Typically, Red Hat limits major revisions in the certification tests and criteria to major releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Red Hat might also release updates to the Hardware Certification policy, criteria, and/or test suite(s) at any point, including at minor OS releases, where new hardware support features are introduced, or any other point as deemed necessary.

Only a single version of the policy is active at any one time. This current policy is effective upon its release and supersedes all previous versions.

Changes to the policy or criteria will be sent as a notification to the hwcert-announce-list@redhat.com mailing list. Subscribe to the list via the web interface (https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/hwcert-announce-list).

Changes to the test suite will also be documented in the test suite errata notification and package changelog.

Red Hat Hardware Certification is available for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux family of products. Certifications are awarded per version and architecture pair (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 for x86_64, for example) and not by variant (Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Desktops).

A critical feature of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux product family is that all family members share a common core (e.g. the kernel, development tool chain, libraries, etc.); therefore, certifications apply to all variants of the same version and architecture.

At this time, Red Hat only accepts hardware test results that have been conducted on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 6.10, or 7.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform delivers the Red Hat OpenStack technology optimized for, and integrated with, Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform consists of additional packages that expand the capabilities of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to quickly scale up to tens of thousands of virtual machines without requiring a unique kernel or specialized hardware support. Because of this common base, additional testing beyond the Red Hat Enterprise Linux certification with Virtualization is not required for servers to receive Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform Compute certification.

This certification is automatically included for all new Intel64 and AMD64 server certifications submitted for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

The base Red Hat Enterprise Linux certification is required to be successfully completed, including virtualization testing, and the base certification must be posted before Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform Compute certification is processed.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real-Time offer predictability, for consistent low-latency system response times. These Real-Time products consist of additional packages that expand Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including a uniquely tuned replacement kernel. These packages add to, but do not modify, the user-space portion of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

The Hardware Certification Test Suite contains an additional Real-Time test that can be performed to achieve Real-Time certification after completing the base, Red Hat Enterprise Linux certification (see Table 4.1, “Hardware Requirements by Class”). The additional Real-Time packages must be installed and running to perform these tests.

Hardware Certification Partners can create new Real-Time certifications requests in the certification workflow by selecting an existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 certification entry, going to the Advanced section, and then filling out the fields under the Create New Layered Product Certification - RHEL Real-Time heading.

The base Red Hat Enterprise Linux certification is required to have been completed and posted before the Real-Time results will be reviewed.

Red Hat Openstack Platform for Real-Time Applications is designed to deliver ultra-low latency for performance-sensitive virtual environments. The Red Hat OpenStack Platform for Real-Time Applications products consist of additional packages that expand Red Hat OpenStack Platform, including a uniquely tuned replacement kernel, KVM, and additional tuned profiles. These packages enable Real-Time applications to run in guests virtual machine using RHOSP.

The Red Hat Hardware Certification Test Suite contains an additional fv_real-time test that is to be performed to achieve Red Hat OpenStack Platform for Real-Time Applications certification. This test will be the default test plan for any Red Hat OpenStack Platform for Real-Time certification. Red Hat OpenStack Platform for Real-Time certifications should be opened after completing the Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real-Time and Red Hat Enterprise Linux certification

Hardware Certification Partners can create new Red Hat OpenStack Platform for Real-Time Applications certifications requests in the certification workflow by selecting an existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 certification entry, going to the Advanced section, and then filling out the fields under the Create New Layered Product Certification - RHEL Real-Time heading.

Partners are expected to perform the fv_real-time test from the host RHEL OS with the Real-Time kernel (kernel-rt) running, and the supported full virtualization enabled on the system.

Red Hat Gluster Storage for On-Premise combines reliable Red Hat software with Intel 64 and AMD 64 commodity hardware, eliminating the need for high-cost, proprietary storage systems.

Red Hat Gluster Storage combines additional packages with a Red Hat Enterprise Linux ISO for easy deployment. Because it is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, only an additional hardware specification review is required for Red Hat Gluster Storage certification. Additional testing beyond the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 certification testing is not required. The review will confirm that the server’s specifications conform to the supported hardware configurations of the Red Hat Gluster Storage image as outlined in the Minimum Hardware Requirements section of the Red Hat Gluster Storage 3.0 Compatible Physical, Virtual Server and Client OS Platforms Knowledge Base article.

Partners have the option to create a corresponding Red Hat Gluster Storage certification when creating a new Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 6.10 server certification request. Partners who want to create a Red Hat Gluster Storage certification entry for an existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 6.10 certified server may do so in the Hardware Catalog by going to the Advanced section of the desired Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 6.10 certification and then filling out the fields under the Create New Layered Product Certification - Red Hat Gluster Storage heading. Partners who are not currently able to create Red Hat Gluster Storage certifications but would like to certify Red Hat Gluster storage should review the Red Hat Storage Architectural Review Process for more information.

A successfully completed and posted base Red Hat Enterprise Linux certification is required before the Red Hat Gluster Storage certification is processed.

During the Red Hat Gluster Storage certification process, the system’s specifications are compared to the minimum Red Hat Gluster Storage hardware requirements (see Red Hat Storage Architectural Review Process for specifics).

Systems that fail to meet the requirements are rejected.

If a system meets the necessary requirements, its Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 certification entry is checked for associated Red Hat Knowledge Base articles. Any applicable Red Hat Knowledge Base entries from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux certification are reviewed to ensure that they provide appropriate and sufficient information for end users. When any necessary Knowledge Base review and updates are completed, the Red Hat Gluster Storage certification can be published.

Hardware certification entries for all products will not be posted publicly until the General Availability (GA) release of that product.

A Red Hat Hardware Certification is valid for the posted release and any subsequent minor updates. For example, a 32-bit certification granted on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 is also valid for 6.4, 6.5 and so on.

Certifications do not apply to past or future major Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions nor additional or alternate architectures of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 for Intel 64 and AMD64 in relation to the previous example. These certifications must be obtained separately.

Once a hardware model has been certified, the hardware will retain its certification until

This life cycle policy also applies to Red Hat Enterprise for Real Time, Red Hat Gluster Storage, Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure, and Red Hat OpenStack optional certifications.

New hardware certifications for a given, major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux can typically be submitted until the 2nd, subsequent major version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released.

A notice will typically be sent to the hwcert-announce@redhat.com mailing list 30 days in advance announcing the upcoming closing of the window. Planning for each of these window closures should be done in coordination with your Enterprise Partner Manager.

Certification requests that fall outside of the normal window must be raised with your Enterprise Partner Manager.

These requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Certification requests beyond the submission window must not require additional updates to the operating system.

Partner support of certified hardware is a fundamental part of Red Hat Hardware Certification. All requests and information about the hardware to be certified must be submitted by the original hardware manufacturer to Red Hat.

Hardware partners can use their own outside partners for any portion of their hardware and testing but all benefits and additional costs are the responsibility of the partner.

Red Hat will only interact with the partner who submitted the certification request and will only post original certifications with a vendor+make+model value easily identifiable by Red Hat as the submitting partner.

All hardware certification requests submitted to Red Hat are presumed to be requests for published entries on the Hardware Catalog. Certifications can remain unpublished, where the certification is not already published on the Hardware Catalog, upon request by the partner.

Unpublished certifications follow the same policies as published certifications but are not made available on the Internet.

Certification requests that fail to meet the certification criteria will remain unpublished in all cases.

In order to maximize the efficiency of the Hardware Certification testing process, Red Hat allows Hardware Certification Partners to reuse, or leverage, specific test cases for the same (or later minor) release and architecture of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to satisfy test plan requirements where components are reused between similar models.

The partner is required to have a Red Hat Enterprise Linux quality assurance (QA) process that encompasses all hardware to be certified with leveraging. This QA process is in turn leveraged by Red Hat to offer this feature, as such partners cannot leverage testing of other partners except as described in Section 3.1.14, “Component Pass-Through Certifications”. Additional requirements for leveraging are provided in Table 4.1, “Hardware Requirements by Class”.

A leverage pool is a series of unpublished component certifications performed by a system vendor for the purpose of establishing a list of components intended for use via leveraging during later system certifications. The following conditions apply to leverage pools:

A Pass-Through Certification refers to the ability of a third party system or component to be granted the same certification as hardware previously certified by the original hardware manufacturer.

System manufacturers can extend a certification granted to their systems to another vendor’s system where the original vendor

The third party cannot then extend their pass-through certification to another vendor. While both vendors are required to be members of the Hardware Certification program, only the original vendor may request pass-through certifications.

Pass-through requests should be opened using the Pass-Through dialog under the Advanced tab in the Hardware Catalog entry of the original certification.

Vendors may also utilize the pass-through process where the same vendor has multiple names for the same hardware.

Component vendors may utilize the pass-through process where the component vendor

(a) has permission from the third party,

(b) has the mechanics to ensure the third party does not alter the hardware, and

(c) extends their responsibilities of support and representative hardware to include situations involving the third party hardware (refer to sections 1.2 and 1.3 of the Hardware Certification Agreement).

Third-party vendors may not extend their pass-through certification to another vendor. While both vendors are required to be members of the Hardware Certification program, only the original component vendor may request pass-through certifications. The original and pass-through certifications may be published or unpublished.

Third party system vendors may choose to leverage these component certifications in their system certifications for standard PCIe form factor Ethernet, Fibre Channel, Infiniband, iSCSI, SATA, SAS, RAID, CNA, and WLAN option cards.

The regular leverage policies apply to the system certification leveraging the component pass-through certification, including the internal QE process encompasses all hardware to be certified with leveraging. Component pass-through certifications may also follow the leverage pool policies (see Section 3.1.12, “Component Leverage Pools”).

Component pass-through certifications are opened using the Pass-Through dialog under the Advanced tab in the Hardware Catalog entry of the original component certification by the original component vendor.

Upon successful completion, the pass-through certification will be made available to the system vendor. The system vendor may then provide the pass-through certification ID as the leverage value in their system certification test plan.

Changes to the model that would alter the original test plan criteria require re-certification. Model changes include hardware, BIOS, or firmware. For example, an increase to the number of CPUs supported or the addition of new components such as network or storage controllers requires re-certification. Refer to Section 4.1, “Test Plan Overview” for further information on test plan criteria.

A new supplemental certification should be opened to process the hardware changes.

A model must have no known major issues with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. As part of the certification process, Red Hat will investigate to ensure that no significant unresolved customer-impacting issues exist.

Representative hardware samples are required by Red Hat Engineering and Support in both self-tested and Red Hat-tested certifications. This hardware is utilized by Red Hat to verify, debug, and fix customer issues and/or in future product testing. Be aware of the following conditions regarding hardware samples:

Red Hat recommends that the latest version of the test suite packages be used for all testing. When a new version of any test suite package is made available, results created using previous versions will continue to be accepted for a period of three months. At the end of this period the Hardware Catalog will automatically reject result packages created with the older versions and testing will need to be repeated with valid packages. The current valid package versions are displayed on the results package submission form.

The latest minor release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version is always recommended; however, any release that satisfies the full testing criteria may be used. Testing on the earliest fully-supported release will maximize the potential customer base. If multiple minor releases are used during testing, the newest minor release will be used as the posted release for the model. Depending on the features of a given model a minimum release may be required other than what is desired.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux should not be updated with errata packages except when recommended by the Red Hat Hardware Certification Review team or in accordance with the Section 3.2.6, “Drivers” policies. Any testing performed with unnecessary errata installed may require retesting.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real-Time test results are only accepted on the current minor release of the Realtime product installed on the current and previous minor release of the corresponding Red Hat Enterprise Linux. When a new Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real-Time minor release is made available results on the previous minor Realtime release will continue to be accepted for a period of 30 days.

The Red Hat Hardware Certification Program requires testing on a standard installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux with-out any modifications. Changes to the default configuration presented by the installer and first boot utilities are allowed when the configuration change can be made using one of the standard system tools and when the default configuration does not create the potential for data loss. Required changes to the default configuration must be documented in a Red Hat Knowledge Base Solution that is associated with the certification listing. A customer purchasing a Red Hat certified system can therefore be confident the system will work as expected with a standard installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Additional kernel parameters may be utilized if they (a) are used to correct hardware configuration, (b) do not disable functionality, and (c) do not expose a potential for data loss when not in use. For example, if the kernel parameter noacpi is required to boot a system which does not install without that parameter, this would likely be acceptable. If, however, the system would install but corrupts data over time when noacpi is not specified, the certification would be suspended until the the situation is resolved. Additional kernel parameters utilized during certification are documented in Red Hat Knowledge Base Solution associated with the certification listing.

Red Hat may provide drivers as a Technology Preview, granting early access to upcoming product innovations. These drivers are not fully supported and cannot be used to achieve certification (see Technology Preview features support scope). Drivers are designated as technology preview in the release notes of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux product documentation (link). Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1, the /sbin/lsmod command will also mark technology preview modules with the letter "T" similar to the "U" for unsigned modules.

Red Hat recognizes that it is not possible for some drivers to be included within Red Hat Enterprise Linux. While use of additional drivers is discouraged, in certain cases such drivers may be used during the certification process. These cases include the following:

Additional drivers not officially shipped by Red Hat that are used in hardware certifications should be built using the standard kmod process as described on kerneldrivers.org, only use approved symbols, must not add subsystems, and must not replace nor conflict with any Red Hat provided driver. Providing hardware support already present in a Red Hat provided driver is considered a conflict. No quality nor source review shall be performed by Red Hat on any additional driver.

Where additional driver use is believe valid, a comment should be added to the certification request including the name of the driver, the hardware which requires the driver, if the above driver construction recommendations are met, the vendor URL address to the driver information and End User Customer Support information (where applicable) when the certification is opened.

Certifications must be run with SELinux enabled using the Targeted Policy and with Enforcing on. The test suite will check for these conditions.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 require testing of KVM Virtualization during certification on 32-bit (RHEL6 only) and 64-bit architectures. See Table 4.1, “Hardware Requirements by Class” - System Virtualization for the specific list of required tests.

Certifications involving Red Hat Enterprise Linux in a virtualized environment may only occur where approved collaborative partnerships have been established (see your Partner Manager for details). All policies and criteria, including recertification, apply to the virtualized hardware as presented to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Changes to the underlying hardware and/or virtualization layers are the responsibility of the vendor to disclose and test as appropriate.

BIOS/Firmware versions are required to be production-level (e.g. feature complete without major changes pending) during testing. BIOS/Firmware changes subsequent to testing are required to meet the Section 3.3.2, “Changes” criteria. The tested or subsequent revision is required to be available to customers by the posting date of the certification.

BIOS/Firmware changes that enable or disable features necessitate re-certification. Re-certification is not required for BIOS changes to correct bugs and/or alter superficial items like splash screens. Vendor internal testing of these changes to verify they do not adversely affect the hardware, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or the certification status is required, but the results of this testing is not required to be submitted to Red Hat.

Any required BIOS/Firmware configuration information must be provided in a comment in the certification request. Providing suggested and/or default configuration data is encouraged but not required. Vendor provided configuration information may be provided in the certification listing using an associated Red Hat Knowledge Base Solution. Validating alternate configuration settings do not expose data corruption issues or unexpectedly disrupt functionality is the responsibility of the hardware vendor.

User configurable BIOS settings that enable/disable hardware features and/or functions must be set such that the feature or function is enabled during testing. For example, a setting to control on-board networking must be configured to enable the network interface.

Firmware that is loaded via supported mechanisms of the OS may be used where they follow the guidelines above and have a perma-link to the supported binary RPM package(s). OS Loaded firmware not included with the Red Hat product will be documented in a Red Hat Knowledge Base Solution associated to the certification listing.

A model must include all hardware and software to enable full functionality in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux-only environment. For example, a system that requires a management console to boot and/or be configured, would not qualify for certification if the console was only accessible via Internet Explorer on another system.

Components and peripherals to be listed independently are required be tested with Virtualization if available on the architecture. Components listed in the hardware catalog carry a generic disclaimer informing customers that while the component has demonstrated compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, we cannot guarantee that it will work in a specific system and the customer should contact their system vendor to ensure compatibility.

The Red Hat Hardware Certification Program requires testing with production level hardware. Preproduction hardware which has been upgraded to production level equivalent is also acceptable.

Certified models may not be altered such that a regression in the certification testing results or change in criteria occurs. Minor changes that do not add or alter features or functionality are expected to be tested by the vendor but are not required to be resubmitted. For example cable length or passive backplane port count changes. Vendors are expected to notify Red Hat of any significant changes including those which add features or functions. If re-certification is required, a new supplemental certification entry should be opened from the original certification. Any additional testing required should be performed using the same Red Hat Enterprise Linux version as the original submissions. Where a version mismatch occurs between the updated testing and the original submission, a Red Hat Knowledge Base article may be associated with the original certification for clarity. Supplemental certifications are processed in queue with other certifications, but are not published.

Models available in configurations beyond the Red Hat product limits may still be eligible for certification. Testing will need to be performed demonstrating the model within the limits by manual or automatic configuration, for example the kernel automatically ignores memory beyond the limit, or CPU’s above the limit, etc. Manual configuration follows the standard configuration and kernel parameters policies. A Red Hat Knowledge Base article may be added to the certification listing for clarity.

Vendors are encouraged to work with their Hardware Partner Manager and Partner TAMs on feature requests to raise the relevant Red Hat Enterprise Linux product limits prior the certification effort. Like all Red Hat Enterprise Linux feature requests the required time lines, development, and testing efforts are determined on a case-by-case basis outside of the certification process.

In general, Red Hat Hardware Certification places the responsibility of performance testing on the hardware vendor; however, major performance issues that are deemed to have significant customer impact may delay certification until a resolution is determined.