Topic

Configuration Maximums
VMware vSphere 5.0

Whenyouselectandconfigureyourvirtualandphysicalequipment,youmuststayatorbelowthemaximums
supportedbyvSphere5.0.Thelimitspresentedinthefollowingtablesrepresenttested,recommendedlimits,
andtheyarefullysupportedbyVMware.

VirtualMachineMaximumsonpage 1

ESXiHostMaximumsonpage 2

vCenterServerMaximumsonpage 6

vCenterServerExtensionsonpage 7

Thelimitspresentedinthisdocumentcanbeaffectedbyotherfactors,suchashardwaredependencies.For
moreinformationaboutsupportedhardware,seetheappropriateESXihardwarecompatibilityguide.Consult
individualsolutionlimitstoensurethatyoudonotexceedsupportedconfigurationsforyourenvironment.

TheConfigurationMaximumsforvSphere5.0coversESXiandvCenterServer.

Virtual Machine Maximums

Table 1containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtovirtualmachines.

Table 1. Virtual Machine Maximums

Item Maximum

Compute

VirtualCPUspervirtualmachine(VirtualSMP) 32

Memory

RAMpervirtualmachine 1TB

Virtualmachineswapfilesize 1TB1

Storage Virtual Adapters and Devices

VirtualSCSIadapterspervirtualmachine 42

VirtualSCSItargetspervirtualSCSIadapter 153

VirtualSCSItargetspervirtualmachine 60

VirtualDiskspervirtualmachine(PVSCSI) 60

Virtualdisksize 2TBminus512 bytes

IDEcontrollerspervirtualmachine 14

IDEdevicespervirtualmachine 45

Floppycontrollerspervirtualmachine 1

Floppydevicespervirtualmachine 26

Networking Virtual Devices

VirtualNICspervirtualmachine 107

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 Configuration Maximums

Table 1. Virtual Machine Maximums (Continued)

Item Maximum

Virtual Peripheral Ports

USBcontrollerspervirtualmachine 18

USBdevicesconnectedtoavirtualmachine 20

Parallelportspervirtualmachine 3

USB3.0devicespervirtualmachine 1

xHCIUSBcontrollers9 2010

Serialportspervirtualmachine 4

Graphics video device

Videomemorypervirtualmachine 128MB

Miscellaneous

Concurrentremoteconsoleconnectionstoavirtualmachine 40
1. UseVMFS3withblocksizelargerthan1MBforswapfileslargerthan255GB.
2. AnycombinationofsupportedSCSIvirtualstoragecontrollers.FourParavirtualSCSIadapters
maybeusedonlyifthevirtualmachinebootsfromadeviceattachedtoanIDEcontroller,orfrom
thenetwork.
3. Anycombinationofdisk,CDROM,orVMDirectPathSCSItarget.
4. Supportstwochannels(primaryandsecondary)eachwithamasterandslavedevice.
5. DevicescanbeeitherCDROMordisk.
6. BIOSisconfiguredforonefloppydevice.
7. AnycombinationofsupportedvirtualNICs.
8. SupportsUSB1.xandUSB2.xdevices.
9. SupportsUSB1.x,2.xand3.0devices.
10. GuestoperatingsystemsmighthavesmallerlimitsthanallowedbyvSphere.

ESXi Host Maximums

ThefollowingtablescontainconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihosts.

ComputeMaximumsonpage 2

MemoryMaximumsonpage 3

StorageMaximumsonpage 3
NetworkingMaximumsonpage 5

ClusterandResourcePoolMaximumsonpage 6

Compute Maximums
Table 2containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihostcomputeresources.

Table 2. Compute Maximums

Item Maximum

Host CPU maximums

LogicalCPUsperhost 160

Virtual machine maximums

Virtualmachinesperhost 512

VirtualCPUsperhost 2048

VirtualCPUspercore 251

Fault Tolerance maximums

Virtualdisks 16

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 Configuration Maximums

Table 2. Compute Maximums (Continued)

Item Maximum

VirtualCPUspervirtualmachine 1

RAMperFTVM 64GB

Virtualmachinesperhost 4
1. TheachievablenumberofvCPUspercoredependsontheworkloadand
specificsofthehardware.Formoreinformation,seethelatestversionof
PerformanceBestPracticesforVMwarevSphere.

Memory Maximums
Table 3containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihostmemory.
Table 3. Memory Maximums
Item Maximum

RAMperhost 2TB

Numberofswapfiles 1pervirtualmachine

Swapfilesize 1TB1
1. OnVMFS3,useablocksizelargerthan1MBforswapfileslargerthan255GB

Storage Maximums
Table 4containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihoststorage.

Table 4. Storage Maximums

Item Maximum

Virtual Disks

VirtualDisksperHost 2048

iSCSI Physical

LUNsperserver 256

Qlogic1GbiSCSIHBAinitiatorportsperserver 4
Broadcom1GbiSCSIHBAinitiatorportsperserver 4

Broadcom10GbiSCSIHBAinitiatorportsperserver 4

NICsthatcanbeassociatedorportboundwiththesoftwareiSCSI 8
stackperserver

Numberoftotalpathsonaserver 1024

NumberofpathstoaLUN(softwareiSCSIandhardwareiSCSI) 8
QlogiciSCSI:dynamictargetsperadapterport 64

QlogiciSCSI:statictargetsperadapterport 62

Broadcom1GbiSCSIHBAtargetsperadapterport 641

Broadcom10GbiSCSIHBAtargetsperadapterport 128

SoftwareiSCSItargets 2561

NAS2
NFSmountsperhost 256

Fibre Channel

LUNsperhost 256

LUNsize 64TB5

LUNID 255

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 Configuration Maximums

Table 4. Storage Maximums (Continued)

Item Maximum

NumberofpathstoaLUN 32

Numberoftotalpathsonaserver 1024

NumberofHBAsofanytype 8

HBAports 16

TargetsperHBA 256

FCoE

SoftwareFCoEadapters 4

VMFS

Volumesperhost 256

Hostspervolume 64

PoweredonvirtualmachinesperVMFSvolume 2048

VMFS3

Volumesize 64TB5

Rawdevicemappingsize(virtualcompatibility) 2TBminus512 bytes

RawDeviceMappingsize(physicalcompatibility) 2TBminus512 bytes6

Blocksize 8MB

Filesize(1MBblocksize) 256GB
Filesize(2MBblocksize) 512GB

Filesize(4MBblocksize) 1TB

Filesize(8MBblocksize) 2TBminus512 bytes

Filespervolume Approximately30,720

VMFS5

Volumesize 64TB

RawDeviceMappingsize(virtualcompatibility) 2TBminus512 bytes

RawDeviceMappingsize(physicalcompatibility) 64TB

Blocksize 1MB3

Filesize 2TBminus512 bytes4

Filespervolume Approximately130,690

Concurrent Operations

ConcurrentvMotionoperationsperdatastore 128

ConcurrentStoragevMotionoperationsperdatastore 8

ConcurrentStoragevMotionoperationsperhost 2
ConcurrentnonvMotionprovisioningoperationsperhost 8
1. Thesumofstatictargets(manuallyassignedIPaddresses)anddynamictargets(IPaddressesassigned
todiscoveredtargets)maynotexceedthisnumber.
2. ContactyourstoragearrayvendororNFSservervendorforinformationaboutthemaximumNFS
volumesize.
3. 1MBisdefaultblocksize.UpgradedVMFS5volumeswillinherittheVMFS3blocksizevalue.
4. MaximumfilesizeforupgradedVMFS5is2TBminus512 bytes,irrespectiveofthefilesystemblock
size.
5. ForVMFS3volumeswith1MBblocksize,themaximumis50TB.
6. IfthepresentedLUNisgreaterthan2TB.

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 Configuration Maximums

Networking Maximums
Thefollowinglimitsrepresentachievablemaximumconfigurationlimitsfornetworkinginenvironments
wherenoothermorerestrictivelimitsapply(forexample,vCenterServerlimits,thelimitsimposedby
featuressuchasHAorDRS,andotherconfigurationsthatmightimposerestrictionsmustbeconsideredwhen
deployinglargescalesystems).

Table 5containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihostnetworking.

Table 5. Networking Maximums

Item Maximum

Physical NICs

e10001GbEthernetports(IntelPCIx) 32

e1000e1GbEthernetports(IntelPCIe) 24

igb1GbEthernetports(Intel) 16

tg31GbEthernetports(Broadcom) 32

bnx21GbEthernetports(Broadcom) 16
forcedeth1GbEthernetports(NVIDIA) 2

nx_nic10GbEthernetports(NetXen) 8

ixgbe10GbEthernetports(Intel) 8

bnx2x10GbEthernetports(Broadcom) 8

be2net10GbEthernetports(Emulex) 8

Combinationof10Gband1GbEthernetports Six10Gband
Four1Gbports

Infinibandports(refertoVMwareCommunitySupport) N/A1

VMDirectPath limits

VMDirectPathPCI/PCIedevicesperhost 8
VMDirectPathPCI/PCIedevicespervirtualmachine 42

vSphere Standard and Distributed Switch

Totalvirtualnetworkswitchportsperhost(VDSandVSSports) 4096
Maximumactiveportsperhost(VDSandVSS) 1016

Virtualnetworkswitchcreationportsperstandardswitch 4088

Portgroupsperstandardswitch 256
DistributedvirtualnetworkswitchportspervCenter 30000

StaticportgroupspervCenter 5000

EphemeralportgroupspervCenter 256

HostsperVDS 350

DistributedswitchespervCenter 32

Concurrent Operations
ConcurrentvMotionoperationsperhost(1Gb/snetwork) 4

ConcurrentvMotionoperationsperhost(10Gb/snetwork) 8
1. MellanoxTechnologiesInfiniBandHCAdevicedriversareavailabledirectlyfromMellanox
Technologies.RefertoMellanoxforsupportstatusofInfiniBandHCAswithESXi.
http://www.mellanox.com
2. Avirtualmachinecansupport6devices,if2ofthemareTeradicidevices.

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 Configuration Maximums

Cluster and Resource Pool Maximums

Table 6containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtoESXihostclustersandresourcepools.

Table 6. Cluster Maximums

Item Maximum

Cluster (all clusters including HA and DRS)

Hostspercluster 32

Virtualmachinespercluster 3000

Virtualmachinesperhost 512

MaximumconcurrenthostHAfailover 32

Failoveraspercentageofcluster 100%

Resourcepoolspercluster 1600

Resource Pool

Resourcepoolsperhost 1600

Childrenperresourcepool 1024

Resourcepooltreedepth 81
1. Additional4resourcepoolsareusedbysysteminternals

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.

vCenter Server Maximums

Table 7containsconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtovCenterServer.

Table 7. vCenter Server Maximums

Item Maximum

vCenter Server Scalability

HostspervCenterServer 1000

PoweredonvirtualmachinespervCenterServer 10000

RegisteredvirtualmachinespervCenterServer 15000

LinkedvCenterServers 10

HostsinlinkedvCenterServers 3000

PoweredonvirtualmachinesinlinkedvCenterServers 30000

RegisteredvirtualmachinesinlinkedvCenterServers 50000

ConcurrentvSphereClients 100
Numberofhostperdatacenter 500

MACaddressespervCenterServer 65536

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 Configuration Maximums

Table 7. vCenter Server Maximums

Item Maximum

User Interface

USBdevicesconnectedatvSphereClient 20

vCenter Server Extensions

ThefollowingtablescontainconfigurationmaximumsrelatedtovCenterServerextensions.

VMwarevCenterUpdateManageronpage 7

VMwarevCenterOrchestratoronpage 7

vCenterVASAonpage 8

StorageDRSonpage 8

VMware vCenter Update Manager

Table 8containsconfigurationmaximumsforvCenterUpdateManager.

Table 8. vCenter Update Manager Maximums

Item Maximum

vCenter Update Manager Scalability

HostscansinasinglevCenterServer 1000

VirtualmachinescansinasinglevCenterServer 10000

CiscoVDSupdateanddeployment 70

Concurrent Operations

VMwareToolsscanperESXihost 90
VMwareToolsupgradeperESXihost 24

Virtualmachinehardwarescanperhost 90

Virtualmachinehardwareupgradeperhost 24
VMwareToolsscanperVUMserver 75

VMwareToolsupgradeperVUMserver 75

VirtualmachinehardwarescanperVUMserver 75
VirtualmachinehardwareupgradeperVUMserver 75

ESXihostscanperVUMserver 75

ESXihostremediationperVUMserver 71
ESXihostupgradeperVUMserver 71

ESXihostupgradepercluster 1

VMware vCenter Orchestrator

Table 9containsconfigurationmaximumsforvCenterOrchestrator.

Table 9. vCenter Orchestrator Maximums

Item Maximum

ConnectedvCenterServersystems 10
ConnectedESXiinstances 100

Connectedvirtualmachines 15000

Concurrentrunningworkflows 150

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 Configuration Maximums

vCenter VASA
Table 10containsconfigurationmaximumsforvCenterVASA.

Table 10. vCenter VASA Maximums

Item Maximum

Storageproviders 10

Storage DRS
Table 11containsconfigurationmaximumsforStorageDRS.

Table 11. Storage DRS

Item Maximum

Virtualdisksperdatastorecluster 9000

Datastoresperdatastorecluster 32

DatastoreclusterspervCenter 256

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