Hardware
Hardware Recommendations
The table below shows Nutanix hardware recommendations for Community Edition:
Table 1: Hardware Recommendations
| Component | Nutanix Recommendation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Central Processing Unit (CPU) | Intel CPUs with VT-x support | Four-core minimum because two cores are dedicated to the CVM. |
| System memory | 16 GB minimum; 32 GB or higher recommended | 32 GB or greater recommended for AOS features such as deduplication, compression, or more user VMs. |
| Network interface card (NIC) | Intel=based NIC | |
| Host bus adapter (HBA) | Community Edition supports Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI), SATA, or LSI controller with: - IT mode - IR mode with pass-through - IR mode with RAID-0 | |
| Storage devices (all drives) | Maximum number of SSD/HDD drives per node is four | |
| Storage devices (hot tier flash) | Single 200 GB SSD or greater | Place SSD(s) before HDDs (commonly Bay 0 or Bay 1). The first bay number varies depending on manufacturer labeling; NVMe-based drives are not supported. |
| Boot device | One 8 GB capacity device per node. It can be an external or internal device. | Nutanix has successfully tested and used external USB drives and internal devices such as SATA DOMs. USB 3.0 media recommended. |
| Firmware | Consider updating the firmware for any hardware you plan to use to the latest version recommended by the hardware vendor. |
Source: Nutanix. (2020). "Getting Started with Nutanix Community Edition"
Cluster Sizing
Community Edition supports up to four (4) nodes in a single cluster. Nutanix recommends deploying a three-node cluster to reap the most benefit from the platform. If you deploy a single node cluster, you will not be able to take advantage of Nutanix’s high-availability (HA) features.
You can't extend a one or two node cluster
Moving from a one or two node cluster requires destroying the existing cluster and all VMs. Discuss these limitations with the customer before recommending a cluster size.