Red Hat Enterprise Linux (shortened to RHEL) 8.4 is now available for the Linux customers. RHEL 8.4 has various updates and enhancements for developers, designers, and production teams. So now you can download the latest version from Red Hat’s official site. 

But before downloading RHEL 8.4 you might want to have a sneak peek at all the new features offered by this model. This article will explain that and then will take you through the upgrade procedure using the dnf command-line option.

About RHEL 8.4 

RHEL 8.4 offers a definitive guide from development to deployment. It helps teams collaborate within a single open platform that includes tools and analytics required for building and managing these systems. The latest tools, advanced container capabilities, and programming languages included in RHEL 8.4 allow the developers to perform any task with a new set of codes faster.

New software updates available in RHEL 8.4 are Redis 6, Python 3.9, MariaDB 10.5, PostgreSQL 13, LLVM/Clang, GCC 10, Go 1.15, and Rust 1.49.

When it comes to hardware support, Intel Tiger Lake GPUs are supported now by RHEL. These GPUs come with Intel Xe and Intel UHD graphics.

How to Upgrade RHEL 8.3 to RHEL 8.4

Before starting the significant RHEL version upgrade, keep verified RHEL 8.x backups.

At first, login as a root user by typing:

ssh ec2-user@rhel-8-ec2-box

Then, note the current kernel with the help of following commands.

$ uname -a

$ uname -r

$ cat /etc/os-release

You can use Ansible to upgrade or update RHEL running at Google Cloud or AWS. Another way is to use updated images to get rid of earlier instances. Now let's follow the commands given below in a step-by-step guide to upgrade RHEL 8.3.

#1: Take Backups

Always take a backup before updating your current distro because if you don’t you’ll lose all your data and important files saved in the computer. And you must use bash or any modern shell while executing the actions given in this article.

#2: Check for Updates

To check for updates type the following command.

$ sudo dnf check-update

#3: Upgrading RHEL 8.3 to 8.4

To apply or install updates, type the following Linux command.

$ sudo dnf upgrade -y

#4: Reboot RHEL 8.3 Box

To reboot the Linux system, type the following set of reboot or shutdown commands in the terminal.

$ sudo reboot

## OR ##

$ sudo shutdown -r now

After completing RHEL 8.4 upgrade process, verify the update using the following commands:

$ uname -a

$ uname -r

$ cat /etc/os-release

$ tail -f /var/log/logfilenames

$ dmesg | grep -i 'err|warn|cri'

$ ss -tulpn

Concluding Notes

The new RHEL 8.4 is available via the Red Hat Customer Portal/RHN that offers a no-cost option. Updated developer software tools, such as Python and MariaDB are great for the developers. Also, you get an updated container support. Thanks to RHEL 8.4! 

Hope you find this article helpful and can upgrade to RHEL 8.4 without any hassles.