Chapter 1. Introduction to the Red Hat hardware certification program Use this guide to understand the certification process, the policies pertaining to hardware certification, and the process followed by the Red Hat Hardware Certification Team to create hardware test plans. 1.1. Audience The Red Hat Hardware Certification Program Policy Guide is intended for hardware vendors interested in certifying hardware with Red Hat. A strong working knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is required. A Red Hat Certified Engineer accreditation is preferred and suggested before participating. 1.2. Overview of the program The Red Hat Hardware Certification Program provides a formal means for you to work with Red Hat to establish official support for your hardware. Certified hardware is supported by Red Hat's Global Support Services (GSS) and is published in the Red Hat Certification Ecosystem Catalog . During the certification process, Red Hat engineers create a test plan that defines the hardware criteria required to achieve certification. Red Hat engineers follow the process described in Overview of test plan to create a test plan suitable for your hardware specifications. A description of the hardware certification process can be found in the Overview of certification process . 1.3. Certification and vendor validation Red Hat offers you the ability to certify or validate your products. Red Hat-certified products undergo thorough testing and are collaboratively supported with you. These products meet both your standards and Red Hat's criteria, which include functionality, interoperability, lifecycle management, security, and support requirements. Partner validated products are tested and supported by you. Validated infrastructure offerings are implemented at the Red Hat platform level. Validated infrastructure is currently extended by invitation only when customers have a strong preference to use Red Hat platforms, and where navigating the upstream acceptance to Red Hat platform enablement process creates a barrier for customer adoption. Validation allows you to enable and publish your hardware offerings more quickly. However, validated infrastructure, by definition does not include the full thoroughness of Red Hat platform enablement. We encourage you to continue efforts toward stabilization, upstream acceptance, Red Hat enablement and Red Hat certification. You and your customers must clearly understand the capabilities and limitations of your Partner Validated products. Additionally, ensure your customers know who to contact for assistance in diagnosing and resolving potential issues. 1.4. Certification prerequisites To verify that you are eligible to join the Hardware Certification Program, a summary of the most important policies are as follows: Red Hat certifies hardware models, but not specific configurations of a model. You must test all optional hardware configurations that are designated as part of the same model. You must test your hardware on a standard installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) with no special configuration or additional software. Do not install drivers that are not provided by Red Hat. Certifications are currently available for: RHEL versions 8 and 9. Red Hat OpenStack Platform for compute nodes and bare metal. Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time versions 8 and 9. Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform for working nodes and IPI systems. Red Hat Virtualization 4. Important The IBM Power (little endian) architecture requires an approved collaborative partnership established to be eligible for certification. Consult your engineering partner manager (EPM) for more information. Additional resources For more information about supported architectures, see RHEL versions and architectures . For more information about certification policies, see Hardware certification policies .

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