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--- title: Requirements for Edge RAG Preview, Enabled by Azure Arc description: "Learn how to deploy Edge RAG with this guide on hardware, software, networking, and configuration requirements for success." author: cwatson-cat ms.author: cwatson ms.topic: concept-article #Don't change ms.date: 11/17/2025 ms.subservice: edge-rag ai-usage: ai-assisted ms.custom: - build-2025 # Customer intent: As a system administrator, I want to review the hardware, software, networking, and configuration requirements for deploying Edge RAG, so that I can prepare my infrastructure for a successful deployment and operation. --- # What you need for Edge RAG Preview, enabled by Azure Arc This article discusses Azure, machine and storage, networking, and other requirements for Edge RAG. [!INCLUDE [preview-notice](includes/preview-notice.md)] ## Resource requirements To get started with Edge RAG, you need the following Azure and on-premises resources. ### Azure resources Before deploying Edge RAG, make sure you have the following Azure resources and permissions in place: | **Resource** | **Description** | |---|---| | Azure subscription | An [Azure subscription](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/search/). | | Microsoft Entra ID permissions |- Permissions to create a Microsoft Enterprise Entra [application](/entra/identity/enterprise-apps/add-application-portal).<br>- Ability to add new or existing Microsoft Entra [users and groups](/entra/identity/enterprise-apps/add-application-portal-assign-users) to the application. <br> <br> As part of the prerequisites tasks, you [configure authentication for Edge RAG Preview enabled by Azure Arc](prepare-authentication.md).| | Permissions for AKS enabled by Azure Arc| Permissions to deploy [AKS Arc Kubernetes clusters](/azure/aks/hybrid/aks-create-clusters-portal), create [node pools](/azure/aks/hybrid/manage-node-pools), and install [extensions](/azure/azure-arc/kubernetes/extensions-release). As part of the prerequisites tasks, see [Verify contributor role for Edge RAG Preview enabled by Azure Arc](prepare-contributor-permission.md).| | Transport Layer Security (TLS) termination certificate | A certificate signed by a company-specific certification authority (CA) or a well-known public CA for secure deployments. If you don't provide one, Edge RAG generates a self-signed certificate. We don't recommend using a self-signed certificate for production environments. | ### On-premises resources An Edge RAG deployment is supported where you have the following on-premises resources in your environment: | **Resource** | **Description** | |---|---| | Azure Local infrastructure* | An instance of [Azure Local](/azure/azure-local/overview) infrastructure, minimum version 2504. | | AKS Arc cluster on Azure Local* | An [AKS Arc cluster](/azure/aks/hybrid/aks-create-clusters-portal) running on the Azure Local instance. Use [GPUs](/azure/aks/hybrid/deploy-gpu-node-pool) for better performance; include at least four [GPU-enabled VMs](/azure/azure-local/manage/gpu-preparation) in the node pool for image and text scenarios. As part of the prerequisites tasks, you [prepare AKS cluster on Azure Local for Edge RAG Preview enabled by Azure Arc](prepare-aks-cluster.md). | | Routable, static IP address | One routable, static IP address for the [MetalLB](/azure/aks/hybrid/deploy-load-balancer-portal) load balancer. If MetalLB is already configured with a routable IP, this requirement can be skipped. The IP must be accessible from client machines. <br><br>As part of the prerequisites tasks, setting up MetalLB is included in the following articles:<br><br>- [Install networking and observability components for Edge RAG Preview enabled by Azure Arc](prepare-networking-observability.md) <br>- [Configure DNS for Edge RAG Preview enabled by Azure Arc](prepare-dns.md). | | Network File System (NFS) | An NFS v3.0 or v4.1 containing your on-premises documents or images. Only AUTH_SYS authentication method is supported. Kerberos authentication isn't supported. Requires share path, NFS user ID, and group ID. See setup guides for [Windows Server](/windows-server/storage/nfs/deploy-nfs) and [Linux](https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-configure-nfs-on-linux).| |Windows machine (optional)| Ease the management of the Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes cluster on Azure Local by configuring a driver machine or local management host.<br><br>As part of the prerequisites tasks, install tools like Azure CLI, kubectl, and Helm to prepare the driver machine. For more information, see: <br><br>- [Prepare AKS cluster on Azure Local for Edge RAG Preview enabled by Azure Arc](prepare-aks-cluster.md)<br>- [Configure machine to manage Azure Arc-Enabled Kubernetes cluster](configure-driver-machine.md).| \* Edge RAG is validated on Azure Local. ## Minimum VM hardware requirements The following table lists the minimum hardware requirements for the virtual machines. | **Mode** | **VM specs & suggested minimum sizes** | |---|---| | **GPU** | 4 x GPU-enabled VMs </br>Recommended sizes (choose one based on GPU):</br>- Standard_NC8_A2<br>- Standard_NC8_A16<br>4 x CPU VMs<br> - Minimum spec: 8 vCPUs, 32 GB<br>- Recommended size: Standard_D8s_v3| For more information, see [Resource limits, VM sizes, and regions for AKS on Windows Server](/azure/aks/hybrid/concepts-support). The following table lists the hardware recommendations for each language model available with Edge RAG. | **Model Name** | **GPU Support** | **Minimum VM SKUs** | |----------------------------------------|-----------------|--------------------------| | [Microsoft/Phi-3.5-mini-instruct](https://huggingface.co/microsoft/Phi-3.5-mini-instruct)| Nvidia A2<br>Nvidia A16 | Standard_NC8_A2 <br>Standard_NC8_A16 | | [mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.2](https://huggingface.co/mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.2) | Nvidia A2<br>Nvidia A16 | Standard_NC8_A2 <br>Standard_NC8_A16 | If you plan to use a CPU-only setup, review the files size and chunking limitations. See: - [Supported document formats and size](#supported-document-formats-and-size) - [Chunk settings](build-chat-solution-overview.md#chunk-settings) ## Minimum software requirements The following table lists the supported minimum software requirements for Edge RAG. | **Component** | **Minimum requirements** | |---|---| | **VM Operating System** |Linux| | **Azure Local version*** | Azure Local [2504](/azure/azure-local/whats-new) release | | **Azure CLI** | As shipped with Azure Local. Don't update to the latest version of Azure CLI, and use the one that was originally shipped with Azure Local. | \* Edge RAG is validated on Azure Local. ## Network requirements All current [Azure Local](/azure/azure-local/concepts/firewall-requirements) and [AKS on Azure Local](/azure/aks/hybrid/aks-hci-network-system-requirements) requirements. ## Supported document formats and size Edge RAG supports the following capabilities and related file formats: | **Capability** | **Supported file format** | |---|---| | Text extraction | PDF, DOCX, TXT, MHTML, MHT, MD | | Image ingestion | JPG, JPEG, PNG | With a GPU setup, each individual file can be up to 30 MB. If you're using a CPU-only setup, each individual file can be up to 5 MB. Document or image file types not listed, like audio and video files, aren't currently supported. ## Supported data sources Edge RAG supports Network File System (NFS) v3.0 and v4.1 with AUTH_SYS authentication as a data source. Kerberos authentication isn't supported. ## Supported regions If you plan to use the [quickstart](quickstart-edge-rag.md) for evaluation or development purposes, deploy Azure resources for Edge RAG in any region supported by Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes. For production deployments, deploy Edge RAG and required resources in any region supported by Azure Local. For the most up-to-date list of supported regions by service, see the [Azure products by region table](https://azure.microsoft.com/explore/global-infrastructure/products-by-region/table). ## Related content - [Quickstart: Install Edge RAG Preview enabled by Azure Arc](quickstart-edge-rag.md) - [Complete Edge RAG deployment prerequisites](complete-prerequisites.md) - [Deployment overview for Edge RAG](deploy-overview.md)