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SoftNAS Cloud® System Requirements

Listed below is a table to assist with the setup decisions during the configuration required to accomplish various tasks and goals.

Specifying Memory and CPU Reservations

Always specify the CPU and Memory reservations for the SoftNAS Cloud® VMs to prevent over-commitment of vSphere Server resources.

Note: Over-committing vSphere Server resources without specifying CPU and Memory reservations will cause unwanted HA failovers.


Recommended

Configuration Note

VMware Version Supported
  • Version 5.5 and above

Compute

  • Set a compute reservation for all of the CPU assigned to the SoftNAS Cloud® VM.

Light Use

4 vCPU

minimum

General Use

8+ vCPU

recommended, based on use of compression

Heavy Use

16+ vCPU

large-scale use with compression and deduplication

Memory

  • Set a memory reservation for all of the memory assigned for the SoftNAS Cloud® VM.

Base RAM - GeneralLight

4 8 GB

minimum

System RAM - Medium

8 16 GB

medium-scale use

System RAM - Heavy

32+ GB

large-scale use with increased caching

Additional RAM

1 GB per 1 TB of deduplicated storage.

required for best performance


e.g.: 50 TB deduplicated storage = 50 additional GB for deduplication tables.


Storage


Boot Disk

64-bit Linux CentOS 4/5/6 (64-bit)

30GB, Thin-provisioned

Data Disks

Virtual Hard Disks (VMDK) for data storage will support any VMware-supported datastore.


Hardware RAID

If the local disk controller supports hardware RAID, hardware RAID can be used to create VMware host datastores.


Software RAID

If SoftNAS Cloud® is preferred to handle RAID, add VMDKs to the SoftNAS Cloud® VM and configure RAID in the SoftNAS Cloud® product.


iSCSI SAN

SoftNAS Cloud® can mount and support all VMware-supported disk configurations, including iSCSI SAN via software or hardware HBA.


Networking


Up to 120 MB/sec

1 GbE

minimum

Up to 750 MB/sec

10 GbE

Other VMware-supported networks, such as Infiniband, are also available.

HA Networking

Active/Active or Active/Passive vSwitch

Required setting for VMware vSphere to tolerate a NIC or switch failure.


Use of "full mesh" HA switch configurations are also recommended to prevent switch failures from interrupting storage access.


HA Host Failover

Ensure that, for each host operating with SoftNAS Cloud®, the Data Disks are accessible. Preferred method: dual-path disks or iSCSI or fiber-attached disks with VMware drivers.


  • SoftNAS SNAP HATM included with Enterprise and Platinum Editions.

SoftNAS Cloud® System Capacities

Listed below is a table representing the capabilities of the SoftNAS Cloud® for VMware vSphere.

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