Which Installation Class is Best For You?
Usually, Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation is installed on its own disk partition or set of partitions, or over another installation of Linux.
 | Warning |
|---|---|
Installing Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation over another installation of Linux (including Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation) does not preserve any information (files or data) from a prior installation. Make sure you save any important files! To preserve the current data on your existing system, you should back up your data and/or consider performing an upgrade instead. |
Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation provides the following different types, of installations:
- Advanced Workstation
Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation includes technology and services appropriate for the enterprise software developer, power user, system administrator, and corporate user. Advanced Workstation is compatible with and complements Red Hat Linux Advanced Server, allowing users to create or manage technical applications targeted at either operating system. Advanced Workstation is intended for memory, graphics, and computation intensive desktop-interactive software applications (such as graphics CAD/CAM or software development IDEs), especially supported third-party software solutions.
- Custom
A custom installation allows you the greatest flexibility during your installation. You choose your boot loader, which packages you want, and more. Custom installations are most appropriate for those users more familiar with Red Hat Linux installations and for those afraid of losing complete flexibility.
These classes give you the option of simplifying the installation process (with some potential for loss of configuration flexibility), or retaining flexibility with a slightly more complex installation process. Next, take a detailed look at each class, so you can see which one is right for you.
Advanced Workstation Installations
An Advanced Workstation installation will install your choice of the GNOME or KDE desktop environments, or both, and the X Window System (the graphical software on which the desktop environments are based).
Below are the minimum recommended disk space requirements for a workstation installation where only one language (such as English) will be installed.
Advanced Workstation choosing GNOME or KDE : 2.5 GB
Advanced Workstation choosing both GNOME and KDE: 3 GB
If you plan to choose all package groups (for example, GNOME is a group of packages), as well as select additional individual packages, you may want to allow yourself 3 GB or more of disk space.
What an Advanced Workstation Installation Will Do
If you choose automatic partitioning, an advanced workstation installation will create the following partitions:
A 100 MB partition (mounted as /boot/efi and formatted as type vfat) in which the Linux kernel, the ELILO configuration files, and other related files reside.
The size of the swap partition is determined by the amount of RAM in your system and the amount of space available on your hard drive. For example, if you have 128 MB of RAM then the swap partition created can be 128 MB - 256 MB (twice your RAM), depending on how much disk space is available.
A root partition (mounted as /) in which all other files are stored (the exact size of this partition is dependent on your available disk space).
Custom Installations
The custom installation allows you the most flexibility during your installation.
The recommended disk space requirements for a custom installation are as follows:
Custom (minimum): 500 MB
Custom (choosing everything): 4.2 GB
What a Custom Installation Will Do
As you might guess from the name, a custom installation puts the emphasis on flexibility. You have complete control over which packages will be installed on your system.
If you choose automatic partitioning, a custom installation will create the following partitions:
A 100 MB partition (mounted as /boot/efi and formatted as vfat) in which the Linux kernel, ELILO configuration files, and other related files reside.
The size of the swap partition is determined by the amount of RAM in your system and the amount of space available on your hard drive. For example, if you have 128 MB of RAM then the swap partition created can be 128 MB - 256 MB (twice your RAM), depending on how much disk space is available.
A root partition (mounted as /) in which all other files are stored (the exact size of this partition is dependent on your available disk space).