The vCloud Networking and Security Edge Gateway is available in three different sizes: Compact, Large, and X-Large. As part of the Edge Gateway deployment, we need to select the appliance size in the wizard as shown below.
The three different Edge Gateway appliances consume different resources and offer different performance levels. The resources used by three different Edge Gateway appliances and their performance levels based on VMware internal testing are posted in the vCloud Networking and Security 5.1 Edge configuration limits and throughput KB article.
As indicated in the KB article, Large appliance offers higher throughput compared to Compact appliance in terms of firewall performance, number of concurrent sessions, and IPSec VPN throughput.
Edge (Compact)
Edge (Large)
vCPU
1
2
Memory
256 MB
1 GB
Firewall Performance (Gbps)
3
9.7
Concurrent Sessions
64,000
1,000,000
IPSec VPN throughput (Gbps) – H/W acceleration via AESNI
0.9
2
Use of Large or X-Large appliance recommended for using Edge Gateway load balancing service. X-Large appliance uses much higher memory and allows higher number of concurrent load balancer connections than Large appliance. The X-large Edge Gateway is not currently supported with vCloud Director 5.1. As the picture above shows, the X-Large deployment model has some limitations, such as a lack of SSL VPN support.
Another cool feature offered with Edge Gateway deployment is we can start with one appliance and move to a different appliance at a later time. For example, we can deploy Edge Gateway Compact appliance and later upgrade to Large or X-Large with a click of a button as shown below. In summary, choose the Edge Gateway appliance that suits your environment based on the resources consumed and the performance levels offered.
In summary, choose the Edge Gateway appliance that suits your environment based on the resources consumed and the performance levels offered.
