How many vCPUs are certified in RHEL 7 certification of VMware ESX9.0

Updated -

Environment

  • VMware ESX 9.0
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2-7.x

Issue

  • VMware ESX 9.0 supports up to 960 vCPUs per host. Broadcom has certified ESX 9.0 for use with RHEL 7.2 and later. However, per Red Hat’s documented kernel limits, the maximum number of supported vCPUs varies depending on the RHEL kernel version.

Resolution

  • According to Red Hat's Hardware Certification Policy, when optional hardware or specific CPUs require a higher minor release than the one initially targeted for certification, the Hardware Changes Policy (refer to Section 3.6.4 “Changes”) can be applied.
    This policy allows the system to be certified with a lower RHEL release, while an associated Red Hat Knowledge Base article documents the requirement for a newer kernel or release due to CPU or hardware limitations.

  • Broadcom has certified the following vCPU support based on RHEL versions:

    • RHEL 7.2: Certified for up to 384 vCPUs
    • RHEL 7.4 to 7.x: Certified for up to 768 vCPUs

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