Fresh EC2 instance pending Kernel Upgrade

Question

Just spin up an EC2 instance with Ubuntu, if it is a new fresh instance, isn't supposed the Kernel to be up to date?

After I run a sudo apt update && sudo apt install <any-package>, I receive the message below:

Package configuration

  ┌───────────────────────┤ Pending kernel upgrade ├───────────────────────┐
  │                                                                        │ 
  │ Newer kernel available                                                 │ 
  │                                                                        │ 
  │ The currently running kernel version is 5.15.0-1031-aws which is not   │ 
  │ the expected kernel version 5.19.0-1022-aws.                           │ 
  │                                                                        │ 
  │ Restarting the system to load the new kernel will not be handled       │ 
  │ automatically, so you should consider rebooting.                       │ 
  │                                                                        │ 
  │                                 <Ok>                                   │ 
  │                                                                        │ 
  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Is this normal? If not, how can I avoid it?

Had same issue spinning up from an Ubuntu AMI on EC2. – dmanexe Apr 11 '23 at 16:52 — dmanexe, Apr 11 '23 at 16:52

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 06 '23 at 12:08

Please read the message. It explains things perfectly.

The headline is Pending kernel upgrade, which informs you that there's a newer kernel pending.

The last line informs you what do to apply this change:

Restarting the system to load the new kernel will not be handled automatically, so you should consider rebooting.

And no, you are not guaranteed that images are perfectly up to date at all times. You should perform required upgrades after deploying.

Fresh EC2 instance pending Kernel Upgrade

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