Specifications

System Requirements 2
Systems running vCenter Server and ESXi instances must meet specific hardware and operating system
requirements.
If you are using Auto Deploy to provision ESXi hosts, see also the information about preparing for VMware
Auto Deploy in the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“ESXi Hardware Requirements,” on page 13
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“Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server, the vSphere Web Client, vCenter Inventory Service, and
vCenter Single Sign-On,” on page 17
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“vCenter Server Software Requirements,” on page 22
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“vSphere Web Client Software Requirements,” on page 22
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“Providing Sufficient Space for System Logging,” on page 23
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“Required Ports for vCenter Server,” on page 23
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“Required Ports for the vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 26
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“Conflict Between vCenter Server and IIS for Port 80,” on page 27
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“DNS Requirements for vSphere,” on page 27
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“Supported Remote Management Server Models and Minimum Firmware Versions,” on page 28
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“Update Manager Hardware Requirements,” on page 28
ESXi Hardware Requirements
Make sure the host meets the minimum hardware configurations supported by ESXi 5.5.
Hardware and System Resources
To install and use ESXi 5.5, your hardware and system resources must meet the following requirements:
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Supported server platform. For a list of supported platforms, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
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ESXi 5.5 will install and run only on servers with 64-bit x86 CPUs.
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ESXi 5.5 requires a host machine with at least two cores.
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ESXi 5.5 supports only LAHF and SAHF CPU instructions.
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ESXi 5.5 requires the NX/XD bit to be enabled for the CPU in the BIOS.
VMware, Inc.
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