The following command shows the current active kernel!

uname -r

Output example:

# uname -r
2.6.32-696.3.1.el6.x86_64

There may be an installed kernel on the device that is NOT active (reboot required). You should run the following command to check installed kernels, and then compare the installed kernel to the active kernel method shown above.

rpm -q kernel

Example output:

# rpm -q kernel
kernel-2.6.32-696.1.1.el6.x86_64
kernel-2.6.32-696.3.1.el6.x86_64
kernel-2.6.32-696.3.2.el6.x86_64

WARNING: Please note, the kernel may be excluded from yum updates in /etc/yum.conf. Another command useful for exploring the latest kernel and avoiding the excludes can be found below:

yum list update kernel -q --disableexcludes=all 2>&1

Example output:

# yum list update kernel -q --disableexcludes=all 2>&1
Installed Packages
kernel.x86_64                                                                                2.6.32-696.1.1.el6                                                                                 @rhel-x86_64-server-6
kernel.x86_64                                                                                2.6.32-696.3.1.el6                                                                                 @rhel-x86_64-server-6
kernel.x86_64                                                                                2.6.32-696.3.2.el6                                                                                 @rhel-x86_64-server-6