VMware Requirements
The following section specifies the requirements for you to install Cisco Catalyst 8000V 17.4.1 and later releases in ESXi environment. These requirements have been fully tested and meet performance benchmarks.
ESXi Hypervisor Requirements
Cisco IOS XE Release |
vSphere Web Client |
vCenter Server |
---|---|---|
Cisco IOS XE 17.15.x releases Cisco IOS XE 17.14.x releases Cisco IOS XE 17.13.x releases Cisco IOS XE 17.12.x releases |
The 8.0 version of the VMware vSphere Web Client is supported. |
VMware ESXi 8.0 |
Cisco IOS XE 17.11.x releases Cisco IOS XE 17.10.x releases Cisco IOS XE 17.9.x releases Cisco IOS XE 17.8.x releases Cisco IOS XE 17.7.x releases Cisco IOS XE 17.6.x releases |
The 7.0 and 6.7 versions of the VMware vSphere Web Client are supported. |
VMware ESXi 7.0 and ESXi 6.7 |
Cisco IOS XE 17.5.x releases |
The 6.7 and 6.5 versions of the VMware vSphere Web Client are supported. |
VMware ESXi 6.7 and ESXi 6.5 |
Cisco IOS XE 17.4.x releases |
The 6.7 and 6.5 versions of the VMware vSphere Web Client are supported. |
VMware ESXi 6.7 and ESXi 6.5 |
Note |
Do not use a standalone vSphere client to manage the ESXi server. Starting ESXi 6.0, it is no longer possible to directly deploy Cisco Catalyst 8000V in ESXi in the case of an ova deployment. You must have a vMware vCenter server and a vSphere client to deploy a .ova file. |
vCPU Requirements
The following vCPU configurations are supported:
-
1 vCPU: requires minimum 4 GB RAM allocation
-
2 vCPUs: requires minimum 4 GB RAM allocation
-
4 vCPUs: requires minimum 4 GB RAM allocation
-
8 vCPUs: requires minimum 4 GB RAM allocation
-
16 vCPUS: required minimum 8 GB RAM allocation (supported from Cisco IOS XE 17.11.1a)
Note |
The required vCPU configuration depends on the throughput license and technology package installed. For more information, see the data sheet for your release. |
vNIC Requirements
The Virtual Network Interface Cards (VNICs) listed in this section are supported for the ESXi installation. A maximum of 8 vNICs is supported.
-
ixgbe - Supported from Cisco IOS XE 17.10.1
-
ConnectX-5VF - Supported from Cisco IOS XE 17.9.1
-
iavf - Supported from Cisco IOS XE 17.9.1
-
i40eVF - Supported from Cisco IOS XE 17.4.1 to Cisco IOS XE 17.8.x
-
VMXNET3 - Supported from Cisco IOS XE 17.4.1
-
iXGBeVF - Supported from Cisco IOS XE 17.4.1
Note |
The supported version of the NIC driver and the firmware version are the default versions that are included with the hypervisor package. |
Other Requirements
-
VMware vCenter - installation tool
-
VMware vSwitch - standard or distributed vSwitches are supported
-
Hard Drive - only a single hard disk drive is supported. Multiple hard disk drives on a VM are not supported
-
Virtual Disk - both 16 GB and 8 GB virtual disks are supported
-
Virtual CPU core - one virtual CPU core is required. This needs a 64-bit processor with Virtualization Technology (VT) enabled in the BIOS setup of the host machine.
-
Virtual hard disk space - a minimum size of 8 GB is required
-
A default video and an SCSI controller set and an installed virtual CD/DVD drive are also required for this installation.
Next Step
Familiarize yourself about the secure boot configuration before you proceed with the installation. To see information about secure boot, see Enabling VNF Secure Boot.