Chapter 2. Architectures

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 is available on the following architectures: [1]

  • 64-bit AMD
  • 64-bit Intel
  • IBM POWER7+ (big endian)
  • IBM POWER8 (big endian) [2]
  • IBM POWER8 (little endian) [3]
  • IBM POWER9 (little endian) [4][5]
  • IBM Z [4][6]
  • 64-bit ARM [4]

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 is distributed with the kernel version 3.10.0-1127, which provides support for the following architectures:

  • 64-bit AMD
  • 64-bit Intel
  • IBM POWER7+ (big endian)
  • IBM POWER8 (big endian)
  • IBM POWER8 (little endian)
  • IBM Z (kernel version 3.10)

The following architectures remain fully supported and continue to receive z-stream security and bug fix updates in accordance with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle:

  • IBM POWER9 (little endian)
  • IBM Z - Structure A (kernel version 4.14)
  • 64-bit ARM

[1] Note that the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 installation is supported only on 64-bit hardware. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 is able to run 32-bit operating systems, including previous versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, as virtual machines.
[2] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 POWER8 (big endian) are currently supported as KVM guests on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 POWER8 systems that run the KVM hypervisor, and on PowerVM.
[3] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 POWER8 (little endian) is currently supported as a KVM guest on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 POWER8 systems that run the KVM hypervisor, and on PowerVM. In addition, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 POWER8 (little endian) guests are supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 POWER9 systems that run the KVM hypervisor in POWER8-compatibility mode on version 4.14 kernel using the kernel-alt package.
[4] This architecture is supported with the kernel version 4.14, provided by the kernel-alt packages. For details, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 Release Notes.
[5] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 POWER9 (little endian) is currently supported as a KVM guest on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 POWER9 systems that run the KVM hypervisor on version 4.14 kernel using the kernel-alt package, and on PowerVM.
[6] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for IBM Z (both the 3.10 kernel version and the 4.14 kernel version) is currently supported as a KVM guest on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for IBM Z hosts that run the KVM hypervisor on version 4.14 kernel using the kernel-alt package.