VMware vSphere System Requirements
SoftNAS® 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® VMs to prevent over-commitment of vSphere Server resources.
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® VM. | |
Small Workloads | 4 vCPU | minimum |
Medium Workloads | 8+ vCPU | recommended, based on use of compression |
Heavier Workloads | 16+ vCPU | large-scale use with compression and deduplication |
Memory | Set a memory reservation for all of the memory assigned for the SoftNAS® VM. | |
Base RAM - Light | 16 GB | minimum |
System RAM - Medium | 32 GB | medium-scale use |
System RAM - Heavy | 64+ 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) | 100 GB, 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® is preferred to handle RAID, add VMDKs to the SoftNAS® VM and configure RAID in the SoftNAS® product. | |
iSCSI SAN | SoftNAS® 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®, the Data Disks are accessible. Preferred method: dual-path disks or iSCSI or fiber-attached disks with VMware drivers. | |
SoftNAS® System Capacities
Listed below is a table representing the capabilities of the SoftNAS® for VMware vSphere.
SoftNAS® Capacity | Configuration Note | |||
Editions | ||||
SoftNAS® BYOL | NA | No capacity limits | ||
Memory | ||||
RAM Cache | 16 GB to 100 GB | Defaults to 50% total RAM for read cache | ||
SSD Cache | low-speed level 2 cache | Optional | ||
Ephemeral Cache | low-speed level 2 cache | Optional for read cache | ||
Storage | ||||
Maximum Storage | 16 PB | Maximum usable storage capacity with SoftNAS®, contingent on license. | ||
Number of Storage Pools | Unlimited | |||
Number of Volumes | Unlimited | |||
Number of Snapshots | Unlimited | |||
Number of Snapshot Clones | Unlimited | |||
SnapReplicate | Unlimited Pools & Volumes | |||
SnapReplicate Throttle | 56Kb/sec to Unlimited bandwidth | |||
Active Directory | Kerberos Integration | |||
Files and Directories | Unlimited | |||
Network | ||||
Schedules | Unlimited | |||
NFS Exports: | Linux Default | |||
iSCSI Targets | Linux Default | |||
CIFS Shares | Linux Default | |||
| Firewall Ports | 22 (ssh), 443 (https) | Plus NFS, iSCSI, and CIFS as required by network (please refer to Security for additional details | ||
IP Tables Firewall | Off by default | May be configured but is not required. Use an alternative method to set Security Groups unless added firewall protection on a SoftNAS® instance is required. | ||