Do you recompile your kernels for a server?

I'm building a Centos 5.4 (latest version) server, which comes with kernel version 2.6.18.

The latest stable linux kernel is version 2.6.32.3. Quite a large difference in version there.

My questions is, should I rebuild my kernel from source, or just stick with the highly tested rpm version that came with centos?

stick with the highly tested rpm version that came with centos, because the reason to run RHEL (CentOS) is for its stability and testing.

Well, I always compile my kernels because I use Gentoo. But in your case it probably depends: Here are some reasons you might want to recompile:

1) Optimize the kernel for your architecture (to make it a little faster)
2) Check special kernel options that aren't checked by default (special hardware or debugging options)
3) Try to make kernel as small as possible on hard drive by removing everything but what is needed for your system
4) Earn Linux guru points.
5) Take advantage of some recent security improvement to the kernel code.

If none of these things are important to you, it is probably pointless to recompile.

For a server, reliability is key. Unless there is some new feature that you must have, or some security issue, stick with the tried and true version.

Thanks for your answers.

At this time I do not need any special kernel features. And despite the attraction of compilling a kernel that has only the features I need (for speed, security, etc), I think I will go with the rpm version.