Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 technology capabilities and limits


What can Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® do? Find out in this quick-glance chart of the supported and theoretical[1]limits of the platform.


Version 3

Version 4

Version 5

Version 6

Maximum logical CPUs[2]



x8616323232
Itanium 28256/512256/1024N/A[6]
x86_64864/64160/255160/4096
POWER864/128128/128128
System z64 (z900)64 (z10 EC)101 (zEC12)101 (zEC12)
Maximum memory[5]



x8664GB[3]64GB[3]16GB[4]16GB[4]
Itanium 2128GB2TB2TBN/A[6]
x86_64128GB256GB/1TB1TB3TB/64TB
POWER64GB128GB/1TB512GB/1TB2TB
System z256GB (z900)1.5TB (z10 EC)3TB (z196)3TB (z196)
Required minimums



x86256MB256MB512MB minimum/
1 GB/logical CPU recommended		512MB minimum/
1 GB/logical CPU recommended
x86_64256MB256MB512MB minimum/
1 GB/logical CPU recommended		1GB minimum/
1 GB/logical CPU recommended
Itanium 2512MB512MB512MB/
1 GB/logical CPU recommended		N/A[6]
POWER512MB512MB1GB minimum/
2GB recommended		2GB minimum/
2GB required per install
Minimum diskspace800MB800MB1GB minimum/
5GB recommended		1GB minimum/
5GB recommended
File systems and storage limits



Maximum filesize (Ext3)2TB2TB2TB2TB
Maximum file system size (Ext3)2TB8TB16TB16TB
Maximum file size (Ext4)----16TB16TB
Maximum file system size (Ext4)----16TB16TB
Maximum file size (GFS)2TB16TB/8EB16TB/8EB[7]N/A
Maximum file system size (GFS)2TB16TB/8EB16TB/8EB[7]N/A
Maximum file size (GFS2)----25TB100TB
Maximum file system size (GFS2)----25TB100TB
Maximum file size (XFS)----100TB100TB
Maximum file system size (XFS)----100TB100TB
Maximum Boot LUN size (BIOS)----<2TB<2TB[10]
Maximum Boot LUN size (UEFI)----N/AAny[10]
Maximum x86 per-process virtual address spaceApprox. 4GBApprox. 4GBApprox. 3GB[4]Approx. 3GB[4]
Maximum x86_64 per-process virtual address space
512GB2TB128TB
Kernel and OS features



Kernel foundationLinux 2.4.21Linux 2.6.9Linux 2.6.182.6.32 - 2.6.34
Compiler/toolchainGCC 3.2GCC 3.4GCC 4.1GCC 4.4
Languages supported10151922
NIAP/CC certified[11]Yes (3+)Yes (4+)Yes (4+)Under evaluation
Common Criteria certified KVM[11]----Under evaluationUnder evaluation
IPv6----Ready Logo Phase 2Under evaluation
Compatibility librariesV2.1V2.1 and V3V3 and V4V4 and V5
FIPS certified[11]----YesUnder evaluation
Common Operating Environment (COE) compliantYesYesN/AN/A
LSB-compliantYes - 1.3Yes - 3Yes - 3.1Under evaluation
GB18030NoYesYesYes
Client environment



Desktop GUIGnome 2.2Gnome 2.8Gnome 2.16Gnome 2.28
GraphicsXFree86X.orgX.org 7.1.1X.org 7.4
OpenOfficeV1.1V1.1.2V2.0.4[12]V3.2[12]
Gnome EvolutionV1.4V2.0V2.8.0V2.28
Default browserMozillaFirefoxFirefox 1.5[12]Firefox 3.6[12]

Notes:

  1. Supported limits reflect the current state of system testing by Red Hat and its partners for mainstream hardware. Systems exceeding these supported limits may be included in the Hardware Catalog after joint testing between Red Hat and its partners. If they exceed the supported limits posted here, entries in the Hardware Catalog will include a reference to the details of the system-specific limits and are fully supported. In addition to supported limits reflecting hardware capability, there may be additional limits under the Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription terms. Supported limits are subject to change as ongoing testing completes.

  2. Red Hat defines a logical CPU as any schedulable entity. So every core/thread in a multicore/thread processor is a logical CPU.

  3. The "SMP" kernel supports a maximum of 16GB of main memory. Systems with more than 16GB of main memory use the "Hugemem" kernel. In certain workload scenarios it may be advantageous to use the "Hugemem" kernel on systems with more than 12GB of main memory.

  4. The x86 "Hugemem" kernel is not provided in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 or 6.

  5. The architectural limits are based on the capabilities of the RHEL kernel and the physical hardware. RHEL 6 limit is based on 46-bit physical memory addressing. RHEL 5 limit is based on 40-bit physical memory addressing. All system memory should be balanced across NUMA nodes in a NUMA-capable system.

  6. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 does not include support for the Itanium 2 architecture.

  7. If there are any 32-bit machines in the cluster, the maximum gfs file system size is 16TB. If all machines in the cluster are 64-bit, the maximum size is 8EB.

  8. Officially support 125 CPUs across the entire machine.

  9. Requires Intel EPT and AMD RVI technology support.

  10. UEFI and GPT support required for more that 2TB boot LUN support (https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-16981).

  11. Get security certification details.

  12. Firefox, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice applications will be updated during the lifecycle.

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