Hardware and Network Requirements

As an HCI solution on bare metal servers, there are minimum node hardware and network requirements for installing and running SUSE Virtualization.

A three-node cluster is required to fully realize the multi-node features. The first node that is added to the cluster is by default the management node. When the cluster has three or more nodes, the two nodes added after the first are automatically promoted to management nodes to form a high availability (HA) cluster.

The latest versions support the deployment of single-node clusters. Such clusters do not support high availability, multiple replicas, and live migration.

Hardware Requirements

SUSE Virtualization nodes have the following hardware requirements and recommendations for installation and testing.

Hardware	Development/Testing	Production
CPU	AMD64 or ARM64 (with hardware-assisted virtualization); 8 cores minimum	AMD64 or ARM64 (with hardware-assisted virtualization); 16 cores minimum
Memory	32 GB minimum	64 GB minimum
Disk capacity	250 GB minimum (180 GB minimum for witness nodes or when using multiple disks)	500 GB minimum; 1 TB or more recommended
Disk performance	5,000+ random IOPS per disk (SSD/NVMe); management node storage must meet etcd speed requirements. Only local disks and hardware RAID are supported.	5,000+ random IOPS per disk (SSD/NVMe); management node storage must meet etcd speed requirements. Only local disks and hardware RAID are supported.
Network card count	Management cluster network: 1 NIC required, 2 NICs recommended; VM workload network: 1 NIC required, at least 2 NICs recommended (does not apply to the witness node)	Management cluster network: 1 NIC required, 2 NICs recommended; VM workload network: 1 NIC required, at least 2 NICs recommended (does not apply to the witness node)
Network card speed	1 Gbps Ethernet minimum	10 Gbps Ethernet minimum
Network switch	Port trunking for VLAN support	Port trunking for VLAN support

Hardware

Development/Testing

Production

CPU

AMD64 or ARM64 (with hardware-assisted virtualization); 8 cores minimum

AMD64 or ARM64 (with hardware-assisted virtualization); 16 cores minimum

Memory

32 GB minimum

64 GB minimum

Disk capacity

250 GB minimum (180 GB minimum for witness nodes or when using multiple disks)

500 GB minimum; 1 TB or more recommended

Disk performance

5,000+ random IOPS per disk (SSD/NVMe); management node storage must meet etcd speed requirements. Only local disks and hardware RAID are supported.

Network card count

Management cluster network: 1 NIC required, 2 NICs recommended; VM workload network: 1 NIC required, at least 2 NICs recommended (does not apply to the witness node)

Network card speed

1 Gbps Ethernet minimum

10 Gbps Ethernet minimum

Network switch

Port trunking for VLAN support

Support for legacy BIOS booting is deprecated in v1.7.0 and will be removed in a later release. Existing SUSE Virtualization clusters that use this boot mode will continue to function, but upgrading to later versions may require re-installation in UEFI mode. Starting with v1.8.0, new installations are only possible on UEFI systems.
Mixed-architecture clusters are not supported. Deploy separate clusters to avoid unexpected system behavior.
For best results, use YES-certified hardware for SUSE Linux Micro 6.2. SUSE Virtualization is built on SUSE Linux Enterprise technology and YES-certified hardware has additional validation of driver and system board compatibility. Laptops and nested virtualization are not supported.
Nested virtualization is not supported on virtual machines running on SUSE Virtualization.
Each node must have a unique product_uuid (fetched from /sys/class/dmi/id/product_uuid) to prevent errors from occurring during VM live migration and other operations. For more information, see Issue #4025.
SUSE Virtualization has a built-in management cluster network (mgmt). To achieve high availability and the best performance in production environments, use at least two NICs in each node to set up a bonded NIC for the management network (see step 6 in ISO Installation). You can also create custom cluster networks for VM workloads. Each custom cluster network requires at least two additional NICs to set up a bonded NIC in every involved node of the cluster. The witness node does not require additional NICs. For more information, see Cluster Network.
During testing, you can use only one NIC for the built-in management cluster network (mgmt), and for testing the VM network that is also carried by mgmt. High availability and optimal performance are not guaranteed.
If the disk only meets the minimum required capacity, you may encounter issues related to the free system partition space requirement during upgrades.
Support for legacy BIOS booting is deprecated in v1.7.0 and will be removed in a later release. Existing SUSE Virtualization clusters that use this boot mode will continue to function, but upgrading to later versions may require re-installation in UEFI mode. To avoid issues and disruptions, use UEFI in new installations.

CPU Specifications

Live Migration functions correctly only if the CPUs of all physical servers in the cluster have the same specifications. This requirement applies to all operations that rely on Live Migration functionality, such as automatic VM migration when Maintenance Mode is enabled.

Newer CPUs (even those from the same vendor, generation, and family) can have varying capabilities that may be exposed to VM operating systems. To ensure VM stability, Live Migration checks if the CPU capabilities are consistent, and blocks migration attempts when the source and destination are incompatible.

When creating clusters, adding more hosts to a cluster, and replacing hosts, always use CPUs with the same specifications to prevent operational constraints.

Network Requirements

Nodes have the following network requirements for installation.

Minimum Bandwidths

To ensure cluster stability, storage performance, and successful Live Migrations, SUSE Virtualization requires the following minimum network bandwidths. These requirements apply whether the traffic shares a single physical interface (using VLANs) or is physically segregated across dedicated NICs.

Network/Traffic Type Minimum (Dev/Test) Minimum (Production) Description and Impact

Network/Traffic Type	Minimum (Dev/Test)	Minimum (Production)	Description and Impact
Management (`mgmt`)	1 Gbps	10 Gbps	Handles Kubernetes control plane, etcd, and node communications. Inadequate bandwidth causes etcd latency, leader election timeouts, and cluster instability. For more information, see High Availability Principles.
Storage Network	1 Gbps	10 Gbps	Handles SUSE Storage data replication. High bandwidth is critical for volume health and replica rebuild speeds. Isolating this traffic on a 10 Gbps network is required in production to prevent replication from starving the control plane. For more information, see Storage Network.
VM Migration Network	1 Gbps	10 Gbps	Isolates Live Migration traffic. Insufficient bandwidth causes migrations to stall or fail. Dedicating a 10 Gbps network is recommended for heavy workloads. For more information, see VM Migration Network.
VM Workload Network	1 Gbps	10 Gbps (Bonded)	Carries external and internal guest VM traffic. Requirements scale heavily based on application needs. At least 2 NICs are recommended. For more information, see VM Network.

Management (mgmt)

1 Gbps

10 Gbps

Handles Kubernetes control plane, etcd, and node communications. Inadequate bandwidth causes etcd latency, leader election timeouts, and cluster instability. For more information, see High Availability Principles.

Storage Network

1 Gbps

10 Gbps

Handles SUSE Storage data replication. High bandwidth is critical for volume health and replica rebuild speeds. Isolating this traffic on a 10 Gbps network is required in production to prevent replication from starving the control plane. For more information, see Storage Network.

VM Migration Network

1 Gbps

10 Gbps

Isolates Live Migration traffic. Insufficient bandwidth causes migrations to stall or fail. Dedicating a 10 Gbps network is recommended for heavy workloads. For more information, see VM Migration Network.

VM Workload Network

1 Gbps

10 Gbps (Bonded)

Carries external and internal guest VM traffic. Requirements scale heavily based on application needs. At least 2 NICs are recommended. For more information, see VM Network.

If your cluster uses a shared physical interface for all networks (using VLAN tagging instead of dedicated NICs), the combined bandwidth of the physical interface must be at least 10 Gbps for production environments. However, separating Storage and VM Migration traffic onto dedicated physical interfaces is highly recommended to avoid bandwidth contention.

Time Requirements

A reliable Network Time Protocol (NTP) server is critical for maintaining the correct system time across all nodes in a Kubernetes cluster, especially when running SUSE Virtualization. Kubernetes relies on etcd, a distributed key-value store, which requires precise time synchronization to ensure data consistency and prevent issues with leader election, log replication, and cluster stability.

Ensuring accurate and consistent time across the cluster is essential for reliability, security, and overall system integrity.