1 Hardware #
To successfully deploy and operate SUSE AI Factory with NVIDIA, your system must meet the same hardware prerequisites as a standard SUSE Rancher Prime: RKE2 Kubernetes cluster. This guide outlines the minimum requirements for basic deployments and recommended specifications for high-availability production environments.
For requirements of individual applications, refer to Chapter 3, Application-specific requirements.
1.1 What are the hardware requirements for basic functionality? #
- RAM
At least 32 GB of RAM per node. This is the minimum recommendation for the control plane node. Additional resources may be needed for the worker nodes based on workload.
- CPU
A multicore processor with a minimum of four cores. Eight cores or more may be necessary depending on the cluster scale and application demands.
- Disk space
50 GB or more is recommended for control plane nodes.
Additional space for data storage, such as application data or log files, is required depending on the deployment scale and the workloads running on the cluster.
SSDs or high-speed storage are preferred for faster data access and efficient operation of containerized workloads.
Distributed storage, such as Longhorn or NFS, is required for multi-node or multi-node-multi-cluster deployment.
- Networking
A reliable and stable network connection between all nodes in the cluster.
Cluster nodes must have valid DNS A records following the
*.apps.<CLUSTER_DOMAIN>pattern. The nodes must be able to communicate with each other and access external resources, such as container images or software updates.Ensure that all nodes have public IP addresses or are accessible via VPN or other private network if deploying across multiple data centers.
1.2 What are the hardware requirements for high availability? #
While 32 GB of RAM is the minimum for basic functionality, a production-grade deployment with high availability, multi-node clusters, or running resource-intensive applications like AI/ML workloads might require more.
- RAM
64 GB or more per node is recommended for larger clusters or to run applications with high resource demands.
- CPU
At least eight cores, ideally 16 or more cores, depending on the expected load.
- Disk space
For larger-scale clusters or persistent storage applications, 100 GB or more of disk space per node might be required.
Using high-performance SSDs is recommended, especially for workloads with high I/O requirements, such as databases or AI/ML model training.
- Networking
Ensure a low-latency, high-throughput network for efficient communication between nodes, especially if deploying in multi-region or multi-cloud environments.
For more detailed hardware recommendations, refer to the official SUSE Rancher Prime: RKE2 installation requirements documentation at https://documentation.suse.com/cloudnative/rke2/latest/en/install/requirements.html.