Installation

Rocky Linux from CIQ is deployed through pre-built images - GenericCloud (QCOW2) for on-premises virtualization, cloud marketplace images for public clouds, and bootc images for immutable container-native deployments. Existing Rocky Linux systems can also be converted to RLC using the Depot CLI.

System Requirements

Component	Minimum	Recommended
Processor	64-bit x86_64 or aarch64	64-bit x86_64 or aarch64
Memory	4 GB RAM	8 GB RAM
Storage	25 GB available disk space	50 GB available disk space (30 GB minimum for NVIDIA images)
Network	Network connectivity for repository access	Network connectivity for repository access
Firmware	UEFI or BIOS-compatible system	UEFI recommended

Available Images

GenericCloud (QCOW2)

Pre-built virtual machine disk images for on-premises deployment using cloud-init for provisioning. Available for both RLC Pro and RLC+, in standard and NVIDIA (CUDA) variants.

GenericCloud Deployment Guide

Cloud Marketplace Images

Pre-configured RLC images available on major cloud providers:

Cloud Provider	Standard	NVIDIA (CUDA)
AWS
Azure
GCP
Oracle Cloud

Cloud images are available for both RLC Pro and RLC+ on x86_64 and aarch64 architectures. To find RLC images, go to portal.ciq.com, select your product, and you will be guided to the appropriate marketplace listing.

Bootc Images

Immutable, container-based operating system images using OCI container technology. Bootc images enable atomic updates, consistent deployments, and container-native OS management. Available from the CIQ Portal.

Bootc Images Guide

Conversion from Rocky Linux

Convert an existing Rocky Linux system to RLC Pro or RLC+ without reinstalling, using the Depot CLI.

Migration Guide

Image Specifications

All RLC images share these characteristics:

Property	Value
Default user	`rocky` (passwordless sudo)
Root login	Disabled via cloud-init
SSH authentication	Key-based only (`ssh_pwauth: false`)
Provisioning	cloud-init
Kernel	CIQ-built (`_ciq` suffix, e.g., `5.14.0-611.34.1+2.1.el9_7_ciq`)
Architectures	x86_64, aarch64

NVIDIA (CUDA) Images

NVIDIA images include the full CUDA toolkit and datacenter GPU drivers pre-installed:

NVIDIA datacenter drivers (kmod-nvidia-dc-open)
CUDA 12.8 SDK and runtime libraries (newer CUDA versions supported)
cuDNN, NCCL, and supporting libraries
nouveau kernel module blacklisted
Larger disk footprint (30 GB minimum)

Post-Deployment Setup

RLC images ship with the Depot CLI pre-installed. After first boot:


sudo depot login -u [USER STRING] -t [USER TOKEN]

Enable your RLC product to activate package repositories:


# For RLC Pro
sudo depot enable rlc-pro-9

# For RLC+
sudo depot enable rlc-plus-9

Update the system:
```
sudo dnf update -y
```

See the Getting Started guide for full details on Depot CLI setup.

Getting Started with RLC Bootc Images