VMware vSphere 5.x and 6.x Configuration Maximums

Here are the original PDF configuration maximums for vSphere 5.0, 5.1, 5.5 and now 6.0;

vSphere 5.x
vSphere 6.x

And if you’re only interested in the differences, these tables summarise them below;

Compute

Virtual Machine Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Virtual CPUs per virtual machine (Virtual SMP)326464128

Memory

Virtual Machine Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
RAM per virtual machine1TB1TB1TB4TB
Virtual machine swap file size1TB1TB1TB4TB

Virtual Peripheral Ports

Virtual Machine Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Serial Ports per virtual machine44432

Storage Virtual Adapters and Devices

Virtual Machine Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Virtual disk size2TB minus
512 bytes		2TB minus
512 bytes		62TB62TB
Virtual SATA adapters per virtual machine--44
Virtual SATA devices per virtual SATA adapter--3030

Graphics video device

Virtual Machine Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Video memory per virtual machine128MB512MB512MB512MB

Host CPU maximums

ESXi Host Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Logical CPUs per host160160320480
NUMA Nodes per host881616

Virtual machine maximums

ESXi Host Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Virtual machines per host5125125121024
Virtual CPUs per host2048204840964096
Virtual CPUs per core25253232

Fault Tolerance maximums

ESXi Host Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Virtual CPUs per virtual machine1114
Virtual CPU per host---8

Memory Maximums

ESXi Host Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
RAM per host2TB2TB4TB6TB / 12TB on specific
OEM certified platform

Fibre Channel

ESXi Host Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
LUN ID2552552551023

VMFS5

ESXi Host Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Raw Device Mapping size (virtual compatibility)2TB minus
512 bytes		2TB minus
512 bytes		62TB62TB
Raw Device Mapping size (physical compatibility)2TB minus
512 bytes		2TB minus
512 bytes		64TB64TB
File size2TB minus
512 bytes		2TB minus
512 bytes		62TB62TB

Physical NICs

Networking Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
e1000 1Gb Ethernet ports (Intel PCI‐x)3232--
tg3 1Gb Ethernet ports (Broadcom)32323216 (with NetQueue enabled)
32 (with NetQueue disabled)
bnx2 1Gb Ethernet ports (Qlogic)---16
forcedeth 1Gb Ethernet ports (NVIDIA)22--
elxnet 10Gb Ethernet Ports (Emulex)---8
ixgbe 10Gb Ethernet Ports (Intel)--816
bnx2x 10Gb Ethernet Ports (Qlogic)---8
Combination of 10Gb and 1Gb Ethernet ports6x 10Gb and 
4x 1Gb ports		6x 10Gb and 
4x 1Gb ports		8x 10Gb and 4x 1Gb ports16x 10Gb and 4x 1Gb ports

VMDirectPath limits

Networking Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
SR-IOV number of virtual functions--641024
SR-IOV number of 10G pNICs-488

vSphere Standard and Distributed Switch

Networking Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Maximum active ports per host (VDS and VSS)1016105010161016
Port groups per standard switch256256512512
Static/Dynamic port groups per distributed
switch		--650010,000
Distributed virtual network switch ports per vCenter30,00060,00060,00060,000
Static/dynamic port groups per vCenter500010,00010,00010,000
Ephemeral port groups per vCenter25625610161016
Distributed switches per vCenter32128128128
Distributed switches per host--1616
VSS portgroups per host--10001000
LACP - LAGs per host--6464
LACP - uplink ports per LAG (Team)-43232
Hosts per VDS35050010001000
NIOC resource pools per vDS--6464
Link aggregation groups per vDS-16464

Cluster (all clusters including HA and DRS)

Cluster and Resource Pool Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Hosts per cluster32323264
Virtual machines per cluster3000400040008000
Virtual machines per host5125125121024
Powered‐on virtual machine config files per datastore in an HA cluster.-204820482048
FT virtual machines per cluster---98
FT virtual machines vCPU per Cluster---256

Resource Pool

Cluster and Resource Pool Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Children per resource pool1024102410241100

vCenter Server Scalability

vCenter Server Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Hosts in linked vCenter Servers3000300030004000
Concurrent vSphere Client connections to vCenter Server100100100-

vCenter Server Appliance

vCenter Server Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Hosts (with embedded vPostgres database) --1001000
Virtual machines (with embedded vPostgres database)--300015,000
Virtual machines (with Oracle database)--10,00015,000

vCenter Server Windows embedded/packaged vPostgres

vCenter Server Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Hosts (with embedded vPostgres database)---20
Virtual machines (with embedded vPostgres database)---200

Content Library

vCenter Server Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Total CL items per VC (across all libraries)---200
Total number of libraries per VC---20
Total items per library---200
Maximum number of subscribers per library---5

Host Profile

vCenter Server Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Hosts---21
Powered On virtual machines---100
Datastores---120
Profile Created---1200
Profile Attached---1000

Single Sign On

vCenter Server Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Authentications per second (average)-30--

Domain/Replication

Platform Service Controller maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Maximum PSCs per vSphere Domain---8
Maximum PSCs per site, behind a load balancer---4
Maximum objects within a vSphere Domain (Users and
Groups)
---1,000,000
Maximum tolerance for time skew between PSC nodes---5 minutes

Identity Source

Platform Service Controller maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Maximum Active Directory or OpenLDAP Groups per User for best performance---1015

Enhanced Linked Mode/Lookup Service

Platform Service Controller maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Maximum number of VMware Solutions connected to a single PSC per User for best performance---4
Maximum number of VMware Solutions in a vSphere Domain---10

VMCA/Certificate

Platform Service Controller maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Maximum number of subordinate Certificate Authority
servers in the chain within VMware Certificate Authority		---6
Maximum cryptographic hash used for PSC Node certificate Domain---1
Maximum RSA Public Key length used for PSC Node certificate---16,384

VMware vCenter Update Manager

vCenter Update Manager Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
ESXi host upgrade per cluster--1-

VMware vCenter Orchestrator

vCenter Orchestrator Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Connected vCenter Server systems10202020
Connected ESXi instances100128012801280
Connected virtual machines15,00035,00035,00035,000
Concurrent running workflows150300300300

Storage DRS

Storage DRS Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Datastores per datastore cluster32323264

Virtual SAN ESXi host

Virtual SAN Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Virtual SAN disk groups per host---5
Magnetic disks per disk group---7
SSD disks per disk group---1
Spinning disks in all diskgroups per host---35
Components per Virtual SAN host---9000
Cache tier maximum devices per host---5
Capacity tier maximum devices per diskgroup---7
Capacity tier maximum devices---35

Virtual SAN Cluster

Virtual SAN Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Number of Virtual SAN hosts in a cluster---64
Number of datastores per cluster---1

Virtual SAN virtual machines

Virtual SAN Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Virtual machines per host---200
Virtual machines per cluster---6400
Virtual machine virtual disk size---62TB
Disk stripes per object---12
Percentage of flash read cache reservation---100
Failure to tolerate---3 for VM virtual
disk size <= 16 TB
1 for VM virtual
disk size > 16 TB
Percentage of object space reservation---100
Virtual SAN networks/physical network fabrics---2

Virtual Volumes

Virtual Volumes Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Data Virtual Volume Size---62TB
Number of Virtual Volumes bound to a host---64,000
Number of PEs per host---256
Storage Container size---2^64
Storage Container per host---256
Maximum outstanding PE I/O operations---128 configurable
up to 4096
Configured VPs per host---128
Maximum configured VVol managed storage arrays per host---64

Network I/O Control (NIOC)

Network I/O Control (NIOC) Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Number of resource pools---10,000
Number of uplinks per vds---32
Number of uplinks per host---32
Number of vNIC per host---5120
Max pNIC bandwidth---Approximately 10 Gbits/sec for 10G pNIC
Approximately 1 Gbits/sec for 1G pNIC

vCloud Director Maximums

vCloud Director Maximums
vSphere Configuration Itemv5.0v5.1v5.5v6.0
Virtual machine count200003000050000-
Powered‐On virtual machine count100001000030000
-
Virtual machines per vApp64128128-
vApps per organization50030005000-
Number of networks75001000010000-
Number of networks7500750010000-
Hosts200020002000-
vCenter Servers252520-
Catalogs10001000010000-
Users100001000025000-

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Author: Jon Munday

An independent IT contractor with a strong focus on VMware virtualisation and infrastructure operations. I am inspired by technology, not afraid to question the status quo and balance my professional commitments with entertaining my three awesome kids (Ashton, Oliver and Lara).

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