Maximum manageable storage in VMware versions
Maximum manageable storage per VM by ESX version
- 4.1: 32TB (vmdk) / 120TB (RDM)
- 5.0: 60TB (vmdk) / 3.75PB (RDM)
- 5.1: 60TB (vmdk) / 3.75PB (RDM)
- 5.5: 3.63PB (vmdk) / 3.75PB (RDM)
Note that the 60TB limit for 5.0 and 5.1 requires Update 1. Without this the limit is 24TB.
Exceeding the limits on ESX < 5.5 can result in VMFS heap exhaustion and data corruption!
More details:
| Component | ESX 3.5 * | ESX 4.0 | ESX 4.1 | ESX 5.0 | ESX 5.1 | ESX 5.5 |
| vCPUs | 4 | 8 | 8 | 32 | 64 | 64 |
| RAM | 64GB | 255GB | 255GB | 1TB | 1TB | 1TB |
| Disk Size (VMDK) | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB | 62TB |
| Number of Disks | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| RDM Size | 2TB | 2TB | 2TB | 64TB# | 64TB# | 64TB# |
| Max Storage per VM (VMDK) | 32TB** | 32TB** | 60TB** | 60TB** | 3.63PB | |
| Max Storage per VM (RDM) | 120TB | 120TB | 3.75PB | 3.75PB | 3.75PB | |
| NICs | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| * VMware has EOL support for 3.x | ||||||
| **See limits related to VMFS heap at http://dlpx.co/1004424 | ||||||
| #RDM size is based on physical-mode RDMs. Virtual-mode RDM limits match VMDKs. | ||||||
ESX 5.0, 5.1 VMFS addressable storage limit is 60TB when patches are applied
- VMware KB-1004424, good blog post
- Delphix Support Technical Bulletin: I/O Errors May Occur if VMware Heap Exhausted
ESX5.5 VMFS addressable storage limit is 3.63PB, performance max is 100TB
Note: MaxAddressableSpaceTB sets pointer-block cache for performance: default 32TB, max 128TB. Threshold where PB cache eviction starts is 80%: so 100 TB is maximum for performance. Details in this blog post.
References
- http://www.vmware.com/pdf/
vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_config_ max.pdf - https://www.vmware.com/pdf/
vsphere5/r50/vsphere-50- configuration-maximums.pdf - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/
vsphere5/r55/vsphere-55- configuration-maximums.pdf - https://support.delphix.com/hc/en-us/articles/202315498-Technical-Bulletin-I-O-Errors-May-Cause-VMware-Heap-Exhaustion