Before you configure the NSX Edge bare metal, make sure that your environment meets the supported requirements.

NSX Edge Bare Metal Memory, CPU, and Disk Requirements

Minimum Requirements

Memory CPU Cores Disk Space
32 GB 8 200 GB

Recommended Requirements

Memory CPU Cores Disk Space
256 GB 24 200 GB

NSX Edge Bare Metal DPDK CPU Requirements

For the DPDK support, the underlaying platform needs to meet the following requirements:

  • CPU must have AES-NI capability.
  • CPU must have 1 GB Huge Page support.
  • (NSX 4.1.0) NSX Edge Bare Metal supports up to 64 cores for the entire system. This means that on a server with a single socket, its CPU can have up to 64 cores. On a server with 2 sockets, each socket cannot have more than 32 cores.
  • (NSX 4.1.1) NSX Edge Bare Metal supports up to 80 cores for the entire system. This means that on a server with a single socket, its CPU can have up to 80 cores. On a server with 2 sockets, each socket cannot have more than 40 cores.
Hardware Type
CPU
  • Intel Xeon E7-xxxx (Westmere-EX and later CPU generation)
  • Intel Xeon 56xx (Westmere-EP)
  • Intel Xeon E5-xxxx (Sandy Bridge and later CPU generation)
  • Intel Xeon Platinum (all generations)
  • Intel Xeon Gold (all generations)
  • Intel Xeon Silver (all generations)
  • Intel Xeon Bronze (all generations)
  • AMD EPYC Series processors

NSX Edge Bare Metal Hardware Requirements

Verify that the bare metal NSX Edge hardware is listed in this URL https://ubuntu.com/certified?category=Server&release=20.04%20LTS&category=Server. If the hardware is not listed, the storage, video adapter, or motherboard components might not work on the NSX Edge appliance. Bare Metal supports both UEFI and legacy BIOS modes.

NSX Edge Bare Metal NIC Requirements

NIC Type Description Vendor ID PCI Device ID Firmware Version
Mellanox ConnectX-4 EN PCI_DEVICE_ID_MELLANOX_CONNECTX4 15b3 0x1013 12.21.1000 and later versions
Mellanox ConnectX-4 Lx PCI_DEVICE_ID_MELLANOX_CONNECTX4LX 15b3 0x1015 14.21.1000 and later versions
Mellanox ConnectX-5 PCI_DEVICE_ID_MELLANOX_CONNECTX5 15b3 0x1017 16.21.1000 and later versions
Mellanox ConnectX-5 EX PCI_DEVICE_ID_MELLANOX_CONNECTX5EX 15b3 0x1019 16.21.1000 and later versions
Mellanox ConnectX-6 PCI_DEVICE_ID_MELLANOX_CONNECTX6 15b3 0x101B 20.27.0090 and later versions
Mellanox ConnectX-6 Dx PCI_DEVICE_ID_MELLANOX_CONNECTX6DX 15b3 0x101D 22.27.6008 and later versions
Intel X520/Intel 82599

IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_KX4

 8086

0x10F7

19.5.12 and later versions
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_KX4_MEZZ 8086 0x1514 n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_KR 8086 0x1517 n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_COMBO_BACKPLANE 8086 0x10F8 n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_CX4 8086 0x10F9 n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_SFP 8086 0x10FB n/a
IXGBE_SUBDEV_ID_82599_SFP 8086 0x11A9 n/a
IXGBE_SUBDEV_ID_82599_RNDC 8086 0x1F72 n/a
IXGBE_SUBDEV_ID_82599_560FLR 8086 0x17D0 n/a
IXGBE_SUBDEV_ID_82599_ECNA_DP 8086 0x0470 n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_SFP_EM 8086 0x1507 n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_SFP_SF2 8086 0x154D n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_SFP_SF_QP 8086 0x154A n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_QSFP_SF_QP 8086 0x1558 n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599EN_SFP 8086 0x1557 n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_XAUI_LOM 8086 0x10FC n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_82599_T3_LOM 8086 0x151C n/a
Intel X540

IXGBE_DEV_ID_X540T

8086

0x1528

n/a
IXGBE_DEV_ID_X540T1 8086 0x1560 n/a
Intel X550

IXGBE_DEV_ID_X550T

8086

0x1563

21.5.9 and later versions
IXGBE_DEV_ID_X550T1 8086 0x15D1 21.5.9 and later versions
IXGBE_DEV_ID_X550EM_A_10G_T 8086 0x15C8 21.5.9 and later versions
IXGBE_DEV_ID_X550EM_A_QSFP 8086 0x15CA 21.5.9 and later versions
IXGBE_DEV_ID_X550EM_A_QSFP_N 8086 0x15CC 21.5.9 and later versions
IXGBE_DEV_ID_X550EM_X_10G_T 8086 0x15AD 21.5.9 and later versions
IXGBE_DEV_ID_X550EM_X_XFI 8086 0x15B0 21.5.9 and later versions
Intel X710

I40E_DEV_ID_SFP_X710

 8086

0x1572

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_KX_C 8086 0x1581

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_10G_BASE_T 8086 0x1586

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_10G_BASE_T4 8086 0x1589

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_10G_SFP 8086 0x104E n/a
I40E_DEV_ID_10G_B 8086 0x104F n/a
Intel XL710

I40E_DEV_ID_KX_B

 8086

0x1580

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_QSFP_A 8086 0x1583

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_QSFP_B 8086 0x1584

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_QSFP_C 8086 0x1585

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_20G_KR2 8086 0x1587

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_20G_KR2_A 8086 0x1588

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_10G_BASE_T_BC 8086 0x15FF

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
Intel XXV710 I40E_DEV_ID_25G_B 8086 0x158A

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
I40E_DEV_ID_25G_SFP28 8086 0x158B

NSX 4.1.0: 7.00 and later versions

NSX 4.1.1: 8.30
Intel E810-C (100G) ICE_DEV_ID_E810C_QSFP 8086 0x1592 3.1 and later versions
Intel

E810-XXV (25G)

 ICE_DEV_ID_E810_XXV_SFP 8086 0x159B 3.1 and later versions
ICE_DEV_ID_E810_XXV_BACKPLANE 8086 0x1599 3.1 and later versions
ICE_DEV_ID_E810_XXV_QSFP 8086 0x159A 3.1 and later versions
Intel E810-C ICE_DEV_ID_E810C_BACKPLANE 8086 0x1591 3.1 and later versions
ICE_DEV_ID_E810C_SFP 8086 0x1593 3.1 and later versions
Intel E822-C ICE_DEV_ID_C822N_BACKPLANE 8086 0x1890 3.1 and later versions
ICE_DEV_ID_C822N_QSFP 8086 0x1891 3.1 and later versions
ICE_DEV_ID_C822N_SFP 8086 0x1892 3.1 and later versions
Cisco VIC 1300 series Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1300 1137 0x0043

n/a
Cisco VIC 1400 series Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1400 1137 0x0043 n/a
Note: For all the supported NICs listed above, verify that the media adapters and cables you use follow the vendor's supported media types. Any media adapter or cables not supported by the vendor can result in unpredictable behavior, including the inability to boot up due to an unrecognized media adapter. See the NIC vendor documentation for information about supported media adapters and cables.
Important: Cisco VICs: To successfully claim Cisco VICs for the NSX Edge datapath, configure multiple RX and TX queues from the Cisco UCS Manager. The number of queues configured must be sufficient for datapath to have one queue per core. For configuration details, refer to the Cisco documentation.