Install red hat on top of ubuntu

Question

Currently i'm having ubuntu v.9.04 .I need to install red hat 4.4 along with it keeping ubuntu intact.The current partitioning information is..

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00096040

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       18709   150280011   83  Linux
/dev/sda2           18710       19457     6008310    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           18710       19457     6008278+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

How can i achieve this?

Answer 1

You have three options.

1. Repartition your drive to make space for Red Hat

   This is potentially risky if you are not confident in what you are doing.

2. Add a new drive to install Red Hat onto

   This is much easier and less risk but does require you to have to obtain and fit a new drive.

3. Run Red Hat in VirtualBox or similar, literally onto top of Ubuntu.

   This is the easiest option. YOu can get virtualbox-ose from the Ubuntu Repos.

Also why Red Hat 4.4. 4.8 is out and there is also the newer 5.x series available.

Answer 2

As it stands, you can't - the disk is fully partitioned. You'd need to repartition /dev/sda1 to allow room for at least a new / partition (the swap can be shared, I'm not sure what /dev/sda2 is being used for). Why don't you virtualize it?

Answer 3

If you are looking to dual-boot then the overall process would be:

1. Ensure all important data and configuration is backed up. What you are about to do should be safe but resizing filesystems is a complex operation so such precautions should be taken just in case.
2. Make sure that your filesystem on /dev/sda1 is in good condition. You can force a full check by running sudo touch /forcefsck and rebooting, or you can boot from a live CD and running fsck -f /dev/sda1.
3. Make sure that grub's bootloader is installed in the partition not the MBR.
4. Shrink that partition down as much as you need to. I suggest using the "official" gparted live CD for this.
5. Now when installing RedHat you can create a new partition and install completely into that, making sure that the boot loader is installed into the partition not the MBR. You can have RH use the same swap partition that Ubuntu uses rather than needing to define a second one.
6. This should leave you with two systems that you have to switch between by changing which is the active partition with fdisk. You can now reconfigure the boot loader on one of the systems so it knows have to boot both and give you a choice instead of having to mess with the active flags.

Depending on what you are planning to do with the extra OS, you will probably find the visualization option better. It will be much much easier, and safer, and you'll be able to use both at once if needed rather than needing to reboot in order to switch.