Red Hat Enterprise Linux specification comparison, RHEL 3/4/5/6 and RHEL 7
Let’s have a look at the specification comparison between different recent versions. Here is list of Hardware and software features (from RedHat) in RHEL 3/4/5/6 and the RHEL 7.
| Specification | Version 3 | Version 4 | Version 5 | Version 6 | Version 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum logical CPUs | |||||
| x86 | 16 | 32 | 32 | 32 | N/A |
| Itanium 2 | 8 | 256 [512] | 256 [1024] | N/A | N/A |
| x86_64 | 8 | 64 [64] | 160 [255] | 240 [4096] | 160 [5120] |
| POWER | 8 | 64 [128] | 128 | 128 | 128 |
| System z | 64 (z900) | 64 (z10 EC) | 101 (zEC12) | 101 (zEC12) | 101 (zEC12) |
| Maximum memory | |||||
| x86 | 64GB | 64GB | 16GB | 16GB | N/A |
| Itanium 2 | 128GB | 2TB | 2TB | N/A | N/A |
| x86_64 | 128GB | 256GB [1TB] | 1TB | 6TB [64TB] | 3TB [64TB] |
| POWER | 64GB | 128GB [1TB] | 512GB [1TB] | 2TB | 2TB |
| System z | 256GB (z900) | 1.5TB (z10 EC) | 3TB (z196) | 3TB (z196) | 3TB (z196) |
| Maximum number of device paths (“sd” devices) | |||||
| 256 | 256 | 1,024 | 8,192 | 10,000 | |
| Required minimums | |||||
| x86 | 256MB | 256MB | 512MB minimum/1 GB/logical CPU recommended | 512MB minimum/1 GB/logical CPU recommended | N/A |
| x86_64 | 256MB | 256MB | 512MB minimum/1 GB/logical CPU recommended | 1GB minimum/1 GB/logical CPU recommended | 1GB minimum/1 GB/logical CPU recommended |
| Itanium 2 | 512MB | 512MB | 512MB/1 GB/logical CPU recommended | N/A | N/A |
| POWER | 512MB | 512MB | 1GB minimum/2GB recommended | 2GB minimum/2GB required per install | 2GB minimum/2GB required per install |
| Minimum diskspace | 800MB | 800MB | 1GB minimum/5GB recommended | 1GB minimum/5GB recommended | 10GB minimum/20GB recommended |
| File systems and storage limits | |||||
| Maximum filesize (Ext3) | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB |
| Maximum file system size (Ext3) | 2TB | 8TB | 16TB | 16TB | 16TB |
| Maximum file size (Ext4) | — | — | 16TB | 16TB | 16TB |
| Maximum file system size (Ext4) | — | — | 16TB [1EB] | 16TB [1EB] | 50TB [1EB] |
| Maximum file size (GFS) | 2TB | 16TB [8EB] | 16TB [8EB] | N/A | N/A |
| Maximum file system size (GFS) | 2TB | 16TB [8EB] | 16TB [8EB] | N/A | N/A |
| Maximum file size (GFS2) | — | — | 100TB [8EB] | 100TB [8EB] | 100TB [8EB] |
| Maximum file system size (GFS2) | — | — | 100TB [8EB] | 100TB [8EB] | 100TB [8EB] |
| Maximum file size (XFS) | — | — | 100TB [8EB] | 100TB [8EB] | 500TB [8EB] |
| Maximum file system size (XFS) | — | — | 100TB [16EB] | 100TB [16EB] | 500TB [16EB] |
| Maximum Boot LUN size (BIOS) | — | — | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB |
| Maximum Boot LUN size (UEFI) | — | — | N/A | 32bit (i686) – 2TB, 64bit – 16TB (tested limit) |
50TB |
| Maximum x86 per-process virtual address space | Approx. 4GB | Approx. 4GB | Approx. 3GB | Approx. 3GB | N/A |
| Maximum x86_64 per-process virtual address space | 512GB | 2TB | 128TB | 128TB | |
| Kernel and OS features | |||||
| Kernel foundation | Linux 2.4.21 | Linux 2.6.9 | Linux 2.6.18 | 2.6.32 – 2.6.34 | 3.10 |
| Compiler/toolchain | GCC 3.2 | GCC 3.4 | GCC 4.1 | GCC 4.4 | GCC 4.8.2 |
| Languages supported | 10 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 22 |
| NIAP/CC certified | Yes (3+) | Yes (4+) | Yes (4+) | Yes (4+) | Under Evaluation (4+) |
| Common Criteria certified KVM | — | — | Evaluated | Evaluated | Under Evaluation |
| IPv6 | — | — | Ready Logo Phase 2 | Ready Logo Phase 2 | Under Evaluation |
| FIPS certified | — | — | Yes (7 modules) | Yes (8 modules) | Under Evaluation (9 modules) |
| Common Operating Environment (COE) compliant | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| LSB-compliant | Yes – 1.3 | Yes – 3 | Yes – 3.1 | Yes – 4.0 | Under Evaluation (4.1) |
| GB18030 | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Client environment | |||||
| Desktop GUI | Gnome 2.2 | Gnome 2.8 | Gnome 2.16 | Gnome 2.28 | Gnome 3.8 |
| Graphics | XFree86 | X.org | X.org 7.1.1 | X.org 7.4 | X.org 7.7 |
| OpenOffice | V1.1 | V1.1.2 | V2.0.4 | V3.2 | LibreOffice V4.1.4 |
| Gnome Evolution | V1.4 | V2.0 | V2.8.0 | V2.28 | V3.8.5 |
| Default browser | Mozilla | Firefox | Firefox 1.5 | Firefox 3.6 | Firefox 24.5 |