1.4 Installation Target

Most installations are to a local hard disk. Therefore, it is necessary for the hard disk controllers to be available to the installation system. If a special controller, like a RAID controller, needs an extra kernel module, provide a kernel module update disk to the installation system.

Other installation targets may be all kinds of block devices that provide sufficient disk space and speed to run an operating system. This includes network block devices like iSCSI or SAN. It is also possible to install on network file systems that offer the standard Unix permissions. However, it may be problematic to boot these, because they must be supported by the initramfs before the actual system can start. Such installations are useful if there is a need to start the same system in different locations or if you intend to use Xen features like domain migration.