The VMware Knowledge Base provides support solutions, error messages and troubleshooting guides
Search the VMware Knowledge Base (KB)
View by Article ID
Minimum requirements for the VMware vCenter Server 5.x Appliance
Purpose
Beginning with vSphere 5.0, vCenter Server is available as a virtual machine appliance via the VMware vCenter Server Appliance. With the VMware vCenter Server Appliance, the contents are contained in a pre-configured virtual machine. This article outlines the minimum requirements and configurations for a successful implementation.
Note: For more information, see the ESXi and vCenter Server Installation Guide. The documentation contains definitive information. If there is a discrepancy between the documentation and this article, assume that the documentation is correct.
Resolution
The VMware vCenter Server Appliance can be deployed only on hosts that are running ESX/ESXi 4.x or later.
This table outlines the VMware vCenter Server Appliance requirements:
Component
Requirement
Disk storage on the host machine
At least 7GB
A maximum of 80GB
Memory in the vCenter Server Appliance
Very small inventory (10 or fewer hosts, 100 or fewer virtual machines): at least 4GB
Small inventory (10-100 hosts or 100-1000 virtual machines): at least 8GB
Medium inventory (100-400 hosts or 1000-4000 virtual machines): at least 13GB
Large inventory (More than 400 hosts or 4000 virtual machines): at least 17GB
This table outlines the recommended JVM Heap settings for VMware vCenter Server Appliance vCenter Server Appliance Hardware:
vCenter Server Appliance Hardware
Tomcat
Query Service (QS)
Policy Based Storage Management (SPS)
Small inventory (1-100 hosts or 1-1000 virtual machines)
1GB
2GB
512MB
Medium inventory (100-400 hosts or 1000-4000 virtual machines)
2GB
4GB
1GB
Large inventory (More than 400 hosts or 4000 virtual machines)
