Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtualization support

Guest operating system

RHEL 6 64-bit x86_64 (KVM), RHEV-H 6

RHEL 5 64-bit x86-64 (KVM)¹, RHEV-H 5

RHEL 5 64-bit x86-64 (Xen)

RHEL 5 32-bit x86-32 (PAE, Xen)

RHEL 5 IA64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 x86-64 FV

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized

N/A

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 x86-32 FV

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized²

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 IA64 FV

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x86-64 PV

N/A

N/A

Optimized

N/A

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x86-64 FV

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized²

N/A

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x86-32 PV

N/A

N/A

Optimized⁴

Optimized

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x86-32 FV

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized³

Optimized³

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 IA64 PV

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Optimized

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 IA64 FV

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Supported

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86-64 PV

N/A

N/A

Optimized

N/A

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86-64 FV

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized³

N/A

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86-32 PV

N/A

N/A

Optimized⁴

Optimized

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86-32 FV

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized³

Optimized³

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 IA64 PV

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Optimized

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 IA64 FV

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Supported

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 x86-64 PV

N/A

N/A

Optimized²

N/A

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 x86-64 FV

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized²

N/A

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 x86-32 PV

N/A

N/A

Optimized²

Optimized²

N/A

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 x86-32 FV

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized²

Optimized²

N/A

Windows Server 2000 32-bit x86

Unsupported

Unsupported

Supported

Supported

N/A

Windows Server 2000 IA64

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Supported

Windows Server 2003 32-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Supported⁷

Supported⁷

N/A

Windows Server 2003 64-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Unsupported

N/A

N/A

Windows Server 2003 IA64

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Supported

Windows Server 2003 R2 32-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Supported⁷

Supported⁷

N/A

Windows Server 2003 R2 64-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Unsupported

N/A

N/A

Windows Server 2003 R2 IA64

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Supported

Windows Server 2008 32-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Supported⁷

Supported⁷

N/A

Windows Server 2008 64-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Unsupported

N/A

N/A

Windows Server 2008 IA64

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Supported

Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Unsupported

N/A

N/A

Windows Server 2008 R2 IA64

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Supported

Windows XP 32-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Supported

Supported

N/A

Windows XP 64-bit x86

Unsupported

Unsupported

Unsupported

N/A

N/A

Windows Vista 32-bit x86

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

N/A

Windows Vista 64-bit x86

Supported

Supported

Supported

N/A

N/A

Windows 7 32-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Unsupported

N/A

N/A

Windows 7 64-bit x86

Optimized⁵

Optimized⁵

Unsupported

N/A

N/A

Generic virtualization solutions

In addition to the integrated Red Hat virtualization technology, Red Hat supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a guest on VMWare and Hyper-V as generic virtualization platforms. This means that Red Hat Enterprise Linux on these virtualization platforms is certified and supported independent of the underlying physical hardware (aside from any hardware pass-through). Please note that Red Hat supports the guest operating system. Direct support for the third-party virtualization platform will come from the respective vendor. Please refer to the hardware certification catalog for details on the verified products and versions.

Hardware partitioning

Red Hat supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux on hardware partitioning and virtualization solutions such as IBM System z, IBM POWER, Fujitsu PRIMEQUEST, or Hitachi Virtage hardware partitioning. These are certified as part of the physical hardware, but not supported generically (for example, on non-certified hardware). Please refer to the hardware certification list for information on certified hardware.

Red Hat on the cloud

Red Hat supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a guest on the cloud. For private, in-house cloud-type deployments, this support matrix applies. Please refer to the Red Hat Cloud Partner Program for more information on supported public cloud providers.

Other third-party guest operating systems

A customer may run non-Red Hat-branded guest operating systems that are not certified and not actively supported by Red Hat on Red Hat virtualization products without invalidating Red Hat's support for the Red Hat virtualization platform. Red Hat will support the virtualization product itself, but for any non-Red Hat-branded guest operating system—including any paravirtualized drivers—the customer will need to get support from the respective vendor of that product.

The third-party vendor providing and supporting the particular guest instance may escalate issues through regular back-end support interfaces if such a relationship with Red Hat exists. At Red Hat's discretion, the third-party guest operating system vendor may be required to reproduce failures on a fully supported configuration. Red Hat, in its sole discretion, may from time to time take commercially reasonable steps to address issues associated with uncertified third-party guest operating systems.