Nexus9300v.9.3.9.qcow2 May 2026

The first boot can take 8–12 minutes. Wait for the prompt: NexonOS Kernel starting... then switch(boot)#. Be patient; the CPU fans (fake) will ramp up.

The nexus9300v.9.3.9.qcow2 is resource-intensive compared to a Linux VM. Do not attempt to run this on low-end hardware. nexus9300v.9.3.9.qcow2

| Component | Minimum Requirement | Recommended | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | vCPU | 2 cores | 4 cores per instance | | RAM | 4 GB (barely boots) | 6-8 GB per switch | | Disk | 8 GB | 16 GB (for logs + bootflash) | | Hypervisor | KVM, Proxmox, ESXi (with limitations) | KVM or Proxmox VE | | Network | VirtIO or e1000 driver | VirtIO (paravirtualized) | The first boot can take 8–12 minutes

Critical Note: Unlike CSR1000v, the Nexus 9000v does not run on VirtualBox (due to missing QEMU/KVM hardware extensions). Use Proxmox, Ubuntu KVM, or VMware Workstation with hardware-assisted MMU virtualization. Critical Note : Unlike CSR1000v, the Nexus 9000v

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Running nexus9300v.9.3.9.qcow2 provides access to dozens of enterprise features. Here are the most impactful:

ESXi does not read QCOW2 natively.

Once your VM powers on and you access the console, run this immediate hygiene check:

# Check for license compatibility (allows eval period)
show license usage