This information helps you understand the DGX OS release mechanism, release numbering convention, and options to install and upgrade your DGX OS software.
Keeping your computer’s software up to date is the single most important task for protecting your system. Security related updates are available from the Ubuntu and NVIDIA repositories. Refer to Upgrading DGX OS for instructions on upgrading your system with the latest software releases and the Upgrades page on Ubuntu’s Wiki for additional information.
Security updates for Ubuntu are announced on Ubuntu Security Notices (USN), which lists known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) for Ubuntu packages. NVIDIA’s security announcements can be found on Product Security.
DGX OS is released twice a year, typically around February and August, for two years after the first release. Updates are provided between releases and thereafter for the entire support duration.
The DGX OS release numbering convention is MAJOR.MINOR, and it defines the following types of releases:
Major releases are typically based on Ubuntu releases, which include new kernel versions and new features that are not always backwards compatible.
For example:
DGX OS 5 is based on Ubuntu 20.04.
DGX OS 4 is based on Ubuntu 18.04.
Minor releases include mostly new NVIDIA features and accumulated bug fixes and security updates. These releases are incremental and always include all previous software changes.
In DGX OS 4 and earlier, minor releases were also typically aligned with NVIDIA Graphics Drivers for Linux releases.
In DGX OS 5 you have the option to install newer NVIDIA Graphic Drivers independently of the DGX OS release.
This section provides information about the DGX OS release mechanisms that are available to install or upgrade to the latest version of the DGX OS.
The ISO Image
DGX OS is released as an ISO image that includes the necessary packages and an autonomous installer. Updated versions of the ISO image are also released that:
Provide bug fixes and security mitigations.
Improve the installation experience.
Provide hardware configuration support.
You should always use the latest ISO image, except when you need to restore the system to an earlier version.
The ISO image allows you to install or reimage a DGX system to restore the system to a default state, but the process erases all of the changes that you applied to the OS.
The Linux Software Repositories
Additional software and upgrades to DGX OS are provided through the software repositories. Software repositories are storage locations from which your system retrieves and installs OS updates and applications. The repositories used by DGX OS are hosted by Canonical for the Ubuntu OS and NVIDIA for DGX specific software and other NVIDIA software. Each repository is a collection of software packages that are intended to install additional software and to update the software on DGX systems.
New versions of these packages, which contain bug fixes and security updates, provide an upgrade to DGX OS releases. The repositories are also updated to include hardware enablement, which might add support for a new system or a new hardware component, such as a network card or disk drive. This update does not affect existing hardware configurations.
Upgrading a system is cumulative, which means that your systems will always receive the latest version of the installed software components. These may be newer than the current DGX OS release. When you upgrade a system you cannot select which upgrades to make or limit upgrades to a specific DGX OS 5.x release.
We recommend that you do not update only individual components.