3 Requirements and Scalability Limits
The following sections provide detailed requirements for a Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager Release 4.5 environment as well as the scalability limitations.
Engine Host Requirements
The engine host system requirements are:
- Host must be on-premise.
- Oracle Linux 8.8 (or later Oracle Linux 8 release) with Minimal Install selected as the base environment for the installation.
- Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6, Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 7, or Red Hat Compatible Kernel.
Note:
Do not configure the same host as a standalone engine and a KVM host.Refer to the following tables for the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for the engine host system within the following deployment sizes:
- Small deployment (up to 128 KVM hosts and 1,250 VMs)
- Medium deployment (up to 512 KVM hosts and 5,000 VMs)
- Large deployment (up to 1024 KVM hosts and 10,000 VMs)
Important:
For medium and large deployments, you should run theengine-vacuum command on a regular basis to maintain the databases by
updating tables and removing dead rows, allowing disk space to be reused. See Reclaiming
Database Storage in the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager: Administration
Guide.
Table 3-1 Engine Host System Hardware Requirements - Small Deployment
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 64-bit two (2) core CPU | 64-bit four (4) core or greater CPU |
| Memory |
4 GB of available system RAM |
16 GB or greater of available system RAM |
| Hard disk | 25 GB local writable hard disk | 50 GB or greater of local writable hard disk |
Table 3-2 Engine Host System Hardware Requirements - Medium Deployment
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 64-bit four (4) core or greater CPU | 64-bit eight (8) core or greater CPU |
| Memory |
16 GB of available system RAM |
32 GB or greater of available system RAM |
| Hard disk | 50 GB local writable hard disk | 100 GB or greater of local writable hard disk |
Table 3-3 Engine Host System Hardware Requirements - Large Deployment
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 64-bit eight (8) core CPU | 64-bit sixteen (16) core or greater CPU |
| Memory |
32 GB of available system RAM |
64 GB or greater of available system RAM |
| Hard disk | 75 GB local writable hard disk | 150 GB or greater of local writable hard disk |
Note:
If Data Warehouse is installed and if memory is being consumed by existing processes, consider using the recommended amount of system memory based on deployment size.Table 3-4 Engine Host System Network Interface Requirements - All Deployment Sizes
| Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|
| One network interface card (NIC) with bandwidth of at least 1 Gbps | Two or more NICs with bandwidth of at least 1 Gbps |
For information about x86-based servers that are certified for Oracle Linux with UEK, see the Hardware Certification List for Oracle Linux and Virtualization.
For more details about installation, system requirements and known issues, see:
- Oracle® Linux 8: Release Notes for Oracle Linux 8.8.
- Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Documentation.
- Oracle® Linux 8: Installing Oracle Linux.
Important:
Oracle does not support Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager on systems where the
ol8_developer, ol8_developer_EPEL,
ol8_codeready_builder, ol8_distro_builder,
ol8_developer_UEKR6, or ol8_develper_UEKR7
repositories are enabled, or where software from these repositories is currently installed on
the systems where the Manager will run. Even if you follow the instructions in
this document, you may render your platform unsupported if these repositories or channels are
enabled or software from these channels or repositories is installed on your system.
KVM Host Requirements
Minimum system requirements for Oracle Linux KVM hosts:
- Host must be on-premise,
-
Oracle Linux 8.8 (or later Oracle Linux 8 release) with:
- Minimal Install selected as the base environment for the installation
- Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6, Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 7, or Red Hat Compatible Kernel.
-
64-bit dual-core CPU
Recommended: Multiple CPUs
The CPUs must support either the Intel VT-x or the AMD AMD-V hardware virtualization extensions and the extensions must be enabled in the host's BIOS. The CPUs must also support the No eXecute flag (NX).
-
2 GB RAM
Maximum Tested: 6 TB
The amount of RAM required varies depending on guest operating system requirements, guest application requirements, and guest memory activity and usage.
-
1 network interface card (NIC) with bandwidth of at least 1 Gbps
Recommended: 2 or more NICs with bandwidth of at least 1 Gbps
Multiple NICs are recommended so that NICs can be dedicated for network intensive activities, such as virtual machine migration.
- 60 GB of locally accessibly, writable disk space dedicated to Oracle Linux Virtualization
Manager, allocated as follows:
Allocation Size /(root)30 GB /boot1 GB /var29 GB
For information about x86-based servers that are certified for Oracle Linux with UEK, see the Hardware Certification List for Oracle Linux and Virtualization.
Attention:
Do not install any third-party watchdogs on your Oracle Linux KVM hosts, as they can interfere with the watchdog daemon provided by VDSM.
Do not install any other applications on the Oracle Linux KVM hosts as they may interfere with the operation of the KVM hypervisor.
For more details about installation, system requirements and known issues, see:
Firewall Requirements
Before you install and configure the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager engine or any KVM hosts ensure you review the following firewall requirements.
Note:
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager requires IPv6 to remain enabled on the computer or virtual machine where you are running the Manager. Do not disable IPv6 on the Manager machine, even if your systems do not use it.
Engine Host Firewall Requirements
When you run the engine-setup command to configure
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager, you can have the Setup program automatically configure the firewall
ports on the host. Use the following information if you want to manually configure firewalls.
The following table shows the ports that are configured by default. The Setup program enables you to choose different ports for some of the configuration options, see Engine Configuration Options in the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager: Getting Started Guide.
| Port | Protocol | Source | Destination | Purpose | Encrypted by default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not applicable | ICMP | Oracle Linux KVM hosts | Manager host | (Optional) Diagnostics | No |
| 22 | TCP | External systems | Manager host | (Optional) SSH access to the Manager host for administration and maintenance | Yes |
| 80, 443 | TCP |
Administration Portal clients VM Portal clients Oracle Linux KVM hosts REST API clients |
Manager host | HTTP access to the Manager | Yes |
| 2222 | TCP | Clients | Manager host | SSH access to virtual machine serial consoles | Yes |
| 5432 | TCP,UDP |
Manager host Data Warehouse Service External systems |
Manager host |
(Optional) Connections to PostgreSQL database server Only required if the Engine database or the Data Warehouse database run on the Manager host |
No |
| 6100 | TCP |
Administration Portal clients VM Portal clients |
Manager host |
(Optional) WebSocket proxy access to the noVNC or HTML 5 virtual machine consoles Only required if the WebSocket proxy runs on the Manager host |
No |
| 7410 | UDP | Oracle Linux KVM hosts | Manager host |
(Optional) Kdump notifications Only required if Kdump is enabled |
No |
| 54323 | TCP | Administration Portal clients | Manager host |
Image I/O Proxy access to upload images Only required if the Image I/O Proxy runs on the Manager host |
Yes |
Remote Component Firewall Requirements
Some Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager components can run on separate remote hosts. Refer to the following table for information to help you configure the firewall on remote hosts.
| Port | Protocol | Source | Destination | Purpose | Encrypted by default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5432 | TCP,UDP |
Manager host Data Warehouse Service External systems |
PostgreSQL database server |
Connections to PostgreSQL database server Required if the Engine database or the Data Warehouse database run on a remote host |
No |
| 6100 | TCP |
Administration Portal clients VM Portal clients |
WebSocket proxy host |
WebSocket proxy access to the noVNC or HTML 5 virtual machine consoles Required if the WebSocket proxy runs on a remote host |
No |
KVM Host Firewall Requirements
When you add an Oracle Linux KVM host to Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager, the existing firewall configuration on the host is overwritten and the required firewall ports are configured automatically.
To disable automatic firewall configuration when adding a KVM host, clear the Automatically configure host firewall check box under Advanced Parameters. Then, refer to the following table for information to help you manually configure the firewall.
| Port | Protocol | Source | Destination | Purpose | Encrypted by default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | TCP | Manager host | KVM hosts | (Optional) SSH access to KVM hosts | Yes |
| 111 | TCP | NFS storage server | KVM hosts |
(Optional) NFS connections Only required if you use NFS storage |
No |
| 161 | UDP | KVM hosts | Manager host |
(Optional) Simple network management protocol (SNMP) Only required if you want to send SNMP traps to external SNMP managers |
No |
| 2223 | TCP | Manager host | KVM hosts | SSH access to virtual machine serial consoles | Yes |
| 5900 to 6923 | TCP |
Administration Portal clients VM Portal clients |
KVM hosts | Access to virtual machine consoles using VNC or RDP protocols | Yes |
| 5989 | TCP,UDP | Common Information Model Object Manager (CIMOM) | KVM hosts |
(Optional) CIMOM connections Only required if you use CIMOM to monitor virtual machines running on the host |
No |
| 6081 | UDP | KVM hosts | KVM hosts |
(Optional) Open Virtual Network (OVN) connections Only required if the OVN network provider is enabled |
No |
| 9090 | TCP |
Manager host Client machines |
KVM hosts | (Optional) Cockpit connections | Yes |
| 16514 | TCP | KVM hosts | KVM hosts | Virtual machine migration using libvirt
|
Yes |
| 49152 to 49216 | TCP | KVM hosts | KVM hosts | Automated and manual virtual machine migration and fencing using VDSM | Yes |
| 54321 | TCP |
Manager host KVM hosts |
KVM hosts | VDSM communication with the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager and other KVM hosts | Yes |
| 54322 | TCP |
Manager host Image I/O Proxy host |
KVM hosts |
Communication with the Image I/O Proxy to upload images Only required if the Image I/O Proxy runs on the Manager host or a separate host |
Yes |
Storage Requirements
Before you can create virtual machines, you must provision and attach storage to a data center. You can use Network File System (NFS), Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI), Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP), or Gluster storage. You can also configure local storage attached directly to hosts.
Storage devices in Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager are referred to as data domains, which are used to store virtual hard disks, snapshots, ISO files, and templates. Every data center must have at least one data domain. Data domains cannot be shared between data centers.
For more information, see:
Scalability Limits
The following tables contain the scalability limits for the Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager host, Oracle Linux KVM hosts, virtual machines and storage.
Table 3-5 Manager Host Limits
| Component | Small Deployment | Medium Deployment | Large Deployment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Servers managed by one engine | 128 | 512 | 1024 |
| Concurrently running virtual machines | 1250 | 5000 | 10,000 |
| VLANs managed by one engine | 1024 (for all size deployments) | ||
| Servers managed per data center | 250 (for all size deployments) | ||
Table 3-6 Oracle Linux KVM Host Limits
| Component | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Physical CPUs (cores) | 384 |
| Memory | 6 TB |
| Concurrently running virtual machines on a single host | 600, depending on the performance of the host |
Table 3-7 Virtual Machine Limits
| Component | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Virtual CPUs | 256 |
| Virtual RAM | 2 TB |
| Virtual NICs | 10 |
Table 3-8 Storage Limits
| Component | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Domains | 50 |
| Hosts per domain | Unlimited |
| Logical volumes per block domain | 1500 |
|
|
| Disk size | 500 TB (limited to 8 TB by default) |
Guest Operating System Requirements
There are several guest operating systems you can use to configure a KVM host for use with Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager. For information on the supported guest operating systems, see the Oracle® Linux: KVM User's Guide.
Note:
The Administration User Interface offers a number of additional guest operating systems that are untested with Oracle Linux KVM and therefore not supported.