WHAT TO EXPECT
In this section, users will learn the prerequisites that a VM must meet in order to install the xNIC adaptor.
A cloudSwxtch must exist to install an xNIC adaptor. The installer will be downloaded from there. See cloudSwXtch System Requirements for more information. See what is an xNIC to better understand the concepts that will be used here.
xNIC software
The xNIC software must be run on each virtual agent that is to be part of the IP multicast network, and not a cloudSwXtch or a swXtchBridge. This software can be installed on hosts that meet the following requirements:
Supported Operating Systems
The following list shows the OS versions where xNIC was tested and is supported. The kernel must be 5.11 or greater for Type 2 for Linux VMs. See How to choose the correct xNIC type.
Linux | Windows | ||
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Debian based | RedHat based | Server | Pro/Enterprise |
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PLEASE NOTE
Not all xNIC Types are supported by all operating systems. Refer to How to choose the correct xNIC type for more information on types. Please contact support@swxtch.io for more info.
swXtch.io recommends updated OSs that are still active in their life cycle.
If the underlying application that is sending/receiving multicast is a container (non Kubernetes) then the container must run in Host mode for the xNIC to get the data to the container.
CPU Architecture
Currently, the xNIC can only be installed when the CPU is x86_x64. 4 cores is the recommended minimum. But consider that other programs will also be using the CPU, so more cores may be necessary.
Memory
At least 4GB of RAM is necessary to run an xNIC properly. But since the VM will also run other software, the amount of memory may be higher.
Network Connectivity
The agent VM can have 1 NIC or 2 NICs for higher performance (one for each subnet: ctrl-subnet and data-subnet).
NOTE
An xNIC instance may have 1 or 2 NICs, depending on the subnet configuration of the cloudSwXtch.
If a cloudSwXtch has the 2 NICs connected to the same subnet, then the agent VM needs only 1 NIC to operate. But it can have more NICs for other purposes. This cloudSwXtch-related NIC will share the same single subnet for control and data plane communications to the cloudSwXtch.
For higher performance, a cloudSwXtch should have the 2 NICs using 2 different subnets. Then the agent VM will need 2 NICs connected to separate subnets:
A subnet for control plane traffic (referred to as the ctrl-subnet from here on).
A subnet for data plane traffic (referred to as the data-subnet from here on).
For multicast traffic to run on the data-plane, you may need to properly configure the route table if your application does not have the capability to specify the NIC to be used.
The installation process requires a simple command that downloads the assets from the cloudSwXtch and then executes the install script. This takes less than a minute per host and is very easy to automate. See the installation sections for more details.
NOTE
If the VM is in OCI and has a secondary adapter, chances are that the adaptar is not properly configured by default (it commonly comes without an assigned IP). If that’s the case, users can refer to the How to configure a second NIC on OCI page.