How to: Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to latest Releases 5.1

RHEL 5.1 has been released. Redhat announced the availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1, with integrated virtualization. This release provides the most compelling platform for customers and software developers ever, with its industry-leading virtualization capabilities complementing Red Hat's newly announced Linux Automation strategy. It offers the industry’s broadest deployment ecosystem, covering standalone systems, virtualized systems, appliances and web-scale "cloud" computing environments.

Besides supporting Linux virtual machines, RHEL 5.1 will also support Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and the forthcoming Windows 2008, Crenshaw said. RHEL 5.1 uses Xen for its virtualization.

How do I upgrade to RHEL 5.1?

Login as the root user and simply type the command to fetch all updates via RHN:
# yum update
Depend upon your network condition and software configuration it may take anywhere between 5-20 minutes. Once completed, just reboot the server:
# reboot
Verify that everything is working fine:
# netstat -tulpn
# netstat -nat
# tail -f /var/log/messages
# egrep -i 'error|warn' /var/log/messages
# egrep -i 'error|warn' /path/to/apps/log

Community driven enterprise CentOS Linux users should expect update soon too. You can apply above commends to upgrade your CentOS box.