Before Red Hat Linux can run on a system, it must be started by special program called a boot loader. The boot loader program usually exists on the system's primary hard drive or other media device and is responsible for loading the Linux kernel its required files, or, in some cases, other operating systems into memory.
Each system architecture which can run Red Hat Linux uses a different boot loader. For example, the Alpha architecture uses the aboot boot loader, while the Itanium architecture uses the ELILO boot loader.
This chapter discuss commands and configuration options for the two boot loaders supplied with Red Hat Linux 8.0 for x86 architecture: GRUB and LILO.