---
title: "About Infoblox NIOS Virtual Appliance for VMware"
canonical: "https://docs.infoblox.com/space/NVIG/35786250/About%20Infoblox%20NIOS%20Virtual%20Appliance%20for%20VMware"
format: markdown
---
Infoblox NIOS provides core network services and a framework for integrating all the components of the modular Infoblox solution. NIOS provides integrated, secure, and easy-to-manage DNS (Domain Name System), DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) and IPAM (IP address management) services. In addition to DNS, DHCP, and IPAM, NIOS also provides TFTP, HTTP, NTP, and FTP file transfer services. vNIOS for VMware provides most of the features supported by NIOS but with some limitations. For information, see *[Known Limitations](https://infoblox-docs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/NVIG/pages/1607204896)*.
NIOS virtual appliances support the following features:
- Configuration as an HA pair, hybrid HA pair (for NIOS versions 8.6.x onwards), a Grid Master, Reporting server, or a Grid Master Candidate
- Anycast addressing
- OSPF
- BGP
- Static routes
- IPv6
You can install the NIOS virtual software package on a host installed with a supported version of VMware listed in section *Supported VMware ESXi Versions* and then configure it as a virtual appliance. You have the option to configure the storage in one of the following ways: 250 GB for virtual appliances running on NIOS versions prior to 9.0.1, 500 GB for NIOS versions 9.0.1 and later, or a value between 150 GB and 2.5 TB configured during the first boot if the vNIOS instances are set up with resizable images.
> ⚠️ **Note**
> ⚠️
> ⚠️ From NIOS 9.0.4 onwards, VMware ESXi versions below 6.7 are not supported if vDCA (virtual DNS Cache Acceleration) and DNS Infrastructure Protection (formerly, virtual Advanced DNS Protection or Threat Protection in versions previous to NIOS 9.0.8) services are enabled.
vNIOS is also supported on vSphere vMotion. You can migrate NIOS virtual appliances from one ESX or ESXi server to another without any service outages. The migration preserves the hardware IDs and licenses of the NIOS virtual appliances. VMware Tools is automatically installed for each NIOS virtual appliance. Infoblox supports the control functions in VMware Tools. For example, through the vSphere client, you can shut down the virtual appliance. For information about migrating a NIOS virtual appliance, see *[Migrating NIOS Virtual Appliances](https://infoblox-docs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/NVIG/pages/35786270)*.
## Supported VMware ESXi Versions
NIOS supports the VMware ESXi versions listed in the below table and version 6.5.x.
The following table lists the VMware ESXi versions that NIOS supports and the corresponding release naming convention and build numbers used by VMware:
| **ESXi Version** | **Release Name** | **Build Number** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ESXi 9.0.2 | ESXi 9.0 Update 2 | 25148076 |
| ESXi 8.0.3 | ESXi 8.0 Update 3 | 24022510 |
| ESXi 8.0.2 | ESXi 8.0 Update 2 | 22380479 |
| ESXi 8.0.0 P01 | ESXi 8.0b | 21203435 |
| ESXi 7.0.3 | ESXi 7.0 Update 3 | 18644231 |
| ESXi 7.0.2 | ESXi 7.0 Update 2 | 17630552 |
| ESXi 7.0.0 | ESXi 7.0 GA | 15843807 |
| ESXi 6.7 U2 | ESXi 6.7 U2 | 13006603 |
| ESXi 6.7 GA | ESXi 6.7 GA | 8169922 |
If deploying with DNS Infrastructure Protection enabled, refer to the *Supported DNS Infrastructure Protection Appliances and Licensing Requirements* topic in the *[Infoblox NIOS Documentation](https://docs.infoblox.com/space/NIOS/35400616/NIOS)* for updated resource requirements.
You can configure most NIOS virtual appliances as independent or HA Grid Masters, Grid Master Candidates, or Grid members. For the list of supported vNIOS appliances, see *[vNIOS for VMware X6 Series](https://docs.infoblox.com/space/vniosspec/1488781421/vNIOS+for+VMware+X6+Series)* and *[vNIOS for VMware X5 Series](https://docs.infoblox.com/space/vniosspec/1488715872/vNIOS+for+VMware+X5+Series)*.
# Requirements
The requirements to install the NIOS virtual appliance on a VMware ESX/ESXi server are as follows:
- NIOS software package:
- You can download the NIOS software from the Infoblox Technical Support site. To download the software, you must have a valid login account on the Infoblox Support site. Register your product at *[https://support.infoblox.com](https://support.infoblox.com/)* if you do not already have an account. The NIOS software package consists of a template file with .ova extension for all supported NIOS appliance models. Make sure that you download the file with .ova extension.
- After you download the .ova file, you can run the `tar -xvf nios-xxx.ova` command to untar the .ova and separate .ovf and .vmdk files.
- You can deploy the NIOS virtual appliance from a remote web server or from a local file system accessible from your management system.
- A management system that has an installed vSphere client. To manage multiple hosts, the vSphere client must be connected to the vCenter server system.