- Appendix A. System requirements reference
- A.1. Hardware compatibility
- A.2. Supported installation targets
- A.3. System specifications
- A.4. Disk and memory requirements
- A.5. Graphics display resolution requirements
- A.6. UEFI Secure Boot and Beta release requirements
- Appendix A. System requirements reference
- A.1. Supported installation targets
- A.2. Disk and memory requirements
- A.3. Graphics display resolution requirements
- A.4. UEFI Secure Boot and Beta release requirements
Appendix A. System requirements reference
This section provides information and guidelines for hardware, installation target, system, memory, and RAID when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
A.1. Hardware compatibility
Red Hat works closely with hardware vendors on supported hardware.
- To verify that your hardware is supported, see the Red Hat Hardware Compatibility List, available at https://access.redhat.com/ecosystem/search/#/category/Server.
- To view supported memory sizes or CPU counts, see https://access.redhat.com/articles/rhel-limits for information.
A.2. Supported installation targets
An installation target is a storage device that stores Red Hat Enterprise Linux and boots the system. Red Hat Enterprise Linux supports the following installation targets for AMD64, Intel 64, and 64-bit ARM systems:
- Storage connected by a standard internal interface, such as SCSI, SATA, or SAS
- BIOS/firmware RAID devices
- NVDIMM devices in sector mode on the Intel64 and AMD64 architectures, supported by the nd_pmem driver.
- Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters and multipath devices. Some can require vendor-provided drivers.
- Xen block devices on Intel processors in Xen virtual machines.
- VirtIO block devices on Intel processors in KVM virtual machines.
Red Hat does not support installation to USB drives or SD memory cards. For information about support for third-party virtualization technologies, see the Red Hat Hardware Compatibility List.
A.3. System specifications
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program automatically detects and installs your system’s hardware, so you should not have to supply any specific system information. However, for certain Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation scenarios, it is recommended that you record system specifications for future reference. These scenarios include:
Installing RHEL with a customized partition layout
Record: The model numbers, sizes, types, and interfaces of the hard drives attached to the system. For example, Seagate ST3320613AS 320 GB on SATA0, Western Digital WD7500AAKS 750 GB on SATA1.
Installing RHEL as an additional operating system on an existing system
Record: Partitions used on the system. This information can include file system types, device node names, file system labels, and sizes, and allows you to identify specific partitions during the partitioning process. If one of the operating systems is a Unix operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux may report the device names differently. Additional information can be found by executing the equivalent of the mount command and the blkid command, and in the /etc/fstab file.
If multiple operating systems are installed, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program attempts to automatically detect them, and to configure boot loader to boot them. You can manually configure additional operating systems if they are not detected automatically.
See Configuring boot loader in Configuring software settings for more information.
Installing RHEL from an image on a local hard drive
Record: The hard drive and directory that holds the image.
Installing RHEL from a network location
If the network has to be configured manually, that is, DHCP is not used.
- IP address
- Netmask
- Gateway IP address
- Server IP addresses, if required
Contact your network administrator if you need assistance with networking requirements.
Installing RHEL on an iSCSI target
Record: The location of the iSCSI target. Depending on your network, you may need a CHAP user name and password, and a reverse CHAP user name and password.
Installing RHEL if the system is part of a domain
Verify that the domain name is supplied by the DHCP server. If it is not, enter the domain name during installation.
A.4. Disk and memory requirements
If several operating systems are installed, it is important that you verify that the allocated disk space is separate from the disk space required by Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
- For AMD64, Intel 64, and 64-bit ARM, at least two partitions ( / and swap ) must be dedicated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
- For IBM Power Systems servers, at least three partitions ( / , swap , and a PReP boot partition) must be dedicated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
- The Prep Boot partitions are not required on PowerNV systems.
You must have a minimum of 10 GiB of available disk space. To install Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you must have a minimum of 10 GiB of space in either unpartitioned disk space or in partitions that can be deleted.
See Partitioning reference for more information.
Table A.1. Minimum RAM requirements
Local media installation (USB, DVD)
HTTP, HTTPS or FTP network installation
It is possible to complete the installation with less memory than the recommended minimum requirements. The exact requirements depend on your environment and installation path. It is recommended that you test various configurations to determine the minimum required RAM for your environment. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux using a Kickstart file has the same recommended minimum RAM requirements as a standard installation. However, additional RAM may be required if your Kickstart file includes commands that require additional memory, or write data to the RAM disk. See the Performing an advanced RHEL 8 installation document for more information.
A.5. Graphics display resolution requirements
Your system must have the following minimum resolution to ensure a smooth and error-free installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Table A.2. Display resolution
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Minimum : 800 x 600
Recommended : 1026 x 768
A.6. UEFI Secure Boot and Beta release requirements
If you plan to install a Beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, on systems having UEFI Secure Boot enabled, then first disable the UEFI Secure Boot option and then begin the installation.
UEFI Secure Boot requires that the operating system kernel is signed with a recognized private key, which the system’s firware verifies using the corresponding public key. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux Beta releases, the kernel is signed with a Red Hat Beta-specific public key, which the system fails to recognize by default. As a result, the system fails to even boot the installation media.
Appendix A. System requirements reference
This section provides information and guidelines for hardware, installation target, system, memory, and RAID when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
A.1. Supported installation targets
An installation target is a storage device that stores Red Hat Enterprise Linux and boots the system. Red Hat Enterprise Linux supports the following installation targets for AMD64, Intel 64, and 64-bit ARM systems:
- Storage connected by a standard internal interface, such as SCSI, SATA, or SAS
- BIOS/firmware RAID devices
- NVDIMM devices in sector mode on the Intel64 and AMD64 architectures, supported by the nd_pmem driver.
- Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters and multipath devices. Some can require vendor-provided drivers.
- Xen block devices on Intel processors in Xen virtual machines.
- VirtIO block devices on Intel processors in KVM virtual machines.
Red Hat does not support installation to USB drives or SD memory cards. For information about support for third-party virtualization technologies, see the Red Hat Hardware Compatibility List.
A.2. Disk and memory requirements
If several operating systems are installed, it is important that you verify that the allocated disk space is separate from the disk space required by Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
- For AMD64, Intel 64, and 64-bit ARM, at least two partitions ( / and swap ) must be dedicated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
- For IBM Power Systems servers, at least three partitions ( / , swap , and a PReP boot partition) must be dedicated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
You must have a minimum of 10 GiB of available disk space. To install Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you must have a minimum of 10 GiB of space in either unpartitioned disk space or in partitions that can be deleted.
Table A.1. Minimum RAM requirements
Local media installation (USB, DVD)
HTTP, HTTPS or FTP network installation
It is possible to complete the installation with less memory than the recommended minimum requirements. The exact requirements depend on your environment and installation path. It is recommended that you test various configurations to determine the minimum required RAM for your environment. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux using a Kickstart file has the same recommended minimum RAM requirements as a standard installation. However, additional RAM may be required if your Kickstart file includes commands that require additional memory, or write data to the RAM disk. See the Performing an advanced RHEL 9 installation document for more information.
A.3. Graphics display resolution requirements
Your system must have the following minimum resolution to ensure a smooth and error-free installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Table A.2. Display resolution
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Minimum : 800 x 600
Recommended : 1026 x 768
A.4. UEFI Secure Boot and Beta release requirements
If you plan to install a Beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, on systems having UEFI Secure Boot enabled, then first disable the UEFI Secure Boot option and then begin the installation.
UEFI Secure Boot requires that the operating system kernel is signed with a recognized private key, which the system’s firware verifies using the corresponding public key. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux Beta releases, the kernel is signed with a Red Hat Beta-specific public key, which the system fails to recognize by default. As a result, the system fails to even boot the installation media.