To protect yourself from security vulnerabilities, you must patch your server regularly. Developing a monthly or weekly habit of performing this simple task can save you a lot of grief and hassle later on.

Note: Managed Hosting Service Plan customers do not need to patch their own servers.

The process to patch your server depends on what operating system your server uses:

Fedora or CentOS:

Connect to your server via SSH (more info).

Switch to the root user (more info).

Run the following:

    yum clean all
    yum update

Ubuntu:

Connect to your server via SSH (more info).

Switch to the root user (more info).

Run the following:

       apt-get upgrade

Windows Server:

Connect to your server via RDC (more info).

From the Start menu, select Control Panel.

Click Windows Update. Click Check for Updates, and then complete the steps to update your server.