--- description: System requirements for running cloudflared. title: System requirements image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/og-docs.png --- [Skip to content](#main-content) > Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # System requirements Last updated Aug 24, 2026|Copy as Markdown|[View as Markdown](https://docs-durable-objects-instance-replaced-errors.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/downloads/system-requirements/index.md)|[Agent setup](https://docs-durable-objects-instance-replaced-errors.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/agent-setup/) `cloudflared` is lightweight enough to run on a Raspberry Pi or a data center server. Tunnel throughput is primarily limited by the number of ports configured in system software, not hardware. ## Baseline recommendations Run a `cloudflared` [replica](https://docs-durable-objects-instance-replaced-errors.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/configuration/#replicas-and-high-availability) on two dedicated hosts per location with a minimum of 4 GB RAM and 4 CPU cores. Allocate 50,000 ports per host. ## Port configuration To increase the number of ports available to `cloudflared` on Linux: If your machine has a `/etc/sysctl.d/` directory: ```sh echo 'net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 11000 60999' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.d/99-cloudflared.conf sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-cloudflared.conf ``` Otherwise: ```sh echo 'net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 11000 60999' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.conf ``` To increase the number of ports available to `cloudflared` on Windows, set the [dynamic port range ↗](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/tcp-ip-port-exhaustion-troubleshooting) for TCP and UDP: ```txt netsh int ipv4 set dynamicport tcp start=11000 num=50000 netsh int ipv4 set dynamicport udp start=11000 num=50000 netsh int ipv6 set dynamicport tcp start=11000 num=50000 netsh int ipv6 set dynamicport udp start=11000 num=50000 ``` ## ulimits (Linux and macOS) On Linux and macOS, `ulimit` settings determine the system resources available to a logged-in user. We recommend configuring the following ulimits on the `cloudflared` server: | ulimit | Description | Value | | ------ | ------------------------------------------------ | -------- | | \-n | Maximum number of open files or file descriptors | ≥ 70,000 | To view your current ulimits, open a terminal and run: ```sh ulimit -a ``` To set the open files `ulimit`: ```sh ulimit -n 70000 ``` The command above sets the open files limit only for the current terminal session and will not persist after a reboot or new login. To apply this limit permanently, configure it using the persistent method appropriate for your operating system. ## Capacity calculator To estimate tunnel capacity requirements for your deployment: 1. Use the [metrics endpoint](https://docs-durable-objects-instance-replaced-errors.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/monitoring/#cloudflared-metrics) to measure `cloudflared_tcp_total_sessions` and `cloudflared_udp_total_sessions`. 2. Compute the average **TCP requests per second** by dividing `cloudflared_tcp_total_sessions` by total time. 3. Compute the average **Non-DNS UDP requests per second** by dividing `cloudflared_udp_total_sessions` by total time. 4. Input **TCP requests per second** and **Non-DNS UDP requests per second** into the calculator below. (You can leave **Private DNS requests per second** as `0` unless you are using the tunnel for [private network access](https://docs-durable-objects-instance-replaced-errors.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/networks/connectors/cloudflare-tunnel/configure-tunnels/tunnel-availability/system-requirements/).) ### System configuration Available ports per host Number of cloudflared replicas DNS UDP session timeout (in seconds) Average non-DNS UDP session timeout (seconds) ### Metrics TCP requests per second Non-DNS UDP requests per second Private DNS requests per second ### Result Percent capacity per replica Percent capacity across all replicas Maximum DNS requests per minute across all replicas This calculator is for informational purposes only and all results are estimates. To increase tunnel capacity, add identical hosts running `cloudflared` replicas. Was this helpful? YesNo ## On this page [![](https://docs-durable-objects-instance-replaced-errors.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/_astro/logo.te5VL_aD.svg)Docs](https://docs-durable-objects-instance-replaced-errors.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/downloads/system-requirements/#page","headline":"System requirements · Cloudflare Docs","description":"System requirements for running cloudflared.","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/downloads/system-requirements/","inLanguage":"en","image":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/og-docs.png","dateModified":"2026-08-24","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cloudflare","description":"One platform for your apps, agents, and workforce. 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