Installation guide

If M < 2
S = M *2
Else
S = M + 2
Using this formula, a system with 2 GB of physical RAM would have 4 GB of swap, while
one with 3 GB of physical RAM would have 5 GB of swap. Creating a large swap space par-
tition can be especially helpful if you plan to upgrade your RAM at a later time.
For systems with really large amounts of RAM (more than 32 GB) you can likely get away
with a smaller swap partition (around 1x, or less, of physical RAM).
A /boot/ partition (100 MB) — the partition mounted on /boot/ contains the operating sys-
tem kernel (which allows your system to boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux), along with files
used during the bootstrap process. Due to limitations, creating a native ext3 partition to hold
these files is required. For most users, a 100 MB boot partition is sufficient.
Tip
If your hard drive is more than 1024 cylinders (and your system was manufac-
tured more than two years ago), you may need to create a /boot/ partition if
you want the / (root) partition to use all of the remaining space on your hard
drive.
Tip
If you have a RAID card, be aware that some BIOSes do not support booting
from the RAID card. In cases such as these, the /boot/ partition must be cre-
ated on a partition outside of the RAID array, such as on a separate hard drive.
A root partition (3.0 GB - 5.0 GB) — this is where "/" (the root directory) is located. In this
setup, all files (except those stored in /boot) are on the root partition.
A 3.0 GB partition allows you to install a minimal installation, while a 5.0 GB root partition
lets you perform a full installation, choosing all package groups.
18.5. Adding Partitions
To add a new partition, select the New button. A dialog box appears (refer to Figure 4.16,
“Creating a New Partition”).
Note
You must dedicate at least one partition for this installation, and optionally more.
18.5. Adding Partitions
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