Tutorial: Scale clusters in a private cloud
To get the most out of your Azure VMware Solution private cloud experience, scale the clusters and hosts to reflect what you need for planned workloads. You can scale the clusters and hosts in a private cloud as required for your application workload. You should address performance and availability limitations for specific services on a case-by-case basis.
The following table describes the maximum limits for Azure VMware Solution.
| Resource | Limit |
|---|---|
| vSphere clusters per private cloud | 12 |
| Minimum number of ESXi hosts per cluster | 3 (hard-limit) |
| Maximum number of ESXi hosts per cluster | 16 (hard-limit) |
| Maximum number of ESXi hosts per private cloud | 96 |
| Maximum number of vCenter Servers per private cloud | 1 (hard-limit) |
| Maximum number of HCX site pairings | 25 (any edition) |
| Maximum number of HCX service meshes | 10 (any edition) |
| Maximum number of Azure VMware Solution ExpressRoute linked private clouds from a single location to a single Virtual Network Gateway | 4 The virtual network gateway used determines the actual max linked private clouds. For more information, see About ExpressRoute virtual network gateways If you exceed this threshold use Azure VMware Solution Interconnect to aggregate private cloud connectivity within the Azure region. |
| Maximum Azure VMware Solution ExpressRoute throughput | 10 Gbps (use Ultra Performance Gateway SKU with FastPath enabled)** The virtual network gateway used determines the actual bandwidth. For more information, see About ExpressRoute virtual network gateways Azure VMware Solution ExpressRoutes do not have any port speed limitations and will perform above 10 Gbps; however, rates over 10 Gbps are not guaranteed due to QoS. |
| Maximum number of Azure Public IPv4 addresses assigned to NSX | 2,000 |
| Maximum number of Azure VMware Solution Interconnects per private cloud | 10 |
| Maximum number of Azure ExpressRoute Global Reach connections per Azure VMware Solution private cloud | 8 |
| vSAN capacity limits | 75% of total usable (keep 25% available for SLA) |
| VMware Site Recovery Manager - Maximum number of protected Virtual Machines | 3,000 |
| VMware Site Recovery Manager - Maximum number of Virtual Machines per recovery plan | 2,000 |
| VMware Site Recovery Manager - Maximum number of protection groups per recovery plan | 250 |
| VMware Site Recovery Manager - RPO Values | 5 min or higher * (hard-limit) |
| VMware Site Recovery Manager - Maximum number of virtual machines per protection group | 500 |
| VMware Site Recovery Manager - Maximum number of recovery plans | 250 |
* For information about Recovery Point Objective (RPO) lower than 15 minutes, see How the 5 Minute Recovery Point Objective Works in the vSphere Replication Administration guide.
** This is the soft and recommended limit but can support higher throughput based on the scenario.
For other VMware-specific limits, use the VMware by Broadcom configuration maximum tool.
In this tutorial, learn how to use the Azure portal to:
- Add a cluster to an existing private cloud
- Add hosts to an existing cluster
Prerequisites
You need an existing private cloud to complete this tutorial. If you don't already have a private cloud created, follow the create a private cloud tutorial to create one.
If you are planning on using the AV64 SKU, define a network for the management and control plane. In your Azure VMware Solution private cloud, under Manage, select Clusters > Add a cluster. Then add the Address block for AV64 clusters (one /23 network or three /25 networks) under the Extended address block tab and select Save.
Add a new cluster
- In your Azure VMware Solution private cloud, under Manage, select Clusters > Add a cluster. Then select the required SKU from Size of host and specify the Number of hosts for the cluster. Prices listed in image are for illustration only.
We do not allow the mixing of AV36, AV36P, or AV52 SKUs within the same cluster. We only allow the addition of AV64 clusters to existing private clouds that are built with the AV36, AV36P, or AV52 SKUs in certain regions. For more information.
- The deployment of the new cluster will begin.
Scale a cluster
Note
Scaling down a cluster successfully requires all objects (VM/vmdk/iso/etc) on a vSAN datastore to be configured with a storage policy below or equal to RAID level requirements.
In your Azure VMware Solution private cloud, under Manage, select Clusters.
Select the cluster you want to scale, select More (...), then select Edit.
Select Add Host to add a host to the cluster. Repeat that to reach the desired number of hosts, and then select Save.
The addition of hosts to the cluster begins.
Note
The hosts will be added to the cluster in parallel.
Next steps
If you require another Azure VMware Solution private cloud, create another private cloud following the same networking prerequisites, cluster, and host limits.