NetScaler VPX™ support matrix
Note:
This feature matrix is available for evaluation purposes and is not intended for production use.
NetScaler® 15.1 introduces a Linux-based VPX across all on-premises hypervisor platforms as a tech preview. This guide provides the support matrix for deploying NetScaler VPX 15.1 on VMware ESXi, Citrix Hypervisor™, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Linux KVM. In-place upgrades from NetScaler 14.1 (FreeBSD-based) require a minimum build version of 14.1-56.x.
VPX on VMware ESXi
Performance range: 10 Mbps to 100 Gbps
| ESXi version | Minimum VPX version |
|---|---|
| ESXi 9.0.x | 15.1 Tech Preview
|
| ESXi 8.0 (all updates) | |
| ESXi 7.0 (all updates) |
Note:
ESXi versions earlier than 7.0 are not supported on NetScaler 15.1 Tech Preview.
VPX on Citrix Hypervisor (XenServer)
Performance range: 10 Mbps to 40 Gbps
| Citrix Hypervisor version | Minimum VPX version |
|---|---|
| 8.4, 8.2, 8.0, 7.6, 7.1, 7.0 | 15.1 Tech Preview |
Note:
Citrix Hypervisor versions earlier than 7.0 are not supported on NetScaler 15.1 Tech Preview.
VPX on Microsoft Hyper-V
Performance range: 10 Mbps to 3 Gbps
| Hyper-V version | Minimum VPX version |
|---|---|
| Windows Server 2025, 2022, 2019, and 2016 | 15.1 Tech Preview |
Note:
Hyper-V versions earlier than Windows Server 2016 are not supported on NetScaler 15.1 Tech Preview.
VPX on Linux KVM
Performance range: 10 Mbps to 100 Gbps
| Host OS | Minimum VPX version |
|---|---|
| RHEL 9.x, 8.x, 7.6 | 15.1 Tech Preview
|
| Ubuntu 24.04, 18.04 |
Note:
For RHEL 7.6 and Ubuntu 18.04, append
kvm_intel.preemption_timer=0toGRUB_CMDLINE_LINUXin/etc/default/grub, regenerate the GRUB config, and restart the host.
VPX features supported on hypervisors
| Feature | ESXi PV | ESXi SR-IOV | XenServer PV | XenServer SR-IOV | Hyper-V | KVM PV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-PE Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Clustering | Yes | Yes¹ | Yes | Yes¹ | Yes | Yes |
| VLAN Tagging | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Link Events / HAMon | No² | Yes³ | No² | Yes³ | No² | No² |
| Interface Param Config | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Static LA | Yes² | Yes³ | Yes² | Yes³ | Yes² | Yes² |
| LACP | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Static CLAG | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| LACP CLAG | Yes² | Yes³ | Yes² | Yes³ | Yes² | Yes² |
| Hot-plug | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Superscript Legend:
- Clustering on SR-IOV is supported only on client-facing interfaces and server-facing interfaces, not on the backplane.
- Interface DOWN events are not captured on VPX instances.
- For Static LA configurations, traffic might still route to interfaces with physical status DOWN.
Supported processors for NetScaler VPX
| Platform | Intel | AMD |
|---|---|---|
| VMware ESXi | Yes | Yes |
| Citrix Hypervisor / XenServer | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Hyper-V | Yes | No |
| Linux KVM | Yes | No |
Supported NICs for SR-IOV and PCI Passthrough
| NIC | ESXi | XenServer | Hyper-V | KVM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mellanox ConnectX-4 | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Mellanox ConnectX-5 | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Intel 82599 SR-IOV VF | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Intel X710 / XL710 / X722 SR-IOV VF | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Intel X710 / XL710 / XXV710 PCI Passthrough | Yes | No | No | Yes |
In-Place upgrade support
| Source Platform | Source version | Target version | Supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| VMware ESXi (FreeBSD → Linux) | 14.1-56.x or later | 15.1 Tech Preview
|
Yes |
| Citrix Hypervisor / XenServer (FreeBSD → Linux) | 14.1-56.x or later | Yes | |
| Linux KVM (FreeBSD → Linux) | 14.1-56.x or later | Yes | |
| Microsoft Hyper-V (FreeBSD → Linux) | 14.1-56.x or later | Yes |
Related information
For step-by-step upgrade instructions, see Migrate NetScaler VPX from 14.1 to 15.1 Tech Preview.