Performance limits for machine series that support Hyperdisk

---

This document contains the performance limits for machine types that support Google Cloud Hyperdisk. For a detailed discussion of how Hyperdisk performance works, see About Hyperdisk performance.

For Persistent Disk performance limits, see Performance limits by machine type for Persistent Disk.

In this document, machine types are denoted in this format: M-*-N, where:

• M is the machine series, for example, C3
• * represents all memory and CPU configurations, for example, standard or highcpu
• N is the number of vCPUs, CPUs, or the GPU designation, for example, 22 for an instance with 22 vCPUs, or 8g for an instance with 8 GPUs

This format includes the following machine types, wherever available:

• bare metal machine types (*-metal)
• machine types that come with attached Local SSD disks (*-lssd).

For example, c3-*-176 refers to all C3 machine types with 176 vCPUs, namely c3-standard-176, c3-highcpu-176, c3-highmem-176, and c3-standard-176-lssd. For more information, see Compute Engine terminology.

Determine which limits apply

The performance limit that applies to your scenario depends on the instance's machine type, and the number and type of Hyperdisk volumes you attached to the instance.

Choose from the following scenarios to determine which limits to consult.

• You're using multiple Hyperdisk types with the same instance and you want to know the maximum performance for all the disks attached to the instance.

  For example, suppose you have 1 Hyperdisk Balanced volume and 2 Hyperdisk Throughput volumes attached to a c3-standard-22 virtual machine (VM) instance. The applicable performance limits are listed in the Performance limits by machine type section of this document.

• You attached one or more Hyperdisk volumes of the same type to an instance and you want to know the maximum performance all the volumes can reach.

  For example, you have 3 Hyperdisk Balanced volumes attached to a c3-standard-22 VM. The applicable performance limits for the 3 volumes are listed in the Performance limits by Hyperdisk type section of this document.

Performance limits by machine type

If you use different Hyperdisk types with a single instance, the following table lists the maximum performance you can expect. This limit is shared among all Hyperdisk and, if supported, Persistent Disk volumes attached to the instance. To learn more about how these limits work, see How instance performance limits affect performance.

The performance limits also apply to custom N2, N2D, and N4 machine types.

Select a machine series to display the performance limits for its machine types.

¹Also offers steady state performance. For these limits, see Performance limits for machine types with steady state performance.

Performance limits for machine types with steady state performance

Certain machine types offer steady state performance, a minimum performance level that the instance can sustain. The steady state performance is shared between all volumes attached to the instance. For more information, see Steady state performance.

The following table lists the steady state performance limits for the available machine types. If the steady state and maximum performance limits are the same, then the machine type can sustain this performance level in most cases.

Instance machine type	Steady state IOPS	Maximum IOPS	Steady state throughput (MiB/s)	Maximum throughput (MiB/s)
A3+H200
a3-ultragpu-8g	500,000	500,000	10,000	10,000
A4
a4-highgpu-8g	500,000	500,000	10,000	10,000
A4X
a4x-highgpu-4g	500,000	500,000	10,000	10,000
C4
c4-*-2	6,200	50,000	120	400
c4-*-4	12,500	50,000	240	400
c4-*-8	25,000	50,000	480	800
c4-*-16	50,000	100,000	1,000	1,600
c4-*-24	75,000	100,000	1,200	1,600
c4-*-32	100,000	100,000	1,600	1,600
c4-*-48	160,000	160,000	2,400	2,400
c4-*-96	350,000	350,000	5,000	5,000
c4-*-144(Preview)	350,000	350,000	5,000	5,000
c4-*-192	500,000	500,000	10,000	10,000
c4-*-288(Preview)	500,000	500,000	10,000	10,000
C4D
c4d-*-2	2,800	22,500	65	400
c4d-*-4	6,200	50,000	120	400
c4d-*-8	12,500	50,000	240	800
c4d-*-16	25,000	75,000	480	1,200
c4d-*-32	50,000	75,000	1,000	1,600
c4d-*-48	75,000	75,000	1,400	1,600
c4d-*-64	350,000	350,000	5,000	5,000
c4d-*-96	350,000	350,000	5,000	5,000
c4d-*-192	350,000	350,000	5,000	5,000
c4d-*-384	500,000	500,000	10,000	10,000
M4
m4-*-56	160,000	160,000	2,400	2,400
m4-*-112	350,000	350,000	5,000	5,000
m4-*-224	500,000	500,000	10,000	10,000

Performance limits by Hyperdisk type

For the performance limits by machine type for each Hyperdisk type, see the following sections:

• Hyperdisk Balanced
• Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability
• Hyperdisk Extreme
• Hyperdisk ML
• Hyperdisk Throughput

Hyperdisk Balanced performance limits

This section lists the maximum performance that Hyperdisk Balanced volumes can achieve for each supported instance. A Hyperdisk Balanced volume's performance when it's attached to an instance can't exceed the limits for the instance's machine type. The performance limits are also shared across all Hyperdisk Balanced volumes attached to the same instance, regardless of each volume's provisioned performance.

Achieve higher performance with multiple Hyperdisk Balanced volumes

Certain instances can exceed the maximum performance for a single Hyperdisk Balanced volume— 160,000 IOPS or 2,400 MiB per second (MiB/s). An instance can only achieve these higher limits if you attach multiple Hyperdisk Balanced volumes to the instance.

If an instance's performance limit in the following table exceeds 160,000 IOPS or 2,400 MiB/s, then the instance can only achieve that limit if you attach multiple Hyperdisk Balanced volumes. For example, the performance limit for a c4a-*-72 instance using Hyperdisk Balanced is 240,000 IOPS and 5,000 MiB/s. To achieve this maximum performance you must attach at least two Hyperdisk Balanced volumes to the instance.

To learn more about Hyperdisk Balanced, see About Hyperdisk Balanced.

Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability performance limits

This section lists the maximum performance that Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability volumes can achieve for each supported instance. A Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability volume's performance when it's attached to an instance can't exceed the limits for the instance's machine type. The performance limits are also shared across all Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability volumes attached to the same instance, regardless of each volume's provisioned performance.

Achieve higher performance with multiple Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability volumes

Certain instances can exceed the maximum performance for a single Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability volume— 100,000 IOPS or 1,200 MiB/s. An instance can achieve these higher limits if you attach multiple Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability volumes to the instance.

If an instance's performance limit in the following table exceeds 100,000 IOPS or 1,200 MiB/s, then the instance can achieve that limit only if you attach multiple Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability volumes. For example, the performance limit for a c4a-*-72 instance using Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability is 240,000 IOPS and 5,000 MiB/s. To achieve this maximum performance you must attach at least five Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability volumes to the instance.

For information about Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability features, see About Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability.

Hyperdisk Extreme performance limits

This section lists the maximum performance that Hyperdisk Extreme volumes can achieve for each supported instance. A Hyperdisk Extreme volume's performance when it's attached to an instance can't exceed the limits for the instance's machine type. The performance limits are also shared across all Hyperdisk Extreme volumes attached to the same instance, regardless of each volume's provisioned performance.

Achieve higher performance with multiple Hyperdisk Extreme volumes

Certain instances can exceed the maximum performance for a single Hyperdisk Extreme volume— 350,000 IOPS or 5,000  MiBps. An instance can only achieve these higher limits if you attach multiple Hyperdisk Extreme volumes to the instance.

If an instance's performance limit in the following table exceeds 350,000 IOPS or 5,000  MiBps, then the instance can only achieve that limit if you attach multiple Hyperdisk Extreme volumes. For example, the performance limit for a c3-*-176 instance using Hyperdisk Extreme is 500,000 IOPS and 10,000 MiBps. To achieve this maximum performance you must attach at least two Hyperdisk Extreme volumes to the instance.

For more information about Hyperdisk Extreme, see About Hyperdisk Extreme.

Hyperdisk ML performance limits

This section lists the maximum performance that Hyperdisk ML volumes can achieve for each supported instance. A Hyperdisk ML volume's performance when it's attached to an instance can't exceed the limits for the instance's machine type. The performance limits are also shared across all Hyperdisk ML volumes attached to the same instance, regardless of each volume's provisioned performance.

Scenarios that require multiple instances to reach provisioned performance

The provisioned throughput for a Hyperdisk ML volume is shared between each instance the volume is attached to, up to the maximum limit for the machine type that's listed in the following table. If a Hyperdisk ML volume's provisioned performance is higher than an instance's performance limit, the volume can achieve its provisioned performance only if it is attached to multiple instances. a3-ultragpu-8 instances have a throughput limit of 4,000 MiB/s.

For example, suppose you have a Hyperdisk ML volume provisioned with 500,000 MiB/s of throughput. and you want to attach the volume to a3-ultragpu-8 instances. A single a3-ultragpu-8 instance can't acheieve more than 4,000 MiB/s of throughput. Therefore, to achieve the volume's provisioned throughput, you must attach the volume to at least 125 (500,000/4,000) a3-ultragpu-8 instances. On the other hand, for the a2-highgpu-1g machine type, you would need 272 instances.

For more information about Hyperdisk ML, see About Hyperdisk ML.

Hyperdisk Throughput performance limits

This section lists the maximum performance that Hyperdisk Throughput volumes can achieve for each supported instance. A Hyperdisk Throughput volume's performance when it's attached to an instance can't exceed the limits for the instance's machine type. The performance limits are also shared across all Hyperdisk Throughput volumes attached to the same instance, regardless of each volume's provisioned performance.

Achieve higher performance with multiple Hyperdisk Throughput volumes

Certain instances can exceed the maximum performance for a single Hyperdisk Throughput volume —600  MiB/s. An instance can achieve these higher limits if you attach multiple Hyperdisk Throughput volumes to the instance.

If an instance's performance limit in the following table exceeds 600 MiB/s, then the instance can achieve that limit only if you attach multiple Hyperdisk Throughput volumes. For example, the performance limit for a c3-*-22 instance using Hyperdisk Throughput volumes is 1,200  MiB/s. Therefore, to achieve 1,200  MiB/s of throughput, you must attach at least two Hyperdisk Throughput volumes to the instance.

For more information about Hyperdisk Throughput, see About Hyperdisk Throughput.

Hyperdisk size and attachment limits

The following sections describe the limits to the size and number of Hyperdisk volumes you can attach to a single instance. The limits discussed don't apply to any Local SSD disks attached to the same instance.

Summary of Hyperdisk per-instance limits

Maximum total capacity per instance: The maximum total capacity of all the volumes attached to an instance is between 257 TiB to 512 TiB, depending on various factors. For details, see Maximum total capacity per instance.

Maximum number of volumes attached to an instance: Compute Engine limits the number of Hyperdisk volumes that you can attach to a single instance. The following limits apply in order. When both limits apply, the first rule in the list is enforced.

1. The number of Hyperdisk volumes that you can attach to the instance: 8 to 128; depending on the Hyperdisk type and the instance's machine type.
2. The number of Hyperdisk and Persistent Disk volumes that you can attach to the instance: 128. For more information, see Maximum number of disks, across all types.

The following examples demonstrate how the limits work.

Examples

Suppose you have a c3-*-96 instance. The following limits apply.

• Maximum number of Hyperdisk volumes across all types: 128. However, for each Hyperdisk type, the limits are as follows:
  • Hyperdisk Throughput: 64
  • Hyperdisk ML: 64
  • Hyperdisk Extreme: 8
  • Hyperdisk Balanced or Hyperdisk Balanced High Availability: 32
• Maximum number of Persistent Disk and Hyperdisk volumes that you can attach to the instance: 128
• Maximum combined total capacity of all volumes: 512 TiB

The following examples illustrate these limits.

• Maximum number of a single type of Hyperdisk per instance: If you attach 8 Hyperdisk Extreme volumes to the instance, you can attach up to 123 more Hyperdisk volumes to the instance. However, you can attach only 3 more Hyperdisk Extreme volumes to the instance because the maximum number of Hyperdisk Extreme volumes 8.

• Maximum number of Hyperdisk volumes per instance: 128. If you attach 8 Hyperdisk Extreme volumes to the instance, you can attach up to 120 more Hyperdisk volumes to the instance.

• Maximum number of disks or volumes per instance, across all types: 128. If you attach a combined total of 128 Hyperdisk volumes to the instance, then you can't attach any more Hyperdisk or Persistent Disk volumes. However, if you attach only 64 Hyperdisk volumes to the instance, you can still attach up to 64 Persistent Disk or Hyperdisk volumes to the instance.

Maximum total capacity per instance

The maximum total disk capacity across all Hyperdisk and Persistent Disk types that you attach to a instance depends on the number of vCPUs that the instance has. The capacity limits are as follows:

• For machine types with less than 32 vCPUs:

  • 257 TiB for all Hyperdisk or all Persistent Disk
  • 257 TiB for a mixture of Hyperdisk and Persistent Disk

• For machine types with 32 or more vCPUs:

  • 512 TiB for all Hyperdisk
  • 512 TiB for a mixture of Hyperdisk and Persistent Disk
  • 257 TiB for all Persistent Disk

You can attach a combination of Hyperdisk and Persistent Disk volumes to a single instance, but the total disk capacity for Persistent Disk can't exceed 257 TiB.

Maximum number of disks per instance, across all types

The maximum number of individual Hyperdisk, and, if supported, Persistent Disk volumes that you can attach to an instance is 128. If you attach 28 Hyperdisk volumes to a instance, you can still attach up to 100 more Hyperdisk or Persistent Disk volumes to the same instance.

Maximum Hyperdisk volumes per instance

The number of Hyperdisk volumes you can attach to an instance depends on the machine type, with separate limits for each Hyperdisk type. These limits are detailed in the Supported disk types section within the documentation for each machine series. To view these limits, refer to the corresponding links in the following table.

General purpose machine types	Compute-optimized machine types	Memory-optimized machine types	Accelerator-optimized machine types	Storage-optimized machine types
C3 C3D C4 C4A C4D N2 N2D N4 T2D	H3	M1 M2 M3 M4 X4	A2 A3+H100 A3+H200 A4 A4X G2	Z3

What's next

• Learn how to optimize the performance of your Hyperdisk volumes