Hi all,
does anyone know how to check/update NIC drivers for RHEL/CentOS? THanks.

Also, are NIC drivers, specifically bnx2 and e1000, precompiled in the kernel for RHEL 5? Is updating the kernel the only way to update these drivers? (eg yum update kernel)

Thanks again

for the most part, yes, the only way to update the drivers is to update the kernel, though typically unless you are experiencing a problem, you don't need to update the drivers, only in specific instances are the drivers separate from the kernel source, usually in the case of wireless network cards or video cards are the drivers packaged as an add-on, which getsbuilt against the running kernel, thus has to be re-built with each kernel update, but in general the only way to update drivers is to update the whole kernel.

1 members found this post helpful.

I gave frieza a plus but I think there is a way to in-insert a new driver somehow too.

I need to search that to be sure.


Also try to use edit to add in. When you second your post it may look like it was answered.

thank you
yes the way to 'insert' a driver is to build (compile/assemble) it against the headers for the currently running kernel, insert it into the module tree and then run depmod and/or modprobe on it to load the module into memory.
can't get to far into specifics since I've never actually done such a process by hand, i've only used modules with installers such as the nvidia proprietary driver installer, or a make/make install process for a d-link wireless-n usb adaptor, but that is the basic process, lather-rinse-repeat with every kernel update.
my point was it can be done, it just isn't done often, with a few exceptions.

I was thinking more like modprobe instead of a kernel re-compile.

yeah, that's what i said, in so many words, you compile the driver not the whole kernel, but drivers have to be compiled against the headers of the running kernel (drivers like the proprietary nvidia driver aren't part of the kernel source tree so they get built individually, then installed into the header tree and inserted with modprobe) that doesn't require a recompile of the whole kernel, just of the kernel module in question.