Anyone have KernelCare experience with Proxmox?

[ejmerkel]

I realize the following is fairly new but I am curious if anyone is using this and can share their experiences with the product?

https://www.proxmox.com/en/partners/technology-partner/item/kernel-care

After reading the another post on the forum, I guess I am not 100% sure how KernelCare works. I understand there is a version of the proxmox kernel that you have booted with and a effective version that KernelCare updates for you on the fly without rebooting. Is the new effective kernel the new patched pve kernel or is it a somehow modified version of the original kernel?

With not having to reboot the server for kernel updates, are you also able to keep other non-kernel packages for proxmox updated as well without reboots?

Lastly, I know the standard "apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade" recommends that you have all VM's shutoff. With KernelCare are you able to keep proxmox fully up to date without shutting down the VM's during an upgrade?

Best regards,
Eric

 

[ejmerkel]

Bump .. Anyone using this?

 

[wbumiller]

After reading the another post on the forum, I guess I am not 100% sure how KernelCare works. I understand there is a version of the proxmox kernel that you have booted with and a effective version that KernelCare updates for you on the fly without rebooting. Is the new effective kernel the new patched pve kernel or is it a somehow modified version of the original kernel?

I have only a limited understanding of the internals of it, but from the open parts of the code I infer that they create binaries in a certain form (comparable to how modules work) that are tailored specifically to the base kernel version and modify the kernel's code and data to match the newer version. On their download page you see a list of important fixes for each upgrade. I don't know if the running kernel includes everything or just the important bug and security fixes. But to answer the question, it modifies the original kernel on the fly and it should be equivalent to running the upgraded kernel.

With not having to reboot the server for kernel updates, are you also able to keep other non-kernel packages for proxmox updated as well without reboots?

Lastly, I know the standard "apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade" recommends that you have all VM's shutoff. With KernelCare are you able to keep proxmox fully up to date without shutting down the VM's during an upgrade?

Kernel upgrades and other package upgrades aren't the same here. You could always upgrade packages without rebooting. In some cases you don't even need to do anything. In cases of running services they need to be restarted, which usually happens automatically for the ones where a restart doesn't terminate a running task.

 

[KHosting]

Will Kernelcare work for any Proxmox installations or only those with paid subscriptions?

 

[wbumiller]

Kernelcare subscriptions are independent from Proxmox VE subscriptions.