Which Installation Class is Best For You?
Usually, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS is installed on its own disk partition or set of partitions, or over another installation of Linux.
 | Warning |
|---|---|
Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS over another installation of Linux (including Red Hat Linux) does not preserve any information (files or data) from a prior installation. Make sure you save or back up any important files! |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS provides two different classes, or types, of installations:
- Advanced Server
An Advanced Server installation is specifically targeted at server installations capable of high levels of availablity through load balancing and failover capacities. The Advanced Server configuration includes, at your option, the ability to install a default X Window System environment with management, as well as the necessary components for clustering together two or more systems to achieve higher levels of performance to meet the demands of high performance server environments.
- 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 decide which one is right for you.
Advanced Server Installation
An Advanced Server installation is most appropriate for server installations capable of high levels of availablity through load balancing and failover capacities.
Below are the minimum recommended disk space requirements for an Advanced Server installation where only one language (such as English) will be installed.
 | Note |
|---|---|
The minimum recommended disk space requirements as listed below, are just minimum recommendations for the installation itself. You should adjust these disk space requirements as appropriate for your specific computing needs (such as disk space for personal files, additional applications you may install at a later time, and so on). |
Advanced Server (minimum, no graphical interface): 800 MB
Advanced Server (default, choosing GNOME or KDE): 1 GB
Advanced Server (choosing GNOME and KDE): 1.3 GB
Advanced Server (choosing everything, GNOME and KDE): 1.5 GB
If you plan to choose all group packages, as well as select additional individual packages, you may want to allow yourself 2.0 GB or more of disk space. This will provide space where additional data may be written.
What an Advanced Server Installation Will Do
An Advanced Server installation, with automatic partitioning, will create the following partitions:
| Note |
|---|---|
The partitions represented below were created on a system with 9 GB of hard drive space and 512 MB of RAM. Depending on the amount of hard drive space and memory you have available, these values may differ slightly. |
A 47 MB partition (mounted as /boot) in which the Linux kernel and related files are kept.
A partition of at least 4877 MB (mounted as /usr).
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. 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.
For this example, a 1020 MB swap partition (mounted as <swap>) is created.
A 2738 MB ext partition.
A partition of at least 2094 MB (mounted as /home).
A 384 MB partition (mounted as /).
A 259 MB partition (mounted as /var).
This partitioning scheme offers a reasonably flexible filesystem configuration for most server tasks.
Custom Installations
The Custom installation allows you the most flexibility during your installation. During a Custom installation, you have complete control over the packages that will be installed on your system.
The recommended disk space requirements for a Custom installation are as follows:
| Note |
|---|---|
The minimum recommended disk space requirements as listed below, are just minimum recommendations for the installation itself. You should adjust these disk space requirements as appropriate for your specific computing needs (such as disk space for personal files, additional applications you may install at a later time, and so on). |
Custom (minimum, without Advanced Server packages): 350 MB
Custom (minimum, with Advanced Server packages): 500 MB
Custom (default): 1 GB
Custom (choosing everything): 3.2 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:
| Note |
|---|---|
The partitions represented below were created on a system with 9 GB of hard drive space and 512 MB of RAM. Depending on the amount of hard drive space and memory you have available, these values may differ slightly. |
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. 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.
For this example, a 1020 MB swap partition (mounted as <swap>) is created.
A 47 MB partition (mounted as /boot) in which the Linux kernel and related files reside.
A 2609 MB root partition (mounted as /) in which all other files are stored (the exact size of this partition is dependent on your available disk space).