Chapter 10.
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Installing VMware for CloudPlatform
If you want to use the VMware vSphere hypervisor to run guest virtual machines, install vSphere on
the host(s) in your cloud.

10.1. System Requirements for vSphere Hosts

10.1.1. Software requirements

• vSphere and vCenter, both version 5.0 or 5.1.
vSphere Standard is recommended. Note however that customers need to consider the
CPU constraints in place with vSphere licensing. See http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/
vsphere_pricing.pdf and discuss with your VMware sales representative.
vCenter Server Standard is recommended.
• Be sure all the hotfixes provided by the hypervisor vendor are applied. Track the release of
hypervisor patches through your hypervisor vendor's support channel, and apply patches as soon
as possible after they are released. CloudPlatform will not track or notify you of required hypervisor
patches. It is essential that your hosts are completely up to date with the provided hypervisor
patches. The hypervisor vendor is likely to refuse to support any system that is not up to date with
patches.
Apply All Necessary Hotfixes
The lack of up-do-date hotfixes can lead to data corruption and lost VMs.

10.1.2. Hardware requirements

• The host must be certified as compatible with the vSphere version you are using. See the VMware
Hardware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.
• All hosts must be 64-bit and must support HVM (Intel-VT or AMD-V enabled).
• All hosts within a cluster must be homogenous. That means the CPUs must be of the same type,
count, and feature flags.
• 64-bit x86 CPU (more cores results in better performance)
• Hardware virtualization support required
• 4 GB of memory
• 36 GB of local disk
• At least 1 NIC
• Statically allocated IP Address