Solution to an error that occurs when you upgrade the kernel of an Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.8 image

Problem description

When you upgrade the kernel of an Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.8 image, an error message appears during the kernel package installation. However, the kernel package is installed successfully. The error message is similar to the one shown in the following figure.

Cause

To support more instance types, the Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.8 image includes extra kernel modules in its dracut configuration. Some of these modules are already built into the kernel vmlinuz file. As a result, the dracut tool reports an error during kernel package installation because it cannot find the corresponding module files. However, this error does not affect the installation or upgrade of the kernel package.

Scope of impact

This issue affects the following versions of Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 images with an image ID date between 20230727 and 20230925:

• Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 LTS 64-bit

• Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 LTS 64-bit Quick Launch Edition

• Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 LTS 64-bit MLPS 2.0 Level 3 Edition

• Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 LTS 64-bit UEFI Edition

• Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 LTS 64-bit for ARM

• Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 LTS 64-bit for ARM MLPS 2.0 Level 3 Edition

Run the cat /etc/image-id command to query the image ID and image version. The output is similar to the following:

image_name="Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 LTS 64 bit"
image_id="aliyun_3_x64_20G_alibase_20230727.vhd"
release_date="20230728162541"

Solution

1. Remotely log on to the ECS instance that uses the Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.8 image.

   For more information, see Log on to a Linux instance using Workbench.

2. Run the following command to remove the duplicate kernel modules.

   • x86 architecture

     sudo sed -i "s/virtio_blk//" /etc/dracut.conf.d/virt-drivers.conf

   • ARM architecture

     sudo sed -i "s/xen-blkfront xen-netfront//" /etc/dracut.conf.d/virt-drivers.conf

3. Run the following command to upgrade the kernel again and confirm that the error is resolved.

   sudo yum install kernel