Installation guide

Recommendations for Optimal Performance
Depending on the number of ESX hosts and virtual machines in your environment, the following system
requirements should be used as guidelines for optimal performance.
IMPORTANT The recommended disk sizes assume default log levels. If you configure more granular log levels,
more disk space is required.
Table 4-3 summarizes the requirements for a medium deployment.
Table 4-3. Up to 50 Hosts and 250 Powered-On Virtual Machines
Product CPU Memory Disk
vCenter Server 2 4GB 3GB
vSphere Client 1 200MB 1GB
Table 4-4 summarizes the requirements for a large deployment.
Table 4-4. Up to 200 Hosts and 2000 Powered-On Virtual Machines
Product CPU Memory Disk
vCenter Server 4 4GB 3GB
vSphere Client 1 500MB 1GB
Table 4-5 summarizes the requirements for an extra-large deployment.
vCenter Server must be hosted on a 64-bit Windows operating system for this configuration.
Table 4-5. Up to 300 Hosts and 3000 Powered-On Virtual Machines
Product CPU Memory Disk
vCenter Server 4 8GB 3GB
vSphere Client 1 500MB 1GB
Requirements for Installing vCenter Server on a Custom Drive
If you install vCenter Server on the E:\ drive or on any custom drive, note the following space requirements.
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601MB on the custom drive for vCenter Server
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1.13GB on the C:\ drive for Microsoft .NET 3.0 SP1, Microsoft ADAM, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express
(optional), and Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
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375MB for the custom drive %temp% directory
vCenter Server Software Requirements
Make sure that your operating system supports vCenter Server.
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.
Chapter 4 System Requirements
VMware, Inc. 33