboot your machine. While DNF installs the new files, the running system continues to use the old kernel and software until the machine is restarted.
Since it's not always obvious when a kernel upgrade has occurred, a simple rule of thumb is to reboot after every dnf upgrade. This ensures all changes take effect and your system is running on the latest, most secure software.
To gracefully reboot your system, use the reboot command:
sudo reboot
3. Verifying the Upgrade
After the reboot, you can verify that the new kernel is running and that the upgrade was successful.
First, check the kernel version currently in use with the uname -r command.
uname -r
The output should show the new kernel version that was just installed. For example:
6.12.0-101.33.4.3.el10uek.x86_64
You can also check the history of your DNF transactions to confirm the upgrade was successfully logged.
sudo dnf history
This will show you a record of all your package management actions, with the most recent transaction at the top.
ID | Command Line | Date and Time | Action(s) | Altered
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
110 | install httpd | 2025-08-14 10:30 | Install | 1
111 | update | 2025-08-14 18:00 | Upgrade | 25
112 | remove firefox | 2025-08-12 09:15 | Erase | 1
You now have a fully updated and verified Oracle Linux 10 system!
Conclusion
With these essential steps, you now have a solid foundation for managing your Oracle Linux 10 system. Knowing how to efficiently update your software and properly reboot after a kernel upgrade is fundamental to maintaining a secure and stable environment. You're now equipped with the basic skills to keep your system healthy and ready for more advanced projects, such as installing enterprise applications like Oracle Database. Congratulations on a successful start, and happy computing!
Aaron Rose is a software engineer and technology writer at tech-reader.blog.
Comments
Post a Comment