Boot drive requirements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Boot disk exceeding 2.2TB

Issue

  • On the x86 and x86_64 architectures, Red Hat Enterprise Linux uses the DOS MBR partitioning format for its boot device. This partitioning scheme supports a maximum size of 2.2 terabytes (TB) per disk. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5 provide support for drives that are larger than 2.2TB through an alternative partitioning scheme, GUID partition table (GPT). The legacy PC BIOS is unable to boot off of GPT-partitioned disks and so the boot disk must use the DOS MBR partition table. This limitation does not apply to the Itanium (ia64) architecture, which is able to boot off of GPT disks.

  • After installation has completed, the parted disk partitioning tool can be used to apply a GPT partition table to devices which are to be used for data only.

Resolution

  • Boot disks must use the DOS MBR-style partition table and cannot exceed 2.2TB if the full disk is to be utilized. Disks which exceed 2.2TB can be partitioned with the MBR-style partition table but this will limit their capacity to 2.2TB.

  • If a RAID controller or SAN is in use which can present multiple disks from a single array, a small boot disk should be created with the larger volumes presented as a separate device. Refer to the RAID controller or SAN vendor's documentation or support service for details.

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 will support booting from GPT-partitioned disks if your system supports UEFI (instead of legacy PC BIOS). Please contact your system vendor to confirm if your system supports UEFI.

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