Chapter 2. Virtualization compatibility of host and guest combinations
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 supports various combinations of hosts and guests. These lists list all tested compatible guests for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 hosts. Other combinations may be possible but have not been tested or implemented completely at the time of writing.
Red Hat Virtualization on the x86 platform is limited to 16 CPU processing cores.
Supported fully virtualized guests
Operating system |
Support level |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 x86 |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x86 |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86 |
Optimized |
Windows Server 2000 32-Bit |
Supported |
Windows Server 2003 32-Bit |
Supported |
Windows XP 32-Bit |
Supported |
Windows Vista 32-Bit |
Supported |
Note, other 32 bit operating systems may work.
To utilize para-virtualization on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 your processor must have either an Intel-VT or AMD-V enabled processor.
Supported para-virtualized guest
Operating system |
Support level |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x86 Update 5 and higher |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86 |
Optimized |
To utilize para-virtualization on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 your processor must have the Physical Address Extension (PAE) instruction set.
Red Hat Virtualization on AMD64 and Intel 64 machines is presently limited to 126 CPU processing cores.
Supported fully virtualized guests
Operating system |
Support level |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 x86-64 |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 x86 |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AMD64/Intel 64 |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x86 |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 AMD64/Intel 64 |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86 |
Optimized |
Windows Server 2000 32-Bit |
supported |
Windows Server 2003 32-Bit |
supported |
Windows XP 32-Bit |
supported |
Windows Vista 32-Bit |
supported |
Windows Vista 64-Bit |
supported |
Windows Server 2008 32-Bit |
supported |
Windows Server 2008 64-Bit |
supported |
Solaris 32 bit |
supported |
Other x86 and AMD64 or Intel 64 based operating systems may work but are presently untested.
Supported para-virtualized guest
Operating system |
Support level |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AMD64/Intel 64 Update 5 and higher |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x86 Update 5 and higher |
Technology preview in 5.2 and 5.3 |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 AMD64/Intel 64 |
Optimized |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86 |
Technology preview in 5.2 and 5.3 |
These lists are for virtualization on the Intel Itanium architecture.
Supported fully virtualized guests
Operating system |
Support level |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Itanium |
Supported |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Itanium |
Supported |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Itanium |
Supported |
Windows Server 2003 for Itanium-based Systems |
Supported |
Supported para-virtualized guest
Operating system |
Support level |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Itanium |
optimized |