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VMware vSphere ESX and vCenter Configuration Maximums

The following listings are a comprehensive collection of configuration maximums from VMware products.


Virtual Machine Maximums

ESX 8.0ESX 7.0ESX 6.7ESX 6.5ESX 6.0ESX 5.5ESX 5.1ESX 5ESX 4.1ESX 4.0ESX 3.5ESX 3ESX 2ESX 1
Virtual CPUs per virtual machine768256128128128646432884421
RAM per virtual machine24 TB6128 GB6128 GB6128 GB4TB1TB1TB1TB255GB255GB65GB16GB3,6GB2GB
Virtual SCSI adapters per virtual machine44444444444444
Virtual SCSI targets per virtual SCSI adapter151515151515
Virtual SCSI targets per virtual machine606060606060
Virtual NVMe adapters per virtual machine4444
Virtual NVMe targets per virtual SCSI
adapter
15151515
Virtual NVMe targets per virtual machine60606060
Virtual SATA adapters per virtual machine44444
Virtual SATA devices per virtual SATA adapter303030303030
Virtual disk size62TB62TB62TB62TB62TB62TB2TB2TB2TB2TB2TB2TB
IDE controllers per virtual machine11111111111
IDE devices per virtual machine44444444444
Floppy controllers per virtual machine1111111111111
Floppy devices per virtual machine2222222222222
Virtual NICs per virtual machine101010101010101010104444
USB controllers per virtual machine111111111
USB devices connected to a virtual machine202020202020202020
Serial ports per virtual machine323232323232323232
Parallel ports per virtual machine3333333333331
Concurrent remote console connections404040404040404040401010
Video memory per virtual machine4 GB4 GB2 GB2 GB512MB512MB
NVDIMM controllers per VM
111
NVDIMM devices per VM646464
Non-volatile memory per VM12 TB6128 GB6128 GB


ESXi Host Maximums

ESX 8.0ESX 7.0ESX 6.7ESX 6.5ESX 6.0ESX 5.5ESX 5.1ESX 5ESX 4.1ESX 4.0ESX 3.5ESX 3ESX 2ESX 1
Logical CPUs per host896768768576480320160160160643232168
Virtual machines per host102410241024102410245125125123203201281288064
Virtual CPUs per host409640964096409640964096204820485125121281288064
Virtual CPUs per core323232323232252525208888
RAM per host24TB16TB16TB12TB12TB4TB2TB2TB1TB1TB256GB256GB64GB64GB
LUNs per server102410241024512256256256256256256
Non-volatile memory per host
12TB12TB1TB


vCenter Server Maximums

vCenter Server MaximumsvC 8.0vC 7.0vC 6.7vC 6.5vC 6.0vC 5.5vC 5.1vC 5vC 4.1vC 4.0vC 3.5vC 3
Hosts per vCenter Server250025002000200010001000100010001000300200200
Powered on virtual machines40000400002500025000100001000010000100001000030002000
Registered virtual machines45000450003500035000150001500015000150001500045002000
Linked vCenter Servers15151515101010101010
Hosts in linked vCenter Servers150001500050004000400030003000300030001000
Powered on virtual machines in linked vCenter1350001350005000030000300003000030000300003000010000
Registered virtual machines in linked vCenter1500001500007000050000500005000050000500005000015000
Number of host per datacenterN/AN/A20002000500500500500400100
MAC addresses per vCenter Server6553665536655366553665536655366553665536
USB devices connected at vSphere ClientN/AN/AN/AN/A20202020


Cluster and Resource Pool Maximums

ESXi 7.0ESX 6.7ESX 6.5ESX 6.0ESX 5.5ESX 5.1ESX 5ESX 4.1ESX 4.0ESX 3.5
Hosts per cluster64646464323232323232
Virtual machines per cluster800080008000400040004000300030001280
Virtual machines per host1024102410241024512512512320100
Resource pools per cluster1600160016001600160016001600512512128
Resource pools per host16001600160016001600160016004096
Children per resource pool16001600160016001024102410241024
Resource pool tree depth888888881212


Network Maximums

ESX 7.0ESX 6.7ESX 6.5ESX 6.0ESX 5.5ESX 5.1ESX 5ESX 4.1ESX 4.0ESX 3.5ESX 3
Total virtual network switch ports per host409640964096409640964096409640964096127
Maximum active ports per host1016101610161016101610501016101610161016
Virtual network switch creation ports408840884088408840884088408840884088
Port groups512512512512512256256512512512
Distributed virtual network switch ports per vCenter60000600006000060000600006000030000200006000
Static port groups per vCenter10000100001000010000100001000050005000512
Ephemeral port groups per vCenter101610161016101610162562561016
Hosts per distributed switch200020002000100050050035035064
Distributed switches per vCenter128128128128128128323216


Storage Maximums

ESX 7,0ESX 6.7ESX 6.5ESX 6.0ESX 5.5ESX 5.1ESX 5ESX 4.1ESX 4.0ESX 3.5ESX 3
Software iSCSI NICs per server88888888
Number of total paths on a server40964096204810241024102410241024
Number of paths to a iSCSI LUN88888888
Software iSCSI targets256256256256256256256256256
NFS mounts per host2562562562562562562566464
FC LUNs per host10241024512256256256256256256256256
FC LUN ID1638316383163831023255255255255255255255
FC Number of paths to a LUN3232323232323232323232
Number of HBAs of any type888888888
HBA ports16161616161616161616
Targets per HBA25625625625625625625625625615
Software FCoE adapters4444444
Volumes per host10241024512256256256256256256256
Hosts per volume64646464646464646432
Powered on virtual machines per VMFS volume2048204820482048204820482048256
Concurrent vMotion operations per datastore128128128128128128128
Concurrent Storage vMotion operations per datastore8888888
Concurrent Storage vMotion operations per host2222222
Concurrent non vMotion provisioning operations per host8888888
VMFS Volume size64TB64TB64TB64TB64TB64TB64TB64TB64TB64TB
Virtual disks per datastore cluster90009000900090009000
Datastores per datastore cluster6464646464
Datastore clusters per vCenter256256256256256


Fault Tolerance Maximums

ESX 7.0ESX 6.7ESX 6.5ESX 6.0ESX 5.5ESX 5.1ESX 5.0
Virtual disks161616161616
Virtual CPUs per virtual machine8844111
RAM per FT VM128GB128GB64GB64GB64GB64GB64GB
Virtual machines per host4444444
Disk size2 TB2 TB2 TB2 TB


Virtual SAN Maximums

ESX 7.0ESX 6.7ESX 6.5ESX 6.0ESX 5.5
Virtual SAN disk groups per host55555
Capacity tier devices per disk group77777
Cache tier devices per disk group11111
Spinning disks in all diskgroups per host3535353535
Components per Virtual SAN host90009000900090003000
Number of Virtual SAN nodes in a cluster6464646432
Number of Virtual SAN nodes in a cluster (All-Flash)643232
Number of datastores per cluster11111
Virtual machines per host200200200200100
Virtual machines per cluster64006000600064003200
Virtual machine virtual disk size62TB62TB62TB62TB2032GB
Disk stripes per object1212121212
Percentage of flash read cache reservation100100100100100
Percentage of object space reservation100100100100100
Virtual SAN networks/physical network fabrics22222

All informations are based on VMware documentation: