enabling CentOS selinux

Question

I installed Centos 5.5 and by deafult SElinux was disabled. I did changes in /etc/selinux/config and now it looks like this.

SELINUX=enforcing
SELINUXTYPE=targeted
SETLOCALDEFS=0

and rebooted the system. But even after the reboot when I do check the sestatus it shows disable. where I'm doing a mistake do I need to change any thing else?

EDIT :
I'm Using Rackspace Cloud server

Answer 1

You need to be running a kernel that supports SELinux. Most VPS providers use one that doesn't, since no one has cared enough to write SELinux rules that allow their VPS tools/mechanism to work.

Another possibility is that one or more kernel options are being passed via the bootloader which disable it. Check your bootloader configuration.

Answer 2

It seems that if you create a support ticket with Rackspace they can enable SELinux support without using a custom kernel. I suspect they keep alternate kernels available and they simply switch it over on their end.