Contents

• Overview
• General Scalability Limits
• CLI Scalability Limits
• Fabric Topology, SPAN, Tenants, Contexts, External EPGs, Bridge Domains, Endpoints, and Contracts Scalability Limits
• VMM Scalability Limits
• Layer 4 - Layer 7 Scalability Limits
• AD, TACACS, RBAC Scalability Limits

Overview

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This guide contains the maximum verified scalability limits for ACI parameters for the Cisco APIC Release 1.2(1i) and Cisco Nexus 9000 Series ACI-Mode Switches, Release 11.2(1i). These values are based on a profile where each feature was scaled to the numbers specified in the tables. These numbers do not represent the theoretically possible ACI fabric scale.

General Scalability Limits

• L2 Fabric: There is no routing, L3 context, nor contract enabled in the L2 fabric profile.  A tenant in this profile does not need to be mapped to one dedicated ACI tenant.  A tenant can be represented by a set of EPGs instead. To improve the load sharing among APIC controller nodes, you must distribute EPGs and BDs across an ACI tenant.

• L3 Fabric: The ACI L3 fabric solution provides a feature-rich highly scalable solution for public cloud and large enterprise. With this design, almost all supported features are deployed at the same time and are tested as a solution. The scalability numbers listed in this section are multi-dimensional scalability numbers. The fabric scalability numbers represent the overall number of objects created on the fabric. The per-leaf scale numbers are the objects created and presented on an individual leaf switch. The fabric level scalability numbers represent APIC cluster scalability and the tested upper limits. Some of the per-leaf scalability numbers are subject to hardware restrictions. The per-leaf scalability numbers are the maximum limits tested and supported by leaf switch hardware. This does not necessarily mean that every leaf switch in the fabric was tested with maximum scale numbers.

Feature		L2 Fabric	L3 Fabric	Large L3 Fabric
Number of APIC controllers		3	3	5
Number of leafs		80	80	200
Number of spines		6	6	6
Number of FEXs		N/A	12 per leaf, 120 per fabric	N/A
Number of tenants		N/A	1,000	3,000
Number of Layer 3 (L3) contexts		N/A	1,000	3,000
Number of contracts/filters		N/A	1,000 contracts 10,000 filters	1,000 contracts 10,000 filters
Number of endpoint groups (EPGs)		21,000 (500 maximum per tenant)	15,000 (500 maximum per tenant)	15,000 (500 maximum per tenant)
Number of endpoints (EPs)		180,000	180,000	180,000
Number of bridge domains (BDs)		21,000	15,000	15,000
Number of ports, VLANs		per leaf 48 X 3,500 = 168,000	64,000	64,000
Number of IP longest prefix matches (IP LPMs) (for external connection) Note    This limit exists across all protocols/transit scenarios		N/A	IPv4 ; 40,000 IPv6 ; 20,000 IPv4 ; 10,000, IPv6 ; 10,000	IPv4 ; 40,000 IPv6 ; 20,000 IPv4 ; 10,000, IPv6 ; 10,000
Number of BGP + number of OSPF sessions + EIGRP (for external connection)		N/A	1,200	1,200
Number of Multicast groups		N/A	8,000	8,000
Number of vCenters		N/A	10	10
Number of Service Chains		N/A	1,000	1,000
Number of L4 - L7 devices		N/A	30 physical, 1,200 virtual (1,200 maximum per fabric)	30 physical, 1,200 virtual (1,500 maximum per fabric)
Number of ESX hosts - VDS		N/A	3,200	3,200
Number of ESX hosts - AVS		N/A	3,200 (Only 1 AVS instance per host)	3,200 (Only 1 AVS instance per host)
Number of VMs		N/A	Depends upon server scale	Depends upon server scale

CLI Scalability Limits

Configurable Option	Scale
Number of tenants	500
Number of Layer 3 (L3) contexts	300
Number of endpoint groups (EPGs)	3,500
Number of endpoints (EPs)	20,000
Number of bridge domains (BDs)	3,500
Number of BGP + number of OSPF sessions + EIGRP (for external connection)	300
Maximum number of vPCs	48
Maximum number of PCs, access ports	48
Maximum number of encaps per access port	1,750
Number of multicast groups	8,000
Maximum number of vzAny provided contracts	16
Maximum number of vzAny consumed contracts	16
Maximum amount of encaps per endpoint group	2 static, 1 dynamic
Security TCAM size	4,000
Number of VRFs	500
Separate-Config-Set
Tenants	100
Endpoint groups	1,000
Bridge domains	500
VRFs	100
SPAN destinations	3
NTP servers	2
Contracts	100
DNS servers	2
Syslog servers	1

Fabric Topology, SPAN, Tenants, Contexts, External EPGs, Bridge Domains, Endpoints, and Contracts Scalability Limits

Configurable Options		Per Leaf Scale	Per Fabric Scale
Fabric Topology
Maximum number of vPCs		320 (hif vPC with FEX)	(Number of leafs /2) X 48
Maximum number of encaps per vPC		1,750 (ports X encap < 64,000) If the BD is in classic mode, 48 X 3,500 = 168,000 port-VLAN combination is supported in the L2 Fabric mode. Note    With EPG deployed on FEX: port-VLAN combination is restricted to 10,000.	N/A
Maximum number of Member Links per vPC		8	N/A
Maximum number of PCs		48	(Number of leafs) X 48
Maximum number of encaps per PC		1,750 (ports X encap < 64,000)	N/A
Maximum number of Member Links per PC		8	N/A
Maximum number of PCs, access ports		48	(Number of leafs) X 48
Maximum number of encaps per access port		1,750 (ports X encap < 64,000)	N/A
STP		All VLANs	N/A
Maximum number of endpoints (EPs)		IPv4 ; 12,000 or IPv6 ; 6,000 or IPv4 ; 4,000, IPv6 ; 4,000	180,000
Number of Multicast Groups		8,000	8,000
Number of IPs per MAC		256	256
SPAN		4 infra/tenant sessions 4 fabric sessions (VXLAN is carried in the SPAN)	8 fabric sessions per fabric
Number of ports per SPAN session		All leaf access ports could be in one session All leaf fabric ports could be in one session	N/A
Number of source EPG/BDs per SPAN session		280	N/A
Common pervasive gateway		256 virtual IPs per Bridge Domain	N/A
Tenants
Number of Contexts per tenant		8	8
Number of application profiles per tenant (or per Context)		N/A	N/A
Contexts (All numbers applicable to dual stack unless explicitly called out)
Maximum number of Context		200	N/A
Maximum number of BDs per Context		256	N/A
Border Leafs per Context		N/A	4
Maximum number of LPM Prefixes for External EPG Classification		1,000 IPv4	N/A
Maximum number of vzAny Provided Contracts		16 per Ctx	N/A
Maximum number of vzAny Consumed Contracts		16 per Ctx	N/A
Maximum number of L3Outs		400	400
L3 Out per context		--	400
Maximum number of Routed, Routed Sub-interface, or SVIs per L3Out		8 for Routed and Routed sub-interface 200 for SVI	8 for Routed and Routed sub-interface 400 for SVI
Maximum number of Dynamic Routing protocol peers for BGP		300	N/A
Maximum number of Dynamic Routing protocol peers for OSPF		100	N/A
Maximum number of Dynamic Routing protocol peers for EIGRP		16	N/A
Maximum number of Static Routes		IPv4 ; 10,000 or IPv6 ; 6,000 or IPv4 ; 4,000, IPv6 ; 4,000	IPv4 ; 40,000 or IPv6 ; 20,000 or IPv4 ; 10,000, IPv6 ; 10,000
Maximum number of External Routes		IPv4 ; 10,000 or IPv6 ; 6,000 or IPv4 ; 4,000, IPv6 ; 4,000	IPv4 ; 40,000 or IPv6 ; 20,000 or IPv4 ; 10,000, IPv6 ; 10,000
Maximum number of Secondary (VIP) addresses per L3 out		1	1
Maximum number of L3 interfaces per Context (SVIs and sub-interfaces)		100 for SVI 32 for subinterfaces	100 for SVI 32 for subinterfaces
Shared L3 out		IPv4: 2,000 or IPv6: 1,000	IPv4: 6,000 or IPv6: 3,000
External EPGs
Number of External EPGs per L3 out		16	N/A
Bridge Domain
Maximum amount of BDs		1,750 ; if legacy mode, 3,500 ; if Multicast optimized mode then 50	15,000
Maximum number of subnets per BD		16 (cannot be for all BDs)	16 per BD
Maximum number of EPGs per BD		3,499 (cannot exceed 3,500 total) 3499 is supported in hardware but please refer to the per fabric scale for the effective software support for this release.	N/A
Number of L2 Outs per BD		1	1
Number of BDs with Custom MAC Address		1,750 ; if legacy mode, 3500 ; If Multicast optimized mode is used, then 50	1,750 ; if legacy mode, 3,500 ; If Multicast optimized mode is used, then 50
Number of Multicast groups		8,000	8,000
Maximum number of L3Outs per BD		4	N/A
Number of DHCP relay labels per BD		2	2
DHCP relay for secondary subnets in a BD		No	No
Number of external EPGs per L2 out		1	1
Endpoint Groups (Under App Profiles)
Maximum amount of EPGs		Normally 1,750 ; if legacy mode 3,500	15,000
Maximum amount of encaps per EPG		1 Static leaf binding, plus 1 Dynamic VMM	N/A
Maximum Path encap binding per EPG		Equals to number of ports on the leaf	N/A
Maximum amount of encaps per EPG per port		One (path or leaf binding)	N/A
Maximum number of domains (physical, L2, L3 or VMM)		2 (1 static (L2, L3, physical), 1 dynamic)	N/A
Maximum amount of native encaps		1 per port (if a VLAN is used as a native VLAN) If there is a different native VLAN per port then it equals the number of ports	Applicable to each leaf independently
Maximum amount of 802.1p encaps		1, if path binding then equals number of ports If there is a different native VLAN per port then it equals the number of ports	Applicable to each leaf independently
Can encap be tagged and untagged?		No	N/A
Maximum number of Static endpoints per EPG		Maximum endpoints	N/A
Maximum number of Subnets for Inter-context access per tenant		8	N/A
Maximum number of Taboo Contracts per EPG		2	N/A
IP-based EPG		4,000	N/A
Contracts
Security TCAM size		4,000 (for ALE v1) 32,000 (for ALE v2) Note    For TOR to ALE mapping, see the reference table below.	N/A
Approximate TCAM calculator given contracts and their use by EPGs		Number of entries in a contract X Number of Consumer EPGs X Number of Provider EPGs X 2	N/A
Maximum number of EPGs providing the same contract		10	10
Maximum number of EPGs consuming the same contract		10	10
FEX VPC
Maximum EPGs behind FEX VPC port		20	N/A

ALE Type	ACI-Supported TORs
ALE v1	N9K-C9396PX + N9K-M12PQ N9K-C93128TX + N9K-M12PQ N9K-C9396TX + N9K-M12PQ
ALE v2	N9K-C9396TX + N9K-M6PQ N9K-C93128TX + N9K-M6PQ N9K-C9396PX + N9K-M6PQ N9K-C9372TX 64K N9K-C9332PQ N9K-C9372PX

VMM Scalability Limits

Configurable Options		Per Leaf Scale	Per Fabric Scale
VMware
Number of vCenters (vDS)		N/A	10 (Verified with a load of 10 events/minute for each vCenter)
Number of vCenters (AVS)		N/A	5
Datacenters in a vCenter		N/A	2
Combination of (VMM domain, VMM controller (vCenter/vShield)		N/A	10
Number of ESX hosts per AVS		240	N/A
Number of EPGs per vCenter/vDS		N/A	5,000
Number of EPGs to VMware domans/vDS		N/A	5,000
Number of EPGs per vCenter/AVS		N/A	3,500
Number of EPGs to VMware domains/AVS		N/A	3,500
Number of endpoints (EPs) per AVS		10,000	10,000
Number of endpoints per vDS		10,000	10,000
Number of endpoints per vCenter		10,000	10,000
Support RBAC for AVS		N/A	Yes
Support RBAC for vDS		N/A	Yes
Microsegmentation/DFW with AVS
Number of ESX hosts per AVS		100	N/A
Number of Microsegment EPGs		1,000	N/A
Number of DFW flows per vEth		10,000	N/A
Number of DFW flows per ESX host		200,000	N/A
Number of VMM domains per Microsegment EPG		N/A	1
Microsoft
Number of controllers per SCVMM domain		N/A	5
Number of SCVMM domains		N/A	4
VMM domains for Microsoft (in addition to that of VMware)		N/A	5
EPGs per Microsoft VMM domain		N/A	3,000
EPGs per all Microsoft VMM domains		N/A	9,000
EP/VNICs per HyperV host		N/A	100
EP/VNICs per SCVMM		N/A	3,000
Number of logical switch per host		N/A	1
Number of uplinks per logical switch		N/A	4
Number of Windows Azure Pack subscriptions		N/A	1,000
Number of plans per Windows Azure Pack instance		N/A	150
Number of users per plan		N/A	200
Number of subscriptions per user		N/A	3
VM networks per Windows Azure Pack user		N/A	100
VM networks per Windows Azure Pack instance		N/A	3,000
Number of tenant shared services/providers		N/A	40
Number of consumers of shared services		N/A	40
Number of VIPs [in Windows Azure Pack deployment]		N/A	50
Microsoft microsegmentation		1,000	N/A

Layer 4 - Layer 7 Scalability Limits

Configurable Options (L4-L7 Configurations)		Per Leaf Scale	Per Fabric Scale
Maximum number of L4-L7 logical device clusters		N/A	1,500
Maximum number of graph instances		N/A	1,000
Maximum number of VIPs per graph instance		N/A	1
Maximum number of VIPs per fabric		N/A	1,000
Number of device clusters per tenant		N/A	30
Number of interfaces per device cluster		N/A	Any
Number of graph instances per device cluster		N/A	100
Deployment scenario for ASA (transparent or routed)		N/A	Yes
Deployment scenario for Citrix - One arm with SNAT/etc.		N/A	Yes
Deployment scenario for F5 - One arm with SNAT/etc.		N/A	Yes

AD, TACACS, RBAC Scalability Limits

Configurable Options		Per Leaf Scale	Per Fabric Scale
Number of ACS/AD/LDAP authorization domains		N/A	4 tested (16 maximum /server type)
Number of login domains		N/A	15 (can go beyond)
Number of security domains/APIC		N/A	15 (can go beyond)
Number of security domains in which the tenant resides		N/A	4 (can go beyond)
Number of priority		N/A	4 tested (16 per domain)
Number of shell profiles that can be returned		N/A	4 tested (32 domains total)
Number of users		N/A	8,000 local / 8,000 remote
Number of simultaneous logins		N/A	500 connections / NGNIX simultaneous REST logins

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