Supported Platforms¶

TNSR software is available pre-installed on Netgate hardware or in certain cloud environments. For quotes, updates, and more information about TNSR, please visit tnsr.com or contact TNSR sales.

General System Requirements

64-bit x86 processor with SSE4.2 extensions
Minimum of 4GB RAM for basic routing functionality

RAM requirements increase significantly if the installation will need to handle large volumes of connections, large volumes of routing data (e.g. full BGP feeds), or multiple worker threads.

See also

See Memory Usage and Tuning for information on how to determine optimal memory sizes based on what the router must handle.
Minimum of 20GB Storage
Minimum of two network interface ports, three network interface ports recommended (two for dataplane, one for management)
Option to disable Secure Boot if using UEFI, as it is incompatible with the TNSR dataplane

Compatibility

TNSR is a platform for high-speed packet processing, delivered as services that run on top of an operating system. TNSR is based on Ubuntu 24.04.3. This platform has been tested by Netgate, so that means most compatibility questions can be resolved by checking whether the hardware works with Ubuntu 24.04.3.

Tested Platforms ¶

These systems and components have been tested extensively by Netgate and are known to work well with TNSR. In addition to the Netgate warranty, customers can purchase technical assistance for appliances sold by Netgate.

Netgate Appliances¶

End of Life Appliances¶

For appliance’s EOS and EOL dates, please refer to the Product Lifecycle.

Netgate 5100

Cloud Platforms¶

TNSR Secure Networking software is available in the following Cloud Platforms.

Amazon Web Services - Instances with Enhanced Network Adapters (ENA)
Microsoft Azure - Instances with Accelerated Networking

Recommended Components¶

TNSR runs on Linux for x86 processors. For best results in data center environments, the following CPUs are recommended:

Intel Xeon Processor E3 Families (v2, v3, v4, v5, v6, and v7)
Intel Xeon Processor E5 Families (v2, v3, v4, v5, v6, and v7)
Intel Xeon Processor E7 Families (v2, v3, v4, v5, v6, and v7)
Intel Xeon Scalable Processors
Intel Xeon D Processors
Intel Atom C2000 & C3000 Processors

Note

TNSR can utilize accelerator technology, such as Intel QuickAssist Technology (QAT) featured in the Intel Atom C2000 and C3000 processors, and the Netgate CPIC-8955 Cryptographic Accelerator Card.

Network Interface Card (NIC) support in TNSR is provided by drivers in the underlying Linux operating system. The following NIC drivers have been tested by Netgate:

igb:

NICs based on the following Intel Gigabit Ethernet controllers:

82575/6, 82580, I350, I354, I210/211

ixgbe:

NICs based on the following Intel 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers:

82598/9, X520, X540, X550, X553, X552/X557-A

i40e:

NICs based on the following Intel 10/40 Gigabit Ethernet controllers:

X710, XL710, XXV710

Note

These NICs require a DPDK compatible firmware version which is listed on the DPDK website.

Check the TNSR release notes to see which version of DPDK is present in TNSR.

Utilities to update the NVM firmware on these NICs can be downloaded from Intel.

mlx5:

NICs based on the following Mellanox 10/25/40/50/100 Gigabit Ethernet controllers:

ConnectX-4, ConnectX-4 Lx, ConnectX-5

Untested Hardware ¶

The best practice is to use hardware tested by Netgate. That said, the underlying components of TNSR may support additional hardware that has not been tested by Netgate nor confirmed to be compatible with TNSR software.

Netgate customers are often on the cutting edge of technology, so they may encounter components that work with TNSR before Netgate has an opportunity to test them.

Warning

Netgate cannot offer any assurance that untested hardware will be compatible with TNSR software or perform at acceptable levels.

Hardware support is primarily determined by The Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) and Vector Packet Processing (VPP) open source projects which are core parts of TNSR. Additionally, the underlying operating system drivers must support the hardware and network interfaces used for host management. TNSR may be able to use such hardware, but experiences will vary.

For the latest information on hardware supported by DPDK and VPP, check here: