Skip to content

Hardware Requirements

General Requirements

If you want to run production-grade SmartOS on hardware that we know works, READTHIS.

CPU

SmartOS requires a 64-bit capable x86 Intel or AMD CPU. If you would like to use KVM, please see the section on KVM Requirements.

DRAM

At a minimum, SmartOS require 512 MB of DRAM. We suggest putting as much DRAM into the box as possible.

Networking Cards, Disk controllers, and other Peripherals

SmartOS requires at least one networking interface and a supported disk controller. For a full list of supported onboard and PCI devices, check out the illumos HCL.

KVM Requirements

KVM is currently supported on Intel processors that have both Virtualization Technology eXtensions (VT-x) and Extended Page Tables (EPT a.k.a. Intel VT-X with Extended Page Tables). EPT was first introduced with the Nehalem line of processors. As a rule of thumb this translates out to the following brand names:

  • Xeon E3, E5, E7
  • Xeon 54XX, 55XX, 56XX, 74XX, 75XX, 76XX
  • Some models of the Xeon 34XX, 35XX, and 36XX
  • Some Core i3, i5, and i7
  • Most newer Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge Desktop Pentium and Celeron processors.

For a full list of microprocessors that support EPT, please consult the Intel list.

AMD and non-EPT processors

Support for AMD processors and Intel processors without EPT support is in development for the broader community. Josh Clulow is working on it here.

This version of the kvm driver is not currently supported.

There are "community" eait-Images built by arekinath that include that code and do have AMD support.\ You can help test these images so that AMD support can eventually be merged upstream.

Known Issues

There are a few known hardware related issues with illumos.

  • There have been several issues with Intel CPUs regarding their C-States. SmartOS has worked around them, but you should consider disabling them in your BIOS.