Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software Installation And Configuration Guide

Install Cisco Catalyst 8000V in KVM Environment

Updated: March 5, 2026

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Overview

Installation requirements

Supported RHEL versions (Linux KVM based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux)
Supported SUSE Linux® Enterprise Server (SLES) versions
Supported Ubuntu versions
Supported Nutanix AHV versions
Supported vNICs
Supported vCPU configurations

Overview

This chapter provides information on how to install Cisco Catalyst 8000V in KVM environments.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is based on Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), an open source, full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware that contains virtualization extensions.

This chapter provides information on how to install Cisco Catalyst 8000V in KVM environments.

You can install the Cisco Catalyst 8000V virtual router as a virtual machine on Red Hat KVM virtualization. First, manually create the VM. Then, install the software using either an .iso file or a qcow2 file. Install Cisco Catalyst 8000V in a KVM environment by using the:

GUI Tool: Download and install the virt-manager RPM package on the KVM server. Virt-manager is a desktop user interface for managing virtual machines. Installation by using the GUI is the recommended installation method.
Command Line Interface (CLI): Use the CLI to install the Cisco Catalyst 8000V VM.

Installation requirements

This section lists the supported host Linux operating system versions on which Cisco Catalyst 8000V has been validated. All other deployment combinations not mentioned in this section will fall under Cisco Catalyst 8000V non-certified support model. Ask your local Cisco Sales representative for more details.

Supported RHEL versions (Linux KVM based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux)

This table lists the supported RHEL versions for Cisco Catalyst 8000V.


Cisco IOS XE release	Red Hat Enterprise Linux version
Cisco IOS XE 17.18.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 9.6, 9.2, and 8.10
Cisco IOS XE 17.16.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 9.2 and 8.10
Cisco IOS XE 17.15.5 release	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 9.6, 9.2, 8.10, and 8.4
Cisco IOS XE 17.15.1 to 17.15.4 releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 9.2, 8.10, and 8.4
Cisco IOS XE 17.14.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 9.2, 8.4, and 7.7
Cisco IOS XE 17.13.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 9.2, 8.4, and 7.7
Cisco IOS XE 17.12.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 9.2, 8.4, and 7.7
Cisco IOS XE 17.11.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 8.4 and 7.7
Cisco IOS XE 17.10.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 8.4 and 7.7
Cisco IOS XE 17.9.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 8.4 and 7.7
Cisco IOS XE 17.8.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 8.4 and 7.7
Cisco IOS XE 17.7.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 8.4 and 7.7
Cisco IOS XE 17.6.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 7.7 and 7.5
Cisco IOS XE 17.5.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 7.7 and 7.5
Cisco IOS XE 17.4.x releases	Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 7.7 and 7.5

From Cisco IOS XE 17.12.1 release, Cisco Catalyst 8000V is also supported on Intel Atom® C3000 processor (Denverton) CPU-based servers with Intel x550 NIC on RHEL 8.4 KVM hypervisor. You can operate Cisco Catalyst 8000V on other x86 CPUs with various hypervisor operating system versions. However, support is provided only for the versions listed in the Supported RHEL versions table.

Supported SUSE Linux® Enterprise Server (SLES) versions

This table lists the supported SLES versions for Cisco Catalyst 8000V.


Cisco IOS XE release	SUSE Linux® Enterprise Server version
Cisco IOS XE 17.18.x releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP5
Cisco IOS XE 17.16.x releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP5
Cisco IOS XE 17.15.x releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP5
Cisco IOS XE 17.14.x releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP3
Cisco IOS XE 17.13.x releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP3
Cisco IOS XE 17.12.x releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP3
Cisco IOS XE 17.11.x releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP3
Cisco IOS XE 17.10.x releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP3
Cisco IOS XE 17.9.x releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP3
Cisco IOS XE 17.6.3 releases	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 15 SP3

Supported Ubuntu versions

This table lists the supported Ubuntu versions for Cisco Catalyst 8000V.


Supported IOS XE release	Ubuntu version
Cisco IOS XE 17.18.1a and later	Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Supported Nutanix AHV versions

This table lists the supported Nutanix AHV hypervisor bundled in Nutanix AOS operating system versions.


Supported IOS XE release	Nutanix AHV version
Cisco IOS XE 17.18.1a and later	Nutanix AOS version 7.3
Cisco IOS XE 17.15.5	Nutanix AOS version 7.3

Supported vNICs

This table lists the supported vNIC versions for Cisco Catalyst 8000V.


Supported IOS XE release	Supported VNIC
Cisco IOS XE Release 17.18.1a and later	ConnectX-6
Cisco IOS XE Release 17.10.1 and later	Ixgbe
Cisco IOS XE Release 17.9.1 and later	iavf
Cisco IOS XE Release 17.9.1 and later	ConnectX-5VF
Cisco IOS XE Release 17.4.1 to Cisco IOS XE 17.8.x releases	i40evf
Cisco IOS XE Release 17.4.1 and later	Virtio
Cisco IOS XE Release 17.4.1 and later	ixgbevf

Supported vCPU configurations

This table lists the supported vCPU configurations for installing Cisco Catalyst 8000V in KVM environments.


Supported IOS XE release	Supported vCPU configuration
Cisco IOS XE 17.4.1 and later	1 vCPU: requires minimum 4 GB RAM allocation
Cisco IOS XE 17.4.1 and later	2 vCPUs: requires minimum 4 GB RAM allocation
Cisco IOS XE 17.4.1 and later	4 vCPUs: requires minimum 4 GB RAM allocation
Cisco IOS XE 17.4.1 and later	8 vCPUs: requires minimum 8 GB RAM allocation
Cisco IOS XE 17.11.1a and later	16 vCPUs: requires minimum 8 GB RAM allocation

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