Chapter 3. Hardware certification policies

A hardware certification is specific to a major RHEL version and a processor architecture. The certification is valid from the posted minor version forward until the next major version. It does not carry over to the next or previous major versions or other architectures.

For RHEL 7, certifications apply to all variants of the same version and architecture.

The following table shows the RHEL versions and architectures that can be combined in a certification:

At the start of the certification process, you must provide a specification for the hardware model that you want to certify. Model specifications must include factory-standard and optional components. Additional hardware specified as compatible with the model may be included on the specification, but must be identifiable by customers as separate from the model.

Red Hat awards a hardware certification to a system or a component:

Based on the specification, Red Hat will create a test plan to certify the component or system with RHEL.

If you consider that the certification test plan does not meet your requirements, submit a request for an exception by adding a comment in your certification.

A certification that meets the success criteria can be published in the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog. However, Red Hat will only make public those hardware certification entries that are awarded to products that have reached general availability (GA).

The Red Hat Catalog displays certifications differently depending on the RHEL version. Certification publications for RHEL 8 or RHEL 9 that are published in the catalog will show the features that were listed within the test plan alongside one of the following statuses:

For RHEL 7, the catalog displays a basic view of the certified hardware that does not include a feature list of your system.

When a customer searches for a product by features, your product will appear in the search results only when a supported feature in your product’s certification matches the features in the search request. This allows customers to find hardware that is certified for their required features.

Features that are either not tested or that did not pass when the system was certified can be updated using a supplemental certification for the system. Once certified, the additional features will be added to the certification catalog entry for RHEL 8 or RHEL 9 as appropriate.

Apply for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time certification after your system has been awarded the prerequisite certifications detailed in the previous table.

The Red Hat Hardware Certification test suite includes the necessary test to obtain a Real Time certification.

For more information, see Hardware class requirements.

Red Hat Virtualization relies on and is co-engineered with RHEL. As a result of this common base, if your system passes the basic virtualization tests during the Red Hat Enterprise Linux certification, you do not need to run additional tests to receive the Red Hat Virtualization certification. If your system also passes the advanced virtualization tests, your Red Hat Virtualization certification will automatically also include the advanced features.

Red Hat will open the Red Hat Virtualization certification on your behalf automatically for all 64-bit Intel and AMD, and all IBM Power little endian server certifications submitted for RHEL.

If you want but did not automatically receive the certification, create a new layered certification request for the Red Hat Virtualization product.

Red Hat OpenStack Platform relies on and is co-engineered with RHEL. As a result of this common base, you do not need to run additional tests to receive the Red Hat OpenStack Platform Compute certification if your system meets prerequisite certifications detailed in the previous table. You also do not need to open a new certification.

However, for Red Hat OpenStack Platform RHEL 8, layered product certification specifically applies to POWER systems that are not LPAR (logical partition) based. To qualify for layered product certification on RHEL 8, the system must function as a bare metal hypervisor during testing.

For RHEL 9, Red Hat doesn’t support KVM on POWER systems. Hence there is no creation of virtualization-based layered product certifications.

For other architectures or categories, or in any situation where you want but did not automatically receive the certification, create a new layered certification request for the Red Hat OpenStack Platform Compute product.

Red Hat encourages partners certifying systems with baseboard management controllers (BMC) to apply for the Red Hat OpenStack Platform Bare Metal certification as well.

Apply for the Red Hat OpenStack Platform for Real-Time Applications certification after has been awarded the prerequisite certifications detailed in the previous table. The Red Hat Hardware Certification test suite includes the necessary test to obtain a Real Time certification.

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform relies on and is co-engineered with RHEL. As a result of this common base, you do not need to run additional tests to receive the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform certification if your system meets prerequisite certifications detailed in the previous table.

However, for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, supported versions based on RHEL 8 (currently v4.11 and v4.12), layered product certification specifically applies to POWER systems that are not LPAR (logical partition) based. To qualify for layered product certification on RHEL 8, the system must function as a bare metal hypervisor during testing.

For RHEL 9, Red Hat doesn’t support KVM on POWER systems. Hence there is no creation of virtualization-based layered product certifications.

For other architectures or categories, or in any situation where you want but did not automatically receive the certification, create a new layered certification request for the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform product.

Apply for the Red Hat OpenShift Platform Bare Metal certification to add IPI and assisted installer capabilities to the RHOCP entry in the catalog.

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 software driver 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.

Kernel boot parameters are additional parameters that you can utilize to correct hardware configuration. These parameters can be used if they:

Red Hat expects partners to conduct hardware certification testing on systems running kernels that have not been tainted (value of 0). Non-zero values of tainted kernels may be acceptable when a result of supported and required kernel driver is from the Red Hat Driver Update Program or a cosmetic benign kernel warning. Any non-zero taint value approved during certification will be documented in a Red Hat knowledge base Solution associated with the certification publication.

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.

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.

RHEL certifications test whether your system can host kernel virtual machines (KVMs). The hardware certification test plan contains the following virtualization tests:

Both the basic and advanced tests are planned for the RHEL certification.

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 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 packages. 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.

The Hardware Health subtest checks the system’s health by testing if the hardware is supported, meets the requirements, and has any known hardware vulnerabilities. The subtest does the following:

Failing any of these tests will result in a WARN from the test suite and should be verified by the partner to have correct and intended behavior.

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.

Red Hat expects hardware partners will conduct relevant testing and certifications to meet applicable government, market, and industry standards for their hardware outside of the Red Hardware Certification program. Red Hat will not do a specific evaluation or verification that such standards or certifications have been met or awarded except for how the same relates to the interoperability and functionality of the hardware with Red Hat products.

Standards such as but not limited to PCI-SIG, USB-SIG, ARM Server Ready, CE, FCC, etc. are independent from Red Hat and the responsibility of the hardware partner to archive or obtain as warranted.