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virtualization with Red Hat Enterprise Linux - System requirements.

This chapter lists system requirements for successfully running virtualization with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Virtualization is available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server.

The requirements for virtualization vary depending on the type of hypervisor. The Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and Xen hypervisors are provided with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Both the KVM and Xen hypervisors support Full virtualization. The Xen hypervisor also supports Para-virtualization.

Minimum system requirements

6GB free disk space
2GB of RAM.

Recommended system requirements

6GB plus the required disk space recommended by the guest operating system per guest. For most operating systems more than 6GB of disk space is recommended.
One processor core or hyper-thread for each virtualized CPU and one for the hypervisor.
2GB of RAM plus additional RAM for virtualized guests.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 Virtualization Updates

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 now includes full support for the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor on x86_64 based architectures. KVM is integrated into the Linux kernel, providing a virtualization platform that takes advantage of the stability, features, and hardware support inherent in Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Virtualization using the KVM hypervisor is supported on wide variety of guest operating systems, including:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Windows XP
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008