There are three types of server updates.
Updates can be accessed via the UPGRADES tab on any server.
Note: We strongly suggest that you use your Cloud Provider’s tools to take a full snapshot or backup of your server before running any updates!
If there are any updates involving our stack you will see a notice on this tab along with instructions and any links to pertinent documentation.
Security updates are usually run automatically every night. However, there are additional non-security related updates that you can run – these are optional. Use the RUN ALL LINUX UPDATES NOW button to do this.
Clicking this button will immediately create a Linux Cron scheduled process to run the updates in the background. This includes both security and non-security updates.
One of the side-effects of running these updates is this: it will clear out the entry under the HEALTH column for that server in the server list. This column will then be updated overnight when the health script runs again.
To view the logs of any updates, use the options under the LOGS tab.
As mentioned earlier, security updates are usually run automatically every night. However, you can force them to run immediately using the RUN LINUX SECURITY UPDATES ONLY button in the Upgrades tab on each server.
Additionally, you can run them in bulk from the server list screen as well.
One of the issues with updates is that sometimes they require user input. Most updates run just fine in the background but once in a while you get an update that requires user input. There’s no way to know if this is case ahead of time. Instead, you’ll likely see that the update counts are “stuck” or are simply not running no matter what you do. In this case you’ll have to run them from the command line.
We offer the option to run updates immediately after the server is provisioned. This is done on a best-efforts basis. Sometimes, not all the updates can be run without a server restart. So we cannot guarantee that all the updates will run immediately after the server is first started.
We strongly suggest that you use your Cloud Provider’s tools to take a full snapshot or backup of your server before running all updates!
The UPDATES function is provided as a convenience and most of the time it works. But if certain updates require a server restart before they will work or require user input then it will seem as if they’re not running at all. Ultimately, the best way to run updates is from the SSH command line, especially when the items mentioned above do not work.