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System requirements for Azure Local

  • Artykuł

Applies to: Azure Local 2311.2 and later

Important

Azure Stack HCI is now part of Azure Local. Learn more.

This article discusses Azure, machine and storage, networking, and other requirements for Azure Local. If you purchase Integrated System solution hardware from the Azure Local Catalog, you can skip to the Networking requirements since the hardware already adheres to machine and storage requirements.

Azure requirements

Here are the Azure requirements for your Azure Local instance:

  • Azure subscription: If you don't already have an Azure account, create one. You can use an existing subscription of any type:

    • Free account with Azure credits for students or Visual Studio subscribers.
    • Pay-as-you-go subscription with credit card.
    • Subscription obtained through an Enterprise Agreement (EA).
    • Subscription obtained through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program.

  • Azure permissions: Make sure that you're assigned the required roles and permissions for registration and deployment. For information on how to assign permissions, see Assign Azure permissions for registration.

  • Azure regions: Azure Local is supported for the following regions:

    • East US
    • West Europe
    • Australia East
    • Southeast Asia
    • India Central
    • Canada Central
    • Japan East
    • South Central US

Machine and storage requirements

Before you begin, make sure that the physical machine and storage hardware used to deploy Azure Local meets the following requirements:

Component Minimum
Number of machines 1 to 16 machines are supported.
Each machine must be the same model, manufacturer, have the same processor types, have the same network adapters, and have the same number and type of storage drives.
CPU A 64-bit Intel Nehalem grade or AMD EPYC or later compatible processor with second-level address translation (SLAT).
All the Azure Local machines used to form an Azure Local instance must have the same processor types.
Memory A minimum of 32-GB RAM per machine with Error-Correcting Code (ECC).
If you can't meet the memory and the ECC requirements, opt for a Virtual deployment.
Host network adapters At least two network adapters listed in the Windows Server Catalog. Or dedicated network adapters per intent, which does require two separate adapters for storage intent. For more information, see Windows Server Catalog.
BIOS Intel VT or AMD-V must be turned on.
Boot drive A minimum size of 200 GB.
400 GB or more recommended for large memory Azure Local instances for support and diagnosability.
Data drives At least two disks with a minimum capacity of 500 GB (SSD or HDD).
Single machines must use only a single drive type: Nonvolatile Memory Express (NVMe) or Solid-State (SSD) drives.
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) TPM version 2.0 hardware must be present and turned on.
Secure boot Secure Boot must be present and turned on.
GPU Optional
Up to 192 GB GPU memory per machine.

The machines should also meet this extra requirement:

  • Have direct-attached drives that are physically attached to one machine each. RAID controller cards or SAN (Fibre Channel, iSCSI, FCoE) storage, shared SAS enclosures connected to multiple machines, or any form of multi-path IO (MPIO) where drives are accessible by multiple paths, aren't supported.

    Note

    Host-bus adapter (HBA) cards must implement simple pass-through mode for any storage devices used for Storage Spaces Direct.

For more feature-specific requirements for Hyper-V, see System requirements for Hyper-V on Windows Server.

Networking requirements

Azure Local requires connectivity to public endpoints in Azure, see Firewall requirements for details. Multi-machine deployments of Azure Local require a reliable high-bandwidth, low-latency network connection between each machine in the instance.

Verify that physical switches in your network are configured to allow traffic on any VLANs you use. For more information, see Physical network requirements for Azure Local.

Maximum supported hardware specifications

Azure Local deployments that exceed the following specifications are not supported:

Resource Maximum
Physical machines per system 16
Storage per system 4 PB
Storage per machine 400 TB
Volumes per system 64
Volume size 64 TB
Logical processors per host 512
RAM per host 24 TB
Virtual processors per host 2,048

Support and diagnosability

To ensure adequate support and diagnosability for large memory Azure Local instances (those with more than 768 GB of physical memory per machine), we recommend that you install OS disks with a capacity of 400 GB or more. This additional disk capacity provides sufficient space to troubleshoot hardware, driver, or software issues should they require a kernel memory dump to be written to the OS volume.

Hardware requirements

In addition to Microsoft Azure Local updates, many OEMs also release regular updates for your Azure Local hardware, such as driver and firmware updates. To ensure that OEM package update notifications, reach your organization check with your OEM about their specific notification process.

Before deploying Azure Local, ensure that your hardware is up to date by:

  • Determining the current version of your Solution Builder Extension (SBE) package.
  • Finding the best method to download, install, and update your SBE package.

OEM information

This section contains OEM contact information and links to OEM Azure Local reference material.

Azure Local Solution provider Solution platform How to configure BIOS settings How to update firmware How to update drivers How to update the system after it's running
Bluechip SERVERline R42203a Certified for Azure Local bluechip Service & Support bluechip Service & Support bluechip Service & Support bluechip Service & Support
DataON AZS-XXXX AZS-XXXX BIOS link AZS-XXXX driver link AZS-XXXX driver link AZS-XXXX update link
primeLine All models Contact primeLine service Contact primeLine service Contact primeLine service
Supermicro BigTwin 2U 2-Node Configure BIOS settings Firmware update process Driver update process
Thomas-krenn All models Configure BIOS settings Firmware update process Driver update process

For a comprehensive list of all OEM contact information, download the Azure Local OEM Contact spreadsheet.

BIOS setting

Check with your OEM regarding the necessary generic BIOS settings for Azure Local. These settings may include hardware virtualization, TPM enabled, and secure core.

Driver

Check with your OEM regarding the necessary drivers that need to be installed for Azure Local. Additionally, your OEM can provide you with their preferred installation steps.

Driver installation steps

You should always follow the OEM's recommended installation steps. If the OEM's guidance isn't available, see the following steps:

  1. Identify the Ethernet using this command:

    Get-NetAdapter

    Here's a sample output:

    PS C:\Windows\system32>	get-netadapter

Name	                      InterfaceDescription	                iflndex     Status	     MacAddress	            LinkSpeed
vSMB(compute managemen…	      Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter #2	    20      Up	         00-15-5D-20-40-00	    25 Gbps
vSMB(compute managemen…	      Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter #3	    24      Up	         00-15-5D-20-40-01	    25 Gbps
ethernet	                  HPE Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port 640FLR…#2	     7      Up	         B8-83-03-58-91-88	    25 Gbps
ethernet 2	                  HPE Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port 640FLR-S…	     5      Up	         B8 83-03-58-91-89	    25 Gbps
vManagement(compute_ma…	      Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter	        14      Up	         B8-83-03-58-91-88	    25 Gbps

  2. Identify the DriverFileName, DriverVersion, DriverDate, DriverDescription, and the DriverProvider using this command:

    Get-NetAdapter -name ethernet | select *driver*

    Here's a sample output:

    PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-NetAdapter -name ethernet | select *driver*

DriverInformation		: Driver Date 2021-07-08 Version 2.70.24728.0 NDIS 6.85
DriverFileName			: mlx5.sys
DriverVersion			: 2.70.24728.0
DriverDate			    : 2021-07-08
DriverDateData			: 132701760000000000
DriverDescription		: HPE Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port 640FLR-SFP28 Adapter
DriverMajorNdisVersion	: 6
DriverMinorNdisVersion 	: 85
DriverName			    : \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\mlx5.sys
DriverProvider			: Mellanox Technologies Ltd.
DriverVersionString		: 2.70.24728.0
MajorDriverVersion		: 2
MinorDriverVersion		: 0

  3. Search for your driver and the recommended installation steps.

  4. Download your driver.

  5. Install the driver identified in Step #2 by DriverFileName on all machines of the system. For more information, see PnPUtil Examples - Windows Drivers.

    Here's an example:

    pnputil /add-driver mlx5.inf /install

  6. Check to be sure the drivers are updated by reviewing DriverVersion and DriverDate.

    Get-NetAdapter -name ethernet | select *driver*

    Here's are some sample outputs:

    PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-NetAdapter -name ethernet | select *driver*

DriverInformation		: Driver Date 2023-05-03 Version 23.4.26054.0 NDIS 6.85
DriverFileName			: mlx5.sys
DriverVersion			: 23.4.26054.0
DriverDate			    : 2023-05-03
DriverDateData			: 133275456000000000
DriverDescription		: HPE Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port 640FLR-SFP28 Adapter
DriverMajorNdisVersion	: 6
DriverMinorNdisVersion 	: 85
DriverName			    : \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\mlx5.sys
DriverProvider			: Mellanox Technologies Ltd.
DriverVersionString		: 23.4.26054.0
MajorDriverVersion		: 2
MinorDriverVersion		: 0

    PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-NetAdapter "ethernet 2" | select *driver*

DriverInformation		: Driver Date 2023-05-03 Version 23.4.26054.0 NDIS 6.85
DriverFileName			: mlx5.sys
DriverVersion			: 23.4.26054.0
DriverDate			    : 2023-05-03
DriverDateData			: 133275456000000000
DriverDescription		: HPE Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port 640FLR-SFP28 Adapter
DriverMajorNdisVersion	: 6
DriverMinorNdisVersion 	: 85
DriverName			    : \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\mlx5.sys
DriverProvider			: Mellanox Technologies Ltd.
DriverVersionString		: 23.4.26054.0
MajorDriverVersion		: 2
MinorDriverVersion		: 0

Firmware

Check with your OEM regarding the necessary firmware that needs to be installed for Azure Local. Additionally, your OEM can provide you with their preferred installation steps.

Drivers and firmware via the Windows Admin Center extension

You should always follow the OEM's recommended installation steps. With Azure Local, Windows Admin Center plugins can be used to install drivers and firmware. For a comprehensive list of all OEM contact information, download the Azure Local OEM Contact spreadsheet.

Next steps

Review firewall, physical network, and host network requirements: