Hardware and Network Requirements
As an HCI solution on bare metal servers, there are minimum node hardware and network requirements for installing and running Hypervisor.
A three-node cluster is required to fully realize the multi-node features of Hypervisor. The first node that is added to the cluster is by default the management node. When the cluster has three or more nodes, the two nodes added after the first are automatically promoted to management nodes to form a high availability (HA) cluster.
Hardware Requirements
Hypervisor nodes have the following hardware requirements and recommendations for installation and testing.
| Hardware | Development/Testing | Production |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | ARM64 or x86_64 (with hardware-assisted virtualization); 8 cores minimum | ARM64 or x86_64 (with hardware-assisted virtualization); 16 cores minimum |
| Memory | 32 GB minimum | 64 GB minimum |
| Disk capacity | 250 GB minimum (180 GB minimum for witness nodes or when using multiple disks) | 500 GB minimum, 1 TB or more recommended |
| Disk performance | 5,000+ random IOPS per disk (SSD/NVMe); management node storage must meet etcd speed requirements. Only local disks and hardware RAID are supported. | 5,000+ random IOPS per disk (SSD/NVMe); management node storage must meet etcd speed requirements. Only local disks and hardware RAID are supported. |
| Network card count | Management cluster network: 1 NIC required, 2 NICs recommended; VM workload network: 1 NIC required, at least 2 NICs recommended (does not apply to the witness node) | Management cluster network: 1 NIC required, 2 NICs recommended; VM workload network: 1 NIC required, at least 2 NICs recommended (does not apply to the witness node) |
| Network card speed | 1 Gbps Ethernet minimum | 10 Gbps Ethernet minimum |
| Network switch | Port trunking for VLAN support | Port trunking for VLAN support |
- Mixed-architecture clusters are not supported. Deploy separate clusters to avoid unexpected system behavior.
- For best results, use YES-certified hardware for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15 SP3 or SP4. Hypervisor is built on SLE technology and YES-certified hardware has additional validation of driver and system board compatibility. Laptops and nested virtualization are not supported.
- Nested virtualization is not supported on virtual machines running on Hypervisor.
- Hypervisor has a built-in management cluster network (
mgmt). To achieve high availability and the best performance in production environments, use at least two NICs in each node to set up a bonded NIC for the management network (see step 6 in ISO Installation). You can also create custom cluster networks for VM workloads. Each custom cluster network requires at least two additional NICs to set up a bonded NIC in every involved node of the Hypervisor cluster. The witness node does not require additional NICs. For more information, see Cluster Network. - During testing, you can use only one NIC for the built-in management cluster network (
mgmt), and for testing the VM network that is also carried bymgmt. High availability and optimal performance are not guaranteed.
CPU Specifications
Live Migration functions correctly only if the CPUs of all physical servers in the Hypervisor cluster have the same specifications. This requirement applies to all operations that rely on Live Migration functionality, such as automatic VM migration when Maintenance Mode is enabled.
Newer CPUs (even those from the same vendor, generation, and family) can have varying capabilities that may be exposed to VM operating systems. To ensure VM stability, Live Migration checks if the CPU capabilities are consistent, and blocks migration attempts when the source and destination are incompatible.
When creating clusters, adding more hosts to a cluster, and replacing hosts, always use CPUs with the same specifications to prevent operational constraints.
Network Requirements
Hypervisor nodes have the following network requirements for installation.
Port Requirements for K3s or RKE2 Clusters
For the port requirements for guest clusters deployed inside Hypervisor VMs, refer to the following links:
Time Requirements
A reliable Network Time Protocol (NTP) server is critical for maintaining the correct system time across all nodes in a Kubernetes cluster, especially when running Hypervisor. Kubernetes relies on etcd, a distributed key-value store, which requires precise time synchronization to ensure data consistency and prevent issues with leader election, log replication, and cluster stability.
Ensuring accurate and consistent time across the cluster is essential for reliability, security, and overall system integrity.