Chapter 1. Architectures
Chapter 1. Architectures Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 is available as a single kit on the following architectures: [1] 64-bit AMD 64-bit Intel IBM POWER7+ and POWER8 (big endian) IBM POWER8 (little endian) [2] IBM System z [3] In this release, Red Hat brings together improvements for servers and systems, as well as for the overall Red Hat open source experience. 1.1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux for POWER, little endian Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 introduces little endian support on IBM Power Systems servers using IBM POWER8 processors. Previously in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, only the big endian variant was offered for IBM Power Systems. Support for little endian on POWER8-based servers aims to improve portability of applications between 64-bit Intel compatible systems ( x86_64 ) and IBM Power Systems. Separate installation media are offered for installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM Power Systems servers in little endian mode. These media are available from the Downloads section of the Red Hat Customer Portal . Only IBM POWER8 processor-based servers are supported with Red Hat Enterprise Linux for POWER, little endian. Currently, Red Hat Enterprise Linux for POWER, little endian is supported only as a KVM guest under Red Hat Enteprise Virtualization for Power . Installation on bare metal hardware is currently not supported. The GRUB2 boot loader is used on the installation media and for network boot. The Installation Guide has been updated with instructions for setting up a network boot server for IBM Power Systems clients using GRUB2 . All software packages for IBM Power Systems are available for both the little endian and the big endian variant of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for POWER. Packages built for Red Hat Enterprise Linux for POWER, little endian use the the ppc64le architecture code - for example, gcc-4.8.3-9.ael7b.ppc64le.rpm . [1] Note that the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 installation is supported only on 64-bit hardware. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 is able to run 32-bit operating systems, including versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, as virtual machines. [2] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 (little endian) is currently only supported as a KVM guest under Red Hat Enteprise Virtualization for Power and PowerVM hypervisors. [3] Note that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 supports IBM zEnterprise 196 hardware or later; IBM System z10 mainframe systems are no longer supported and will not boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1.