AKS Edge Essentials requirements and support matrix
The following are the requirements on the host machine that runs AKS Edge Essentials:
Hardware requirements
| Specs | Local cluster | Arc-connected cluster and GitOps |
|---|---|---|
| Host OS | Windows 10/11 IoT Enterprise/Enterprise/Pro and Windows Server 2019, 2022 | |
| Total physical memory | 4 GB with at least 2.5 GB free | 8 GB with at least 4.5 GB free |
| CPU | 2 vCPUs, clock speed at least 1.8 GHz | 4 vCPUs, clock speed at least 1.8 GHz |
| Disk space | At least 14 GB free | At least 14 GB free |
To better understand the concept of vCPUs, read this article.
You can run AKS Edge Essentials on an Azure VM. You can create a Windows VM with either Windows 10/11 IoT Enterprise/Enterprise/Pro and Windows Server 2019, 2022 SKU, on a VM image that supports nested virtualization like the Dv5 and Dsv5-series virtual machines.
Caution
Running AKS Edge Essentials on a virtual machine, using nested virtualization is an experimental feature and is recommended only for developer use cases.
OS requirements
Install Windows 10/11 IoT Enterprise/Enterprise/Pro on your machine and activate Windows. We recommend using the latest client version 22H2 (OS build 19045) or Server 2022 (OS build 20348). You can download a version of Windows 10 here or Windows 11 here.
Maximum hardware specifications supported
| Parameter | Permissible limit |
|---|---|
| Maximum number of VMs per machine | 1 Linux VM + 1 Windows VM (optional) |
| Maximum number of vCPUs assigned to virtual machines | 16 vCPUs |
| Maximum number of machines per cluster | 15 machines |
GA Feature support matrix
- Infrastructure - Install AKS Edge Essentials on physical host machines.
- Kubernetes Distribution supported - Kubernetes (K8S) - Version: 1.24.3 and on Kubernetes (K3S) - Version: 1.24.3
- Deployment options - Single-machine clusters and full Kubernetes deployment on single machines only. Full deployment across multiple machines isn't supported in GA.
- Workloads - Only Linux worker node.
- Network plugins: Calico on K8S and Flannel on K3S.
Experimental or Pre-release Features
- Infrastructure - Installing AKS Edge Essentials on a virtual machine using nested virtualization is experimental.
- Deployment options - Full Kubernetes deployment on multiple machines.
- Workloads - Windows worker node.
- Network plugins: Flannel on K8S and Calico on K3S