Topic

Configuration Maximums
VMware vSphere 5.1
Whenyouselectandconfigureyourvirtualandphysicalequipment,youmuststayatorbelowthemaximums supportedbyvSphere5.1.Thelimitspresentedinthefollowingtablesrepresenttested,recommendedlimits, andtheyarefullysupportedbyVMware.

VirtualMachineMaximumsonpage 1 ESXiHostMaximumsonpage 2 vCloudDirectorMaximumsonpage 6 vCenterServerMaximumsonpage 7 vCenterServerExtensionsonpage 8

Thelimitspresentedinthisdocumentcanbeaffectedbyotherfactors,suchashardwaredependencies.For moreinformationaboutsupportedhardware,seetheappropriateESXihardwarecompatibilityguide.Consult individualsolutionlimitstoensurethatyoudonotexceedsupportedconfigurationsforyourenvironment. TheConfigurationMaximumsforvSphere5.1coversESXiandvCenterServer.

Virtual Machine Maximums

Table 1containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtovirtualmachines. Table 1. Virtual Machine Maximums
Item Compute VirtualCPUspervirtualmachine(VirtualSMP) Memory RAMpervirtualmachine Virtualmachineswapfilesize Storage Virtual Adapters and Devices VirtualSCSIadapterspervirtualmachine VirtualSCSItargetspervirtualSCSIadapter VirtualSCSItargetspervirtualmachine VirtualDiskspervirtualmachine(PVSCSI) Virtualdisksize IDEcontrollerspervirtualmachine IDEdevicespervirtualmachine Floppycontrollerspervirtualmachine Floppydevicespervirtualmachine Networking Virtual Devices VirtualNICspervirtualmachine 106 4 152 60 60 2TBminus512 bytes 13 44 1 25 1TB 1TB1 64 Maximum

VMware, Inc.

Configuration Maximums

Table 1. Virtual Machine Maximums (Continued)

Item Virtual Peripheral Ports USBcontrollerspervirtualmachine USBdevicesconnectedtoavirtualmachine Parallelportspervirtualmachine xHCIUSBcontrollers
9

Maximum

17 208 3 1 4

Serialportspervirtualmachine Graphics video device Videomemorypervirtualmachine Miscellaneous Concurrentremoteconsoleconnectionstoavirtualmachine

512MB

40

1. VMFS3withIMBblockmaximumswapsizeis255GB.RecommendedsolutionisVMFS5,not VMFS3withbiggerblocksize. 2. AnycombinationofdiskorVMDirectPathSCSItarget. 3. Supportstwochannels(primaryandsecondary)eachwithamasterandslavedevice. 4. DevicescanbeeitherCDROMordisk. 5. BIOSisconfiguredforonefloppydevice. 6. AnycombinationofsupportedvirtualNICs. 7. SupportsUSB1.xandUSB2.xdevices. 8. GuestoperatingsystemsmighthavesmallerlimitsthanallowedbyvSphere 9. SupportsUSB1.x,2.xand3.0devices.

ESXi Host Maximums

ThefollowingtablescontainconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihosts.

ComputeMaximumsonpage 2 MemoryMaximumsonpage 3 StorageMaximumsonpage 3 NetworkingMaximumsonpage 5 ClusterandResourcePoolMaximumsonpage 6

Compute Maximums
Table 2containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihostcomputeresources. Table 2. Compute Maximums
Item Host CPU maximums LogicalCPUsperhost NUMANodesperhost Virtual machine maximums Virtualmachinesperhost VirtualCPUsperhost VirtualCPUspercore Fault Tolerance maximums Virtualdisks VirtualCPUspervirtualmachine 16 1 512 2048 251 160 8 Maximum

VMware, Inc.

Configuration Maximums

Table 2. Compute Maximums (Continued)

Item RAMperFTVM Virtualmachinesperhost Maximum 64GB 4

1. TheachievablenumberofvCPUspercoredependsontheworkloadand specificsofthehardware.Formoreinformation,seethelatestversionof PerformanceBestPracticesforVMwarevSphere.

Memory Maximums
Table 3containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihostmemory. Table 3. Memory Maximums
Item RAMperhost Numberofswapfiles Swapfilesize Maximum 2TB 1pervirtualmachine 1TB1

1. OnVMFS3,useablocksizelargerthan1MBforswapfileslargerthan255GB

Storage Maximums
Table 4containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihoststorage. Table 4. Storage Maximums
Item Virtual Disks VirtualDisksperHost iSCSI Physical LUNsperserver Qlogic1GbiSCSIHBAinitiatorportsperserver Broadcom1GbiSCSIHBAinitiatorportsperserver Broadcom10GbiSCSIHBAinitiatorportsperserver NICsthatcanbeassociatedorportboundwiththesoftwareiSCSI stackperserver Numberoftotalpathsonaserver NumberofpathstoaLUN(softwareiSCSIandhardwareiSCSI) QlogiciSCSI:dynamictargetsperadapterport QlogiciSCSI:statictargetsperadapterport Broadcom1GbiSCSIHBAtargetsperadapterport Broadcom10GbiSCSIHBAtargetsperadapterport SoftwareiSCSItargets NAS2 NFSmountsperhost Fibre Channel LUNsperhost LUNsize LUNID NumberofpathstoaLUN 256 64TB 255 32 256 256 4 4 4 8 1024 8 64 62 641 128 2561 2048 Maximum

VMware, Inc.

Configuration Maximums

Table 4. Storage Maximums (Continued)

Item Numberoftotalpathsonaserver NumberofHBAsofanytype HBAports TargetsperHBA FCoE SoftwareFCoEadapters VMFS Volumesperhost Hostspervolume PoweredonvirtualmachinesperVMFSvolume VMFS3 Volumesize Rawdevicemappingsize(virtualcompatibility) RawDeviceMappingsize(physicalcompatibility) Blocksize Filesize(1MBblocksize) Filesize(2MBblocksize) Filesize(4MBblocksize) Filesize(8MBblocksize) Filespervolume VMFS5 Volumesize RawDeviceMappingsize(virtualcompatibility) RawDeviceMappingsize(physicalcompatibility) Blocksize Filesize Filespervolume Concurrent Operations ConcurrentvMotionoperationsperdatastore ConcurrentStoragevMotionoperationsperdatastore ConcurrentStoragevMotionoperationsperhost ConcurrentnonvMotionprovisioningoperationsperhost 128 8 2 8 64TB7 2TBminus512 bytes 64TB 1MB3 2TBminus512 bytes4 Approximately130,690 64TB5 2TBminus512 bytes 2TBminus512 bytes6 8MB 256GB 512GB 1TB 2TBminus512 bytes Approximately30,720 256 64 2048 4 Maximum 1024 8 16 256

1. Thesumofstatictargets(manuallyassignedIPaddresses)anddynamictargets(IPaddressesassigned todiscoveredtargets)maynotexceedthisnumber. 2. ContactyourstoragearrayvendororNFSservervendorforinformationaboutthemaximumNFS volumesize. 3. 1MBisdefaultblocksize.UpgradedVMFS5volumeswillinherittheVMFS3blocksizevalue. 4. MaximumfilesizeforupgradedVMFS5is2TBminus512 bytes,irrespectiveofthefilesystemblock size. 5. ForVMFS3volumeswith1MBblocksize,themaximumis50TB. 6. IfthepresentedLUNisgreaterthan2TB. 7. TheactualmaximumwilldependontheRAIDcontrollerormaximumsizeofLUNsupportedby storageaccessdriver(FC,iSCSI)thatisbeingused.Contactyourvendortofindthemaximums.

VMware, Inc.

Configuration Maximums

Networking Maximums
Thefollowinglimitsrepresentachievablemaximumconfigurationlimitsfornetworkinginenvironments wherenoothermorerestrictivelimitsapply(forexample,vCenterServerlimits,thelimitsimposedby featuressuchasHAorDRS,andotherconfigurationsthatmightimposerestrictionsmustbeconsideredwhen deployinglargescalesystems). Table 5containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihostnetworking. Table 5. Networking Maximums
Item Physical NICs e10001GbEthernetports(IntelPCIx) e1000e1GbEthernetports(IntelPCIe) igb1GbEthernetports(Intel) tg31GbEthernetports(Broadcom) bnx21GbEthernetports(Broadcom) forcedeth1GbEthernetports(NVIDIA) nx_nic10GbEthernetports(NetXen) ixgbe10GbEthernetports(Intel) bnx2x10GbEthernetports(Broadcom) be2net10GbEthernetports(Emulex) Combinationof10Gband1GbEthernetports Infinibandports(refertoVMwareCommunitySupport) VMDirectPath limits VMDirectPathPCI/PCIedevicesperhost VMDirectPathPCI/PCIedevicespervirtualmachine vSphere Standard and Distributed Switch Totalvirtualnetworkswitchportsperhost(VDSandVSSports) Maximumactiveportsperhost(VDSandVSS) Virtualnetworkswitchcreationportsperstandardswitch Portgroupsperstandardswitch DistributedvirtualnetworkswitchportspervCenter StaticportgroupspervCenter EphemeralportgroupspervCenter HostsperVDS DistributedswitchespervCenter Concurrent Operations ConcurrentvMotionoperationsperhost(1Gb/snetwork) ConcurrentvMotionoperationsperhost(10Gb/snetwork) Link aggregation control protocol LinkaggregationgroupspervDS Uplinkportsperlinkaggregationgroup Teaming Uplinkportsperteam 32 1 4 4 8 4096 1050 4088 256 60000 10000 256 500 128 8 42 32 24 16 32 16 2 8 8 8 8 Six10Gband Four1Gbports N/A1 Maximum

VMware, Inc.

Configuration Maximums

Table 5. Networking Maximums (Continued)

Item SingleRootI/OVirtualization Virtualfunctionsperhost 10GpNICs 32 4 Maximum

1. MellanoxTechnologiesInfiniBandHCAdevicedriversareavailabledirectlyfromMellanox Technologies.RefertoMellanoxforsupportstatusofInfiniBandHCAswithESXi. http://www.mellanox.com 2. Avirtualmachinecansupport6devices,if2ofthemareTeradicidevices.

Cluster and Resource Pool Maximums

Table 6containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihostclustersandresourcepools. Table 6. Cluster Maximums
Item Cluster (all clusters including HA and DRS) Hostspercluster Virtualmachinespercluster Virtualmachinesperhost MaximumconcurrenthostHAfailover Failoveraspercentageofcluster Resourcepoolspercluster PoweredonvirtualmachineconfigfilesperdatastoreinanHAcluster Resource Pool Resourcepoolsperhost Childrenperresourcepool Resourcepooltreedepth 1600 1024 81
2

Maximum

32 4000 512 32 100% 1600 2048

1. Additional4resourcepoolsareusedbysysteminternals 2. Thislimitdoesnotapplytovirtualdisks.AvirtualmachineenabledwithFaultTolerance countsastwovirtualmachines.

Using Maximum Values for More than One Configuration Option

Ifanyoneoftheconfigurationoptionslistedintheabovetablesisusedatitsmaximumlimitvalue,theESXi hostandvCenterServerwithdefaultconfigurationshouldbeabletowithstandthevalues. Ifmorethanoneconfigurationoptions(suchasnumberofvirtualmachines,numberofLUNs,andnumberof VDSports)areusedattheirmaximumlimit,someoftheprocessesrunningonthehostmightrunoutof memory.ThismightcausethehosttokeepdisconnectingfromthevCenterServer.Insuchacase,youneedto increasethememorypoolforthesehostprocessessothatthehostcanwithstandtheworkloadyouare planning.Youneedtoincreaseyourmemorypoolsizeincorrelationtothenumberofconfigurationoptions youareusingatthemaximumvalue.

vCloud Director Maximums

Table 7containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtovCloudDirector. Table 7. vCloud Director Maximums
Item Virtualmachinecount PoweredOnvirtualmachinecount Maximum 30000 10000

VMware, Inc.

Configuration Maximums

Table 7. vCloud Director Maximums

Item Organizations VirtualmachinespervApp vAppsperorganization Numberofnetworks Hosts vCenterServers VirtualDataCenters Datastores Catalogs Media Users Maximum 10000 128 3000 10000 2000 25 10000 1024 10000 1000 10000

vCenter Server Maximums

Table 8containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtovCenterServer. Table 8. vCenter Server Maximums
Item vCenter Server Scalability HostspervCenterServer PoweredonvirtualmachinespervCenterServer RegisteredvirtualmachinespervCenterServer LinkedvCenterServers HostsinlinkedvCenterServers PoweredonvirtualmachinesinlinkedvCenterServers RegisteredvirtualmachinesinlinkedvCenterServers ConcurrentvSphereClients Numberofhostperdatacenter MACaddressespervCenterServer(usingdefaultVMwareOUI) User Interface USBdevicesconnectedpervSphereClient Single Sign On Authenticationspersecond(average) 30 20 1000 10000 15000 10 3000 30000 50000 100 500 65536 Maximum

VMware, Inc.

Configuration Maximums

vCenter Server Extensions

ThefollowingtablescontainconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtovCenterServerextensions.

VMwarevCenterUpdateManageronpage 8 VMwarevCenterOrchestratoronpage 8 vCenterVASAonpage 9 StorageDRSonpage 9

VMware vCenter Update Manager

Table 9containsconfigurationmaximumsforvCenterUpdateManager. Table 9. vCenter Update Manager Maximums
Item vCenter Update Manager Scalability HostscansinasinglevCenterServer VirtualmachinescansinasinglevCenterServer CiscoVDSupdateanddeployment Concurrent Operations VMwareToolsscanperESXihost VMwareToolsupgradeperESXihost Virtualmachinehardwarescanperhost Virtualmachinehardwareupgradeperhost VMwareToolsscanperVUMserver VMwareToolsupgradeperVUMserver VirtualmachinehardwarescanperVUMserver VirtualmachinehardwareupgradeperVUMserver ESXihostscanperVUMserver ESXihostremediationperVUMserver ESXihostupgradeperVUMserver ESXihostupgradepercluster 90 24 90 24 75 75 75 75 75 71 71 1 1000 10000 70 Maximum

VMware vCenter Orchestrator

Table 10containsconfigurationmaximumsforvCenterOrchestrator. Table 10. vCenter Orchestrator Maximums
Item ConnectedvCenterServersystems ConnectedESXiinstances Connectedvirtualmachines Concurrentrunningworkflows Maximum 20 1280 35000 300

VMware, Inc.

Configuration Maximums

vCenter VASA
Table 11containsconfigurationmaximumsforvCenterVASA. Table 11. vCenter VASA Maximums
Item Storageproviders Maximum 10

Storage DRS
Table 12containsconfigurationmaximumsforStorageDRS. Table 12. Storage DRS
Item Virtualdisksperdatastorecluster Datastoresperdatastorecluster DatastoreclusterspervCenter Maximum 9000 32 256

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: docfeedback@vmware.com VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com Copyright 2013 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents. VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Item: EN-000951-01