Hardware and software dependencies
This section describes the hardware and software dependencies for the appliance. It includes these topics:
Hardware and software dependencies
This table summarizes the hardware and software requirements for the Edge appliance.
For a RiOS, Storage Edge, SteelFusion Core, and vSphere release matrix, go to the Riverbed Knowledge Base article at
https://supportkb.riverbed.com/support/index?page=content&id=S:S27472.
Riverbed component | Hardware and software requirements |
SteelFusion Edge | 19-inch (483-mm) two-post or four-post rack. |
SteelFusion Edge Management Console | Any computer that supports a web browser with a color image display. The SteelFusion Edge Management Console has been tested with Mozilla Firefox Extended Support Release version 38.0, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 11.0. JavaScript and cookies must be enabled in your web browser. |
BlockStream, SteelFusion Core Management Console | Version 5.0 or later (Cores in NFS/file mode) Version 5.0 or later (Cores in iSCSI/block mode) Note: Software versions for Core and Edge cannot be more than two major releases apart. For example, 4.0 and 4.2 are compatible, but 4.0 and 4.3 are not compatible. |
SteelHead, SteelHead Management Console | RiOS 9.8.0a |
SteelCentral Controller for SteelHead | Version 9.8.0 |
VMware vSphere Hypervisor | ESXi 6.0 Patch 6 Optionally, ESXi 6.5 Patch 2. These optional versions require you to download the image from Riverbed Support at https://support.riverbed.com. You can download the vSphere applications from the VMware website, or you can download the vSphere Client from the hypervisor host. The Edge appliance ships with a Riverbed-specific VMware vSphere Hypervisor license for 6.0 Patch 6. This license enables basic hypervisor functions such as monitoring and management of a single instance of the ESXi or ESXi server. |
VMware vCenter Server | ESXi 6.0 Patch 6 provides a centralized platform for managing your VMware vSphere environments. The vCenter Server requires a paid license that can be purchased from a VMware reseller. |
SCC compatibility
To manage SteelFusion Edge 6.0 appliances, you need to use SCC 9.8.0. Earlier versions of SCC do not support 6.0 Edges. For details about SCC compatibility across versions, see the SteelCentral Controller for SteelHead Installation Guide.
Note: As a result of updating the version of Secure Shell (SSH), earlier versions of SCC cannot connect to newer software on managed appliances. If you plan to upgrade your Edge appliances to 6.0, first upgrade the SCC to 9.8.0 or later to avoid disconnections. For more details, see
Knowledge Base article S27759.
Available blockstore space
This section describes the available blockstore, usable storage, and the maximum pinnable storage.
SteelFusion Edge model | Blockstore (GB / GiB) | Usable storage (GB / GiB) | Maximum pinnable storage (GB / GiB) |
| This value refers to the space after RAID configuration for the entire blockstore. | This value refers to the space available to store LUNs or exports after accounting for the metadata. The metadata uses approximately 8% of the size of the blockstore. | This value refers to the maximum space that can be reserved by pinned LUNs or exports. This is lower than usable storage to ensure that a minimum amount of space is reserved for writes. |
2100 | 750 GB / 698 GiB | 690 GB / 642 GiB | 621 GB / 578 GiB |
2200 | 1,500 GB (1.5 TB) / 1,396 GiB (1.36 TiB) | 1,381 GB (1.3 TB) /
1,286 GiB (1.25 TiB) | 1,243 GB (1.2 TB) /
1,157 GiB (1.12 TiB) |
3100 | 3,500 GB (3.5 TB) / 3,259 GiB (3.18 TiB) | 3,224 GB (3.2 TB) /
3,002 GiB (2.93 TiB) | 2,902 GB (2.9 TB) /
2,702 GiB (2.63 TiB) |
3200 | 7,400 GB (7.4 TB) / 6,891 GiB (6.72 TiB) | 6,818 GB (6.8 TB) /
6,349 GiB (6.2 TiB) | 6,136 GB (6.1 TB) /
5,714 GiB (5.58 TiB) |
5100 | 15,200 GB (15.2 TB) / 14,156 GiB (13.82 TiB) | 14,005 GB (14 TB) /
13,043 GiB (12.73 TiB) | 12,604 GB (12.6 TB) /
11,738 GiB (11.46 TiB) |
Note: The Edge Management Console Installer displays the available physical storage using base 2 (that is, 1024 bytes = 1 KB) rather than base 10 (that is, 1000 bytes = 1 KB). Please be aware of the slight difference between these values when you are calculating the available space for your deployment. For example, when 2.6 TB is displayed in the Edge Installer it represents 2.9 TB of available space.
VMware license requirements
These Riverbed licenses are mandatory for virtualization in the appliance:
• VSPBASE - The VSP base license to manage virtualization and VSP operations. This software that is part of RiOS software.
• VSPESXI - License to install the embedded ESXi software.
After installing and connecting the Edge appliance, the Riverbed Licensing Portal is automatically contacted to retrieve and install the required license keys onto the Edge appliance. If either of the licenses have expired or are about to expire, an alarm is triggered in the Management Console Alarms page. For detailed information about Riverbed licensing, see
Automatic licensing.
The Edge appliance ships with an embedded VMware ESXi vSphere hypervisor license. This license is the free bare-metal hypervisor that virtualizes servers so you can consolidate your applications on less hardware. This license enables basic hypervisor functions without support for more advanced vSphere features such as vCenter, vMotion, high availability, and so on. If you need additional features beyond what the embedded vSphere Hypervisor license provides, you will need to purchase a license upgrade through your VMware reseller.
There are two types of licenses that you can purchase to enable vCenter support:
• vSphere license - This license is installed into the vSphere instance of the Edge appliance. This license controls the infrastructure capabilities of the hypervisor, for example: vMotion, evMotion, distributed resource scheduler (DRS), high availability (HA), fault tolerance (FT). It does not restrict how many appliances can be connected to vCenter. You can purchase this license and add it to your ESXi instance in vCenter.
• vCenter Server license - This license is installed onto the vCenter server. There are two levels for this license: foundation and standard. The foundation license provides management tools for up to three vSphere hosts. The standard license provides large scale management of VMware vSphere deployments for up to 1000 vSphere hosts. If you want to manage more than three ESXi hosts, you must purchase the vCenter Server license.
We recommend purchasing a vCenter Server license as it enables monitoring and management of multiple ESX, ESXi, and GSX servers. In addition, the vCenter Server license provides infrastructure services such as vMotion, evMotion, DRS, HA, and FT.
Changing your VMware license
If you prefer to use your own VMware license rather than the Riverbed embedded vSphere Hypervisor license, you can change the VMware license when you run the Hypervisor Installer in the Edge Management Console.
You can access the Hypervisor Installer either from the Management Console Dashboard or from Virtualization > Installer: Installer.
For detailed information about changing your VMware license in the Hypervisor Installer, see the SteelFusion Edge User Guide.
Firewall requirements
We recommend that you deploy the Edge appliance behind your firewall. The ports 7800 and 7810 must be open.
SNMP-based management compatibility
The Edge appliance supports a proprietary Riverbed MIB accessible through SNMP. SNMPv1 (RFCs 1155, 1157, 1212, and 1215), SNMPv2c (RFCs 1901, 2578, 2579, 2580, 3416, 3417, and 3418), and SNMPv3 are supported, although some MIB items might be accessible only through SNMPv3 and SNMPv2.
SNMP support allows the Edge to be integrated into network management systems such as Hewlett Packard OpenView Network Node Manager, BMC Patrol, and other SNMP-based network management tools.
Ethernet network compatibility
The Edge appliance supports these networking standards. An Edge appliance with a Gigabit Ethernet card supports jumbo frames on in-path and primary ports.
Ethernet standard | IEEE standard |
Ethernet Logical Link Control (LLC) | IEEE 802.2 - 1998 |
Fast Ethernet 100BASE-TX | IEEE 802.3 - 2008 |
Gigabit Ethernet over Copper 1000BASE-T (All copper interfaces are autosensing for speed and duplex.) | IEEE 802.3 - 2008 |
Gigabit Ethernet over Fiber 1000BASE-SX (LC connector) | IEEE 802.3 - 2008 |
Gigabit Ethernet over Fiber 1000BASE-LX | IEEE 802.3 - 2008 |
Gigabit Ethernet over Fiber 10GBASE-LR Single Mode | IEEE 802.3 - 2008 |
The Edge appliance ports support these connection types and speeds.
Port | Speed |
Primary (PRI) | 10/100/1000BASE-T, autonegotiating |
Auxiliary (AUX) | 10/100/1000BASE-T, autonegotiating |
LAN | 10/100/1000BASE-T or 1000BASE-SX or 1000BASE-LX or 10GBASE-LR or 10GBASE-SR, depending on configuration |
WAN | 10/100/1000BASE-T or 1000BASE-SX or 1000BASE-LX or 10GBASE-LR or 10GBASE-SR, depending on configuration |
The Edge appliance supports VLAN Tagging (IEEE 802.3 - 2008). It does not support the Inter-Switch Link (ISL) protocol.
The Edge appliance autonegotiates speed and duplex mode for all data rates and supports full duplex mode and flow control (IEEE 802.3 – 2008).