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Update Your Server Without SSH-ing In

Keeping a home server updated is the chore everyone postpones: you have to SSH in, remember whether it's apt or dnf, run the update, maybe reboot. So it slips — and an un-updated server is the one that gets a security hole or breaks on the next big upgrade.

Commandeck turns "update the server" into a button you click from your desktop. The update runs over SSH on the server itself; you just watch the output.

Commandeck's output window streaming an apt upgrade, showing packages being unpacked and configured

The update button

Pick the command that matches your server's Linux:

Server type Command
Ubuntu / Debian / Raspberry Pi OS sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Fedora / CentOS / Rocky sudo dnf upgrade -y
Arch sudo pacman -Syu --noconfirm
Docker stack docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

Create the button:

Field Value
Label Update Server
Command (from the table above)
Execution mode Show output
Confirm before running Enabled
Tooltip Update all packages on the server

Show output lets you watch the update happen and see what changed. Confirm before running gives you a "yes/no" before it starts.

A safe update routine, as three buttons

Updates go smoother as a little sequence. Make one button each:

  1. Disk Space → df -h — make sure there's room before updating.
  2. Update Server → the command above — run the upgrade.
  3. Reboot if needed → sudo systemctl reboot (Silent + Confirm, red) — only if the update asks for it.

Now updating is: click, click, done — no terminal, no trying to remember the exact commands.

This runs on the server, over SSH

The whole point is that you do this from your everyday desktop — Windows, Mac or Linux — while the commands run on the server. Add the server once; the button reaches it over SSH each time.

SSH is Pro

Running buttons on a remote machine is Commandeck Pro — $29 one-time, lifetime, 14-day free trial (no card). Updating this computer works on the free version.

Why it gets done now

  • No friction = it actually happens. A button you can click in two seconds is a server that stays patched.
  • You see the output — no blind updates; you watch what changed.
  • A confirmation before anything runs, and a separate reboot button you control.
  • Private — no account, no cloud, no telemetry. Straight from your desktop to your server.

Related: the Home Server Management guide builds the full maintenance grid. To check space first, see Check Disk Space on Your NAS.