Upgrading the OS#

This section provides information about upgrading an existing DGX OS with updates from NVIDIA and Ubuntu within a release or to upgrade an existing installation, such as DGX OS 7 to DGX OS 8.

To reimage the system with DGX OS to a default state, refer to Reimaging the System.

Important

Before you upgrade a system or any installed software, always consult the Release Notes for the latest information about available upgrades. You can find out more about the release cadence and release methods for DGX OS in Release Guidance.

This release incorporates the following updates:

Ubuntu ConnectX drivers and DOCA-OFED stack
Consider these updates and any effect they can have on your applications.
Upgrade select systems and verify that your applications work as expected before deploying on additional systems.

Upgrade Options#

The following information describes the differences between different types of upgrades:

Release upgrades

Upgrades to DGX OS 8 are supported only from the latest DGX OS 7 release. A direct upgrade from DGX OS 6 to DGX OS 8 is not supported; first upgrade DGX OS 6 to the latest DGX OS 7 release.
- For DGX OS 7, refer to Performing a Release Upgrade from DGX OS 7 for the upgrade instructions. The instructions also provide information about completing an over-the-internet upgrade.
- For DGX OS 6, refer to the Upgrading the OS section in the DGX OS 7 User Guide.
BaseOS software upgrades

The GPU driver, CUDA Toolkit, and DOCA components are updated only as part of a supported BaseOS release. Refer to Upgrading the BaseOS software for upgrade instructions.
Package upgrades

When you perform package upgrades, you want to install upgrades that are available in the repositories since the initial DGX OS 8 release. The repositories are periodically updated with packages that include bug fixes and security updates. The NVIDIA repository also includes packages with new features that are available with the latest DGX OS minor version release. Refer to Performing Package Upgrades for instructions.

Upgrades are cumulative, meaning your systems install all available upgrades, including upgrades available from Ubuntu, such as the kernel. Performing upgrades installs the latest versions available at the time when the upgrade is performed. These can be newer than the current DGX OS release.

Important

The instructions in this chapter upgrade all software for which updates are available from your configured software sources, including applications that you installed yourself. To prevent an application from being upgraded, you can instruct the Ubuntu package manager to keep the current version.

For more information, refer to the Ubuntu Community Help Wiki: Introduction to Holding Packages. Do not hold packages unless necessary, because holding packages can disrupt package dependencies.

Performing a Release Upgrade#

DGX OS 8 Release Upgrade Advisory#

Consider the following points for Ubuntu ConnectX drivers and OFED stack when performing a release upgrade from DGX OS 7:

Best practices support upgrading selected systems and verifying that your applications are working as expected before deploying additional systems.

Getting Release Information for DGX Systems#

You can determine the release information for your DGX systems as follows.

The /etc/dgx-release file provides release information, such as the product name and serial number. This file also provides the following DGX OS software release information:

The version number and installation date of the last version to be installed from an ISO image DGX_SWBUILD_VERSION.
The version number and update date of the most recent over-the-network update applied since the software was last installed from an ISO image (DGX_OTA_VERSION).

For DGX OS 8, the DGX_OTA_VERSION variable records the version and date of the most recent over-the-network update applied to the system. Compare this information with the NVIDIA DGX OS 8 User Guide Release Notes to determine the DGX OS software version running on your system.

To get release information for the DGX system, view the content of the /etc/dgx-release file. For example:

cat /etc/dgx-release

DGX_NAME="DGX Server"
DGX_PRETTY_NAME="NVIDIA DGX Server"
DGX_SWBUILD_DATE="2026-08-13-03-39-01"
DGX_SWBUILD_VERSION="8.0.0"
DGX_COMMIT_ID="2232099"
DGX_PLATFORM="DGX Server for DGX H100"
DGX_SERIAL_NUMBER="1234567890123"

DGX_OTA_VERSION="<new_DGX_OS_version>"
DGX_OTA_DATE="<new_DGX_OS_version_install_date>"

Preparing to Upgrade the Software#

This section describes the tasks to complete before you upgrade your DGX OS software.

Connect to the DGX System Console#

Connect to the console of the DGX system using a direct connection or a remote connection through the baseboard management controller (BMC). Refer to Connecting to the DGX System.

Note

You can use SSH to perform the upgrade. However, if the Ethernet port is configured for DHCP, the IP address can change after the DGX server is rebooted during the upgrade, which results in the loss of connection. A loss of connection can also occur if you are connecting through a VPN. If this happens, connect by using a direct connection or through the BMC to continue the upgrade process.

Warning

Connect directly to the DGX server console if the DGX is connected to a 172.17.xx.xx subnet.

DGX OS software installs Docker, which uses the 172.17.xx.xx subnet by default for Docker containers. If the DGX server is on the same subnet, you cannot establish a network connection to the DGX server.

To ensure that your DGX system can access the network interfaces for Docker containers, configure Docker to use a subnet distinct from other network resources used by the DGX system. Refer to Configuring Docker IP Addresses for instructions on how to change the default Docker network settings after performing the upgrade.

Verifying the DGX System Connection to the Repositories#

Before you attempt to complete the update, you can verify that the network connection for your DGX system can access the public repositories and that the connection is not blocked by a firewall or proxy.

On the DGX system, enter the following:

wget -O f1-changelogs http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release-lts

wget -O f2-archive http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/resolute/Release

wget -O f3-security http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/resolute/Release

wget -O f4-nvidia-baseos http://repo.download.nvidia.com/baseos/9/ubuntu/resolute/x86_64/dists/resolute/Release

wget -O f5-nvidia-cuda https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu2604/x86_64/Release

wget -O f6-doca http://linux.mellanox.com/public/repo/doca/baseos9-latest/ubuntu26.04/x86_64/Release

The wget commands should succeed, and six files with non-zero content should appear in the directory.

Performing a Release Upgrade from DGX OS 7#

Note

If installed software packages do not have upgrade candidates and you try to upgrade, an error message is displayed. Use the --force option and continue the upgrade process. Refer to the Release Notes for a list of packages that are no longer available in DGX OS 8.

Upgrade DGX OS 7 to the Latest Version#

Refer to the Upgrading the OS section in the DGX OS 7 User Guide.

Before you can perform the release upgrade of your system, upgrade the current DGX OS 7 to the latest version. These steps upgrade your system to the latest DGX OS 7 release:

Download information from all configured sources about the latest versions of the packages.
```
sudo apt update
```
Install all available upgrades for your current DGX OS release.
```
sudo apt -y full-upgrade
```

Note

Depending on which packages were updated when running sudo apt -y full-upgrade, you might be prompted to reboot the system before performing nvidia-release-upgrade.

Performing the Release Upgrade#

Follow these steps to upgrade your system from DGX OS 7 to DGX OS 8:

Install the nvidia-release-upgrade package to upgrade from DGX OS 7 to the latest DGX OS 8 release.
```
sudo apt install -y nvidia-release-upgrade
```
Configure the GPU driver branch for the DGX OS 8 release.

Set DriverBranch in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.d/nvidia7.cfg to the branch of the GPU driver listed in the Current Software Versions section.
```
sudo sed -i 's/^DriverBranch=.*/DriverBranch=<driver-release>/' /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.d/nvidia7.cfg
```
For example, for the R595 driver branch:
```
sudo sed -i 's/^DriverBranch=.*/DriverBranch=595/' /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.d/nvidia7.cfg
```
Start the DGX OS release upgrade process.

If you are not using a proxy server, run nvidia-release-upgrade as follows:
```
sudo nvidia-release-upgrade
```
If you are using a proxy server, add the -E option to keep your proxy environment variables. For example:
```
sudo -E nvidia-release-upgrade
```
Note

Some package upgrades require that you reboot the system before completing the upgrade. Ensure that you reboot the system when prompted.
Resolve conflicts.

Refer to Resolving Release Upgrade Conflicts for details and instructions.
Wait for the upgrade process to complete and press y at the prompt that appears when the system upgrade is completed.
```
System upgrade is complete. Restart is required To finish the upgrade, a
restart is required. If you select 'y' the system will restart.
Continue [yN]
```
The system must be restarted to complete the update process and ensure that any changes are captured by restarted services and runtimes.
Note

If no reboot prompt appeared or if you did not restart the system when prompted, reboot to complete the update process.
```
sudo reboot
```

After the system is restarted, the upgrade process takes several minutes to perform some final installation steps.

Resolving Release Upgrade Conflicts#

During the upgrade, the system can encounter conflicts or require other manual intervention.

When you are prompted to resolve conflicts in configuration files, evaluate the changes before selecting one of the following options:
- Accept the maintainer’s version.
- Keep the local version.
- Manually resolve the difference.
Conflicts in some configuration files can be the result of customizations to the Ubuntu Desktop OS made for DGX OS software. For guidance about how to resolve these conflicts, refer to the chapter in the Release Notes for the release family to which you are upgrading.
- /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dgx.list. Install the package maintainer’s version.
- /etc/ssh/sshd_config. You can keep the local version that is currently installed.
Conflicts in the following configuration files are the result of customizations to the Ubuntu Desktop OS made for DGX OS 8.
- /etc/gdm3/custom.conf.distrib. You can keep your currently installed version.
- /etc/gdm3/custom.conf. You can keep your currently installed version.

If you are logged in to the DGX system remotely through a secure shell (SSH), you are prompted about whether you want to continue running under SSH.

Continue running under SSH?
This session appears to be running under ssh. It is not recommended to perform a upgrade over ssh currently because in case of failure it is harder to recover.
If you continue, an additional ssh daemon will be started at port '1022'.
Do you want to continue?
Continue [yN]

Enter y to continue.

An additional sshd daemon is started and the following message is displayed:

Starting additional ``sshd`` To make recovery in case of failure easier, an
additional sshd will be started on port '1022'. If anything goes wrong
with the running ssh you can still connect to the additional one. If you
run a firewall, you may need to temporarily open this port. As this is
potentially dangerous it's not done automatically. You can open the port
with e.g.: 'iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 1022 -j ACCEPT' To continue
please press [ENTER]

Press Enter.

If you are warned that third-party sources are disabled:
```
Third-party sources disabled
Some third-party entries in your sources.list were disabled. You can re-enable them after the upgrade with the 'software-properties' tool or your package manager.
To continue please press **ENTER**
```
Canonical and DGX repositories are preserved for the upgrade, but any other repositories, for example, Google Chrome or VSCode, are disabled. After the upgrade, you must manually re-enable any third-party sources that you want to keep.
- Press Enter.

You are asked to confirm that you want to start the upgrade.

Do you want to start the upgrade?
Installing the upgrade can take several hours. Once the download has finished, the process cannot be canceled.
Continue [yN] Details [d]

Press Enter.

If you are prompted to confirm that you want to remove obsolete packages, select one of the options:

Remove obsolete packages?
371 packages are going to be removed. Removing the packages can take several hours.
Continue [yN]   Details [d]

- Determine whether to remove obsolete packages and continue with the
  upgrade.

  - Review the list of packages that are removed.

     To identify obsolete DGX OS Desktop packages, refer to the lists of obsolete
     packages in the `DGX OS Desktop Release
     Notes <https://docs.nvidia.com/dgx/dgx-os-desktop-release-notes/index.html>`__
     for all releases after your current release.

  - If the list contains only packages that you want to remove, enter
     y to continue with the upgrade.

Enter y to accept the recommended changes, n (default) for no, or d for more details.

Verifying the Upgrade#

Complete the following steps to verify your upgrade.

Confirm the Linux kernel version.

For example, when you upgrade to DGX OS 8.0.0, the Linux kernel version is at least 7.0.0-1010-nvidia.
For the minimum Linux kernel version of the release to which you are upgrading, refer to the release notes for that release.

Confirm the NVIDIA Graphics Drivers for Linux version.

nvidia-smi

For example, for an upgrade to DGX OS 8.0.0, the NVIDIA Graphics Drivers for Linux version is at least 595:

Tu Jul 28 17:00:38 2026
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 595.91.07     Driver Version: 595.91.07   CUDA Version: 13.3.1   |
|-------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------------+

Recovering from an Interrupted or Failed Update#

If the script is interrupted during the update because of a loss of power or network connection, restore power or the network connection.

If the system encounters a kernel panic after you restore power and reboot the DGX system, you cannot perform the over-the-network update. Reinstall DGX OS 7 with the latest image instead. Refer to Reimaging the System.

This section describes how to install DGX OS and complete the network update.

If you can successfully return to the Linux command line, complete the following steps.

Reconfigure the packages.
```
dpkg --configure -a
```
Fix the broken package installs.
```
apt -f install -y
```
Determine where the release-upgrader was extracted.
```
/tmp/ubuntu-release-upgrader-<random-string>
```

Start a bash shell, go to the upgrader, and configure.

sudo bash

cd /tmp/ubuntu-release-upgrader-<random-string>

RELEASE_UPGRADER_ALLOW_THIRD_PARTY=1 ./resolute --frontend=DistUpgradeViewText

Do not reboot at this time.

Issue the following commands and reboot.

bash /usr/bin/nvidia-post-release-upgrade

reboot

Upgrading the BaseOS software#

The GPU driver, CUDA Toolkit, and DOCA components are updated only as part of a supported BaseOS release. Refer to Upgrading BaseOS Using the CLI for upgrading the BaseOS release.

Performing Package Upgrades#

NVIDIA and Canonical provide updates to the OS in the form of updated software packages between releases with security mitigations and bug fixes. Evaluate the available updates at regular intervals and update the system based on the threat level.

Enabling Extended Security Maintenance Upgrades#

This section describes Ubuntu Extended Security Updates (ESM).

As a DGX OS customer, you are entitled to Extended Security Updates from the Ubuntu Universe repository.

The following Ubuntu Pro message from ubuntu-advantage-tools can appear during an apt upgrade if security updates are available for packages from the Ubuntu Universe repository:

Get more security updates through Ubuntu Pro with 'esm-apps' enabled.
Learn more about Ubuntu Pro at https://ubuntu.com/pro.

In addition, you also get the following NVIDIA message:

Your DGX contract entitles you to Extended Security Maintenance updates
for additional packages in the Ubuntu repository. Please
contact NVIDIA Support to get your key to enable this capability.”

After contacting NVIDIA Enterprise Support to obtain an Ubuntu Pro token, you can use the token with the following command to enable Extended Security Maintenance updates:

sudo pro attach XXXXX

You can check the Ubuntu Pro subscription with the sudo pro status command:

sudo pro status

Renewing Extended Security Maintenance#

The Ubuntu Pro Client does not automatically update the Ubuntu Pro subscription for token expiration. If your Ubuntu Pro token expires, refresh the token on the DGX system to renew the Extended Security Maintenance subscription.

To refresh the Ubuntu Pro token:

sudo pro refresh

To check the new expiration date or the status of ESM:

sudo pro status

Performing Package Upgrades Using the CLI#

Evaluate the available updates at regular intervals and update the system based on the threat level:

Refer to the Ubuntu Wiki Upgrades for more information about upgrades available for Ubuntu.
For a list of the known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), including those that can be resolved by updating the DGX OS software, refer to the Ubuntu Security Notices

If updates are available, you can obtain upgraded packages by completing the following steps:

Update the internal database with the list of available packages and their versions.
```
sudo apt update
```
Review the packages that are upgraded.
```
sudo apt full-upgrade -s
```
To prevent an application from being upgraded, you can instruct the Ubuntu package manager to hold packages. Refer to Holding Packages.

Note

Hold packages only in extremely rare cases, because holding packages can disrupt package dependencies.
Upgrade to the latest version.
```
sudo apt full-upgrade
```
When prompted to resolve an issue, answer any questions that appear. Most questions require a Yes or No response.
- When prompted to select the GRUB configuration to use, select the current one on the system.
- When prompted to select the GRUB install devices, keep the default selection.
- The other questions depend on what other packages were installed before the update and how those packages interact with the update.
When the upgrade is complete, reboot the system.
```
sudo reboot
```

Note

Upgrades to the NVIDIA Graphics Drivers for Linux require a restart to complete the kernel upgrade. If you upgrade the NVIDIA Graphics Drivers for Linux without restarting the DGX system, when you run the nvidia-smi command, an error message is displayed.

nvidia-smi
Failed to initialize NVML: Driver/library version mismatch