clean old kernels

aPollO · Mar 9, 2018

Hi,

quick question. Is it possible to "autoremove" old kernels? I have a lot of kernels installed:

Code:

Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.98-6-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.98-6-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.98-5-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.98-5-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.98-4-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.98-4-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.98-3-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.98-3-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.98-2-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.98-2-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.83-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.83-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.76-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.76-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.67-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.67-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.62-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.62-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.59-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.59-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.49-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.49-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.44-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.44-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.40-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.40-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.35-2-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.35-2-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.35-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.35-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.21-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.21-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.19-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.19-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.15-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.15-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.8-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.8-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.2.8-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.2.8-1-pve
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.2.6-1-pve
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.2.6-1-pve
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found memtest86+ multiboot image: /boot/memtest86+_multiboot.bin
done
Setting up proxmox-ve (4.4-107) ...
root@proxmox01 ~ # apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

But apt does not find any package to remove. Is this OK? Is the only possible way to remove very old kernels by remove them manually?

Cheers,
Chris

wolfgang · Mar 12, 2018

Hi,

aPollO said:
Is the only possible way to remove very old kernels by remove them manually?

Yes you have to remove them manual.

Dan Nicolae · Mar 27, 2018

apt-get update && apt-get -y upgrade && apt-get -y dist-upgrade && apt-get -y autoremove && apt-get -y autoclean

morph027 · Mar 27, 2018

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/purge-old-kernels.1.html

Is inside byobu package or seperately here: http://repo.morph027.de/debian/pool/main/p/purge-old-kernels/purge-old-kernels_1.0_all.deb

fabian · Mar 28, 2018

Dan Nicolae said:
apt-get update && apt-get -y upgrade && apt-get -y dist-upgrade && apt-get -y autoremove && apt-get -y autoclean

that is a very effective way to hose your system. you should never ever run 'apt-get upgrade' on a PVE systems. running apt-get with -y is also a very easy way to accidentally remove important packages, just saying

Dan Nicolae · Mar 28, 2018

@fabian , I'm sure that you know better proxmox than me. I did'nt had any problems so far. Well, from the whole command line, he can use, hopefully safe, apt-get autoremove && apt-get autoclean

Rob Loan · Mar 28, 2018

apt-get purge $( dpkg --list | grep -P -o "pve-kernel-\d\S+" | grep -v $(uname -r | grep -P -o ".+\d") )

GadgetPig · Mar 28, 2018

Hello Apollo,

Very good question! First before doing anything on your server, especially if it's production server, always do full backups of your VMs, and also the data within the VMs.

Notes & Tips:

For me personally, I don't recommend "autoremoving" a bunch of old kernels all at once, instead do them manually, a few at at a time, and future removal are much easier.
You will generally want to keep at least 3-5 older kernels to fall back to, in case of any issues. In my example below I only have 2 kernels.
I recommend using an SSH client such as putty instead of browser CLI shell within ProxMox gui. That way you can copy/paste the kernel package name
If the hard drives are getting old, check hard drive health first using smartctl before updating.

Steps To Remove Old Kernels
======================

This is optional, but normally I first run # apt update && apt dist-upgrade and then reboot the server, so it's running the latest updates/kernels. After updating and rebooting the server, verify all your VMs and Containers are running fine.

Next I run # uname -r, to find the "current" active running kernel, and make a note of it, for example:

#root@proxmox:~# uname -r
4.15.10-1-pve

Next I do # dpkg --list|grep pve-kernel to show the list of installed pve-kernels. In the output below, we focus only on "pve-kernel-x-x-x-pve", We do not touch pve-firmware and pve-kernel-x.xx

root@proxmox:~# dpkg --list|grep pve-kernel
ii pve-firmware 2.0-4 all Binary firmware code for the pve-kernel [do not ever touch!]
ii pve-kernel-4.13 5.1-43 all Latest Proxmox VE Kernel Image [not valid, does not have "-pve" at end]
ii pve-kernel-4.13.16-1-pve 4.13.16-43 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image [valid kernel to remove]
ii pve-kernel-4.15 5.1-2 all Latest Proxmox VE Kernel Image [not valid, does not have "-pve" at end]
ii pve-kernel-4.15.10-1-pve 4.15.10-2 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image [do not remove since this is current kernel! ]

Now in the sample above, I want to remove "pve-kernel-4.13.16-1-pve", and also the kernel entry in grub menu, so to do this I do:

# apt purge pve-kernel-4.13.16-1-pve (note: if you only do # apt remove pve-kernel-x-x-x-pve, it will leave the old kernel grub entry in grub menu)

It will now say:

root@proxmox:~# apt purge pve-kernel-4.13.16-1-pve
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
proxmox-ve* pve-kernel-4.13* pve-kernel-4.13.16-1-pve*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 252 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

Now at this point double and triple check to make very sure that's the kernel you want to purge, and say
"Y". It will then uninstall the kernel, purge and delete the kernel entry in grub menu, and update grub menus.

Hope this helps!

morph027 · Mar 28, 2018

the purge-old-kernels script also keeps at least 2 by default, can be more via command line argument

Deleted member 33567 · Jul 11, 2018

fabian said:
that is a very effective way to hose your system. you should never ever run 'apt-get upgrade' on a PVE systems. running apt-get with -y is also a very easy way to accidentally remove important packages, just saying

I am curious how does one update his Proxmox machine,
Fabian can you explain on this one? Don't you think words should be used maybe carefully when it comes to users who do not have experience.

If there is one issue I noticed here on forums, is that the OFFICIAL support is always or MOST of the times:
- POORLY DOCUMENTED
- BOGUS REPLIES
- EXPECTANCE THAT WE ARE PROXMOX GURUS

I just got into the same issue as reported in this forum.

I tried several ways to remove extra kernels those @ 10 at number. Alto it works fine on Centos/Ubuntu...

Code:

root@node03-sxb-pve01:~# dpkg --list|grep pve-kernel ii pve-firmware 2.0-4 all Binary firmware code for the pve-kernel ii pve-kernel-4.13 5.1-45 all Latest Proxmox VE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.13.13-1-pve 4.13.13-31 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.13.13-2-pve 4.13.13-33 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.13.13-4-pve 4.13.13-35 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.13.13-5-pve 4.13.13-38 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.13.13-6-pve 4.13.13-42 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.13.16-2-pve 4.13.16-48 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.13.16-3-pve 4.13.16-50 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image rc pve-kernel-4.13.8-1-pve 4.13.8-27 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.13.8-2-pve 4.13.8-28 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.13.8-3-pve 4.13.8-30 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.15 5.2-3 all Latest Proxmox VE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.15.17-2-pve 4.15.17-10 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.15.17-3-pve 4.15.17-14 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.4.44-1-pve 4.4.44-84 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.4.67-1-pve 4.4.67-92 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.4.76-1-pve 4.4.76-94 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.4.79-1-pve 4.4.79-95 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.4.83-1-pve 4.4.83-96 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image ii pve-kernel-4.4.95-1-pve 4.4.95-99 amd64 The Proxmox PVE Kernel Image

I got issues with purge kernels hence the kernels are still there and they are not purged.

Why is there no documentation of any kind to this? And when will people STOP thinking everyone who asks here MUST be or IT is an expert. We all learn, yet we cannot learn from these kind of statements:

you should never ever run 'apt-get upgrade' on a PVE systems

Click to expand...

Please enlighten me what should I run when I want to upgrade my servers? I just received the message:

Code:

The following updates are available: ceph: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 ceph-base: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 ceph-common: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 ceph-mgr: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 ceph-mon: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 ceph-osd: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 iproute2: 4.13.0-3 ==> 4.15.0-5 libcephfs2: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 libpve-apiclient-perl: 2.0-4 ==> 2.0-5 libpve-common-perl: 5.0-33 ==> 5.0-35 libpve-guest-common-perl: 2.0-16 ==> 2.0-17 librados2: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 libradosstriper1: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 librbd1: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 librgw2: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 pve-container: 2.0-23 ==> 2.0-24 pve-kernel-4.13.16-3-pve: 4.13.16-49 ==> 4.13.16-50 pve-kernel-4.15.17-3-pve: 4.15.17-13 ==> 4.15.17-14 pve-manager: 5.2-2 ==> 5.2-5 python-ceph: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 python-cephfs: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 python-rados: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 python-rbd: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 python-rgw: 12.2.5-1~bpo90+1 ==> 12.2.6-1~bpo90+1 qemu-server: 5.0-28 ==> 5.0-29

tjh · Jul 11, 2018

@UHL-Services It's free software. If you don't like the support you're getting, for free, running free software, go elsewhere. This is community support, if you want official support, pay for it. I don't even know why I am bothering to answer your question, but I will anyway.

You don't use apt-get update, you use apt-get dist-upgrade. Oh look it's even DOCUMENTED.

To remove a kernel is easy. apt-get remove pve-kernel-4.4.76-1-pve --purge

No one expects you're a proxmox guru. But this is support from the community, it often assumes a level of knowledge, or at least a willingness to search, ask clear questions and that you're not going to post bold shouty rants about how bad the free support you're getting is.

Edit: You're a proxmox supporter! That's great. Why don't you use that channel you've paid for to ask questions you don't know the answer to?

Deleted member 33567 · Jul 11, 2018

@tjh First of all this was not addressed to you, second I do not make conversation based on my opinion. And lastly it is free for you, I paid for it!

Edit: You're a proxmox supporter! That's great. Why don't you use that channel you've paid for to ask questions you don't know the answer to?

This is that channel - This Joke How?

I am too tired to even explain you why I posted that. Check my previous posts, get used with the very UNPROFESSIONAL replies, and you will see the difference. And no need to explain me what to do about my support. In my country you are called a Bug in someone's food.

I can recommend you to see of your own issues and live, have fun online, be good!

P.S. Let me enlighten you on this issue, Ubuntu package:
byobu that contains the utility purge-old-kernels / ie: sudo purge-old-kernels --keep 2 -qy

It does NOT work with Debian and in special with Proxmox, due to renamed Kernel headers from Linux-Image* to PVE-Kernel

This goes the same for:
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove-kernels
and
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove

Both are there by default in Debian image that was with Proxmox by default.
Yet alto 2 rules for autoremove, and one specific for kernels, again does not apply without changes on naming convention.

C. V. M. I ignored your profile... Because after 20 years online people like you are not novelty.

tjh · Jul 11, 2018

No, this is community support.

If you're a paying customer, you'd use the ticket system.

I'm sorry you think I'm a bug. Good luck with being shouty.

Deleted member 33567 · Jul 11, 2018

Study the licensing, my bad for making you insignificant, I am here in my critical hours, and your answer for all I know and passed through was not helping and very irritating .

Have a good one.

GadgetPig · Jul 11, 2018

@UHL-Services.

You can also try dpkg -P (packagename) to purge old kernels:

#dpkg -P pve-kernel-4.13.13-1-pve

As for updating, I now recommend doing apt-clean first (to clear out old temp files under /var/cache/apt/archives)

#apt clean && apt update && apt dist-upgrade

fabian · Jul 12, 2018

@UHL-Services the proper way to upgrade a PVE system is documented in the admin guide as well as built into the web interface. it's plastered all over this forum as well. removing old kernels works just like removing any other package on a Debian based system - we don't autoremove them by default because /boot is not a separate (and thus space-limited) partition on PVE, and users want the ability to reboot into older kernels when they hit a problem with a new one.

Jaroslaw Filiochowski · Sep 29, 2018

fabian said:
we don't autoremove them by default because /boot is not a separate (and thus space-limited) partition on PVE

Except when it is a separate space-limited partition.

At least the fix is quite simple:

Code:

rm /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/75pveconf
apt-get autoremove

patefoniq · Jul 16, 2019

Jaroslaw Filiochowski said:
Except when it is a separate space-limited partition.

At least the fix is quite simple:

Code:

rm /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/75pveconf apt-get autoremove

Is it safe for sure?

fabian · Jul 16, 2019

PVE 6.x will now allow easy autoremoval of kernels. Only the following will be marked as not eligible for autoremoval:
- currently running kernel
- last installed kernel
- two latest kernels
- last kernel of each series

patefoniq · Jul 16, 2019

What about PMG?

clean old kernels

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