Updating Different Linux Distribution Types

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Updating Different Linux Distribution Types

Understanding how to update packages and entire systems running a variety of Linux distributions is a key concept in managing a heterogeneous environment. After completing this activity, the student will have an understanding of how to use the appropriate package management systems for different distributions to update packages and systems in order to obtain functional and security updates for each.

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Sep 23, 2025

Duration

1h 0m

Challenge

Update the Yum Package Manager on the CentOS 7 Server
The Yum Package Manager can upgrade itself! First, check the current version on your system with:
```
yum --version
```
Like any other package you can use yum to upgrade just a single package (and its dependencies) with the command:
```
yum update yum
```
You can verify by rerunning:
```
yum --version
```
To see it is now running the updated version!
Challenge

Update the 'VM Tools' on the Ubuntu Virtual Machine
The Ubuntu system apparently has a lot of libraries and links customized, but needs the latest 'open-vm-tools' package upgraded.

You can update JUST the package (and required packages/dependencies) with the command:
```
apt-get install --only-upgrade open-vm-tools
```
This will leave any other packages, even if they need upgrading, alone on the system and on their currently installed version.

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