Installation guide

Requirements for Installing vCenter Server on a Custom Drive

If you install vCenter Server on any custom drive, note the following space requirements:

1GB on the custom drive for vCenter Server

1.13GB on the C:\ drive for Microsoft .NET 3.0 SP1, Microsoft ADAM, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express

(optional), and Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable

375MB for the custom drive %temp% directory

vCenter Server Software Requirements

Make sure that your operating system supports vCenter Server. vCenter Server requires a 64-bit operating

system, and the 64-bit system DSN is required for vCenter Server to connect to its database.

For a list of supported operating systems, see the vSphere Compatibility Matrixes at

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf on the VMware vSphere

documentation Web site.

vSphere Client Software Requirements

Make sure that your operating system supports the vSphere Client.

For a list of supported operating systems, see the vSphere Compatibility Matrixes at

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf on the VMware vSphere

documentation Web site.

The vSphere Client requires the Microsoft .NET 3.0 SP1 Framework. If your system does not have it installed,

the vSphere Client installer installs it. The .NET 3.0 SP1 software might require Internet connectivity to

download additional files.

Support for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems

ESX/ESXi offers support for several 64-bit guest operating systems.

See the Guest Operating System Installation Guide for a complete list.

Hosts running virtual machines with 64-bit guest operating systems have the following hardware

requirements:

For AMD Opteron-based systems, the processors must be Opteron Rev E and later.

For Intel Xeon-based systems, the processors must include support for Intel Virtualization Technology

(VT). Many servers that include CPUs with VT support might ship with VT disabled by default, so you

must enable VT manually. If your CPUs support VT but you do not see this option in the BIOS, contact

your vendor to request a BIOS version that lets you enable VT support.

To determine whether your server has 64-bit VMware support, you can download the CPU Identification

Utility at the VMware downloads page: http://www.vmware.com/download/shared_utilities.html.

Requirements for Creating Virtual Machines

To create a virtual machine, the ESX/ESXi host must be able to support a virtual processor, a virtual chip set,

and a virtual BIOS.

Each ESX/ESXi machine has the requirements shown in Table 2-4.

Chapter 2 System Requirements

VMware, Inc. 17