Correct procedure for updating java (RHEL 5.9)

[bazil2]

(Elementary user - repost from Linux server)

I need to update the version of java on my server:

[root@server bin]# java -version
java version "1.4.2"
gij (GNU libgcj) version 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-54)

Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


I have downloaded the latest release here and used the following command to extract:

[root@server java]# pwd
/usr/java
[root@server java]# tar zxvf jre-8u51-linux-x64.tar.gz


[root@server java]# ls -al
total 62456
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Aug 17 17:56 .
drwxr-xr-x 30 root root 4096 Aug 13 14:28 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Dec 5 2011 default -> /usr/java/latest
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 63861111 Aug 17 17:54 jre-8u51-linux-x64.tar.gz
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 Dec 5 2011 jre1.6.0_20
drwxr-xr-x 6 uucp 143 4096 Jun 9 04:38 jre1.8.0_51
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Dec 5 2011 latest -> /usr/java/jre1.6.0_20

Can anyone please advise what I need to do in addition in order to update it correctly; I'm concerned about the existing symbolic links.

[root@server jre1.8.0_51]# pwd
/usr/java/jre1.8.0_51
[root@sgi jre1.8.0_51]# ls -al
total 336
drwxr-xr-x 6 uucp 143 4096 Jun 9 04:38 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Aug 17 17:56 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 uucp 143 3244 Jun 9 04:37 COPYRIGHT
-r--r--r-- 1 uucp 143 40 Jun 9 04:37 LICENSE
-r--r--r-- 1 uucp 143 46 Jun 9 04:37 README
-rw-r--r-- 1 uucp 143 110114 Jun 8 23:06 THIRDPARTYLICENSEREADME-JAVAFX.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 uucp 143 178403 Jun 9 04:37 THIRDPARTYLICENSEREADME.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 uucp 143 955 Jun 9 04:37 Welcome.html
drwxr-xr-x 2 uucp 143 4096 Jun 9 04:37 bin
drwxr-xr-x 15 uucp 143 4096 Jun 9 04:41 lib
drwxr-xr-x 4 uucp 143 4096 Jun 9 04:37 man
drwxr-xr-x 3 uucp 143 4096 Jun 9 04:37 plugin
-rw-r--r-- 1 uucp 143 525 Jun 9 04:37 release

Best regards