Hardware requirements
Server
The vPLC solution is compatible with all hardware platforms that are supported VMware ESXi can run on (see ESXi Hardware Requirements). The performance has been verified on the following systems:
Dell PowerEdge R420 with 2 Intel(R) Xeon(R) E5-2450L 8C CPUs and an X540-AT2 network card
Dell PowerEdge XR2 with 2 Intel(R) Xeon(R) Silver 4114 10C CPUs and an X540-AT2 network card
For choosing an appropriate system, note the following resource requirements of the SDA VMs:
Virtual Gateway (only once per cluster, can also be installed on a different device): 1 Core, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB storage
vPLC VM (containing 1 PLC runtime): 2 Cores, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage
In addition, 2 cores are required for vCenter (only once per cluster) and 1 core for ESXi on each server. Remaining resources on the server can be used for other applications than vPLCs.
We also recommend the ThinkSystem SE350 from Lenovo in case a smaller form factor and rail mounts are required (see https://lenovopress.lenovo.com/lp1168-thinksystem-se350-edge-server#network-adapters).
Network
We recommend to use a network card that is SR-IOV compatible to enable lower response times (see also Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV)). To choose a network adapter, please ensure that the adapter is listed as compatible in the following two references:
List of all SR-IOV compatible cards from Intel: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005722/ethernet-products.html
ESXi compatible network cards: https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/pdf/vi_io_guide.pdf
The solution has been tested with SR-IOV on the systems mentioned above using an X540-AT2 network card.
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