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vmman34
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

What cheap network card is supported for ESXi 4?

Hi my 1Gb onboard NIC has failed the installer check.

What cheap NIC can I buy for testing purposes?

Thanks

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J1mbo
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Pretty much any Intel based NIC would be OK.

http://blog.peacon.co.uk

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golddiggie
Champion
Champion

Before you buy ANY NIC, make sure it's listed on the HCL... Safest bets are either Intel (my primary NIC choice) or Broadcom. Be careful with the Broadcom if you're looking to enable jumbo frames at any point in the future.

Network Administrator

VMware VCP4

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asatoran
Immortal
Immortal

Pretty much any Intel based NIC would be OK.

</div>One small gotcha that I've seen on the forums is that some of the "desktop" Intel NICs don't work with ESX. I did get my Intel 100 Pro desktop NIC to work with ESXi3.5, and I do have a Intel 1000 PT desktop NIC working on ESXi4u1, so it appears to be just some NICs.

@vmman34, as suggested try to stick to the HCL. I was able to find my NIC for under $50. However it maybe worthwhile to look for server NICs as they are available in dual and quad port, which may be useful for learning about some of the networking features of ESX or to use for NFS or iSCSI, but don't have many open PCI(e) slots.

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529122530
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Just use intel nic or broadcom nic

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AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

Have a look also at those sites:

http://www.vm-help.com

http://ultimatewhitebox.com

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
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vmman34
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I,ve seen a couple on the HCL.

The problem with Intel cards is that there are so many and I dont know which one to trust.

I have seen these HP ones on ebay.

HP NC110T PCIe gigabit server adapter

HP NC360T 2 port Gigabit Server Adapter 412651-001

Thanks

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m4biz
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I've a similar problem with my Proliant ML150 G6 - ESXi 5.0 server that has embedded Broadcom NC107i integrated Gigabit controller onboard (that is recognised by ESXi 5.0 and works)

I need to add a second NIC.

Has you finally installed:

  • HP NC112T PCI Express Gigabit Server Adapter

or

  • HP NC360T PCI-E Dual PortGigabit Server Adapter ?

If yes which works fine?

In case of the HP NC360T PCI-E Dual Port, the two ports are recognised as, two, separate and indipendent NIC cards by ESXi?

Thanks for your help.

Ing. Cosimo Mercuro http://cosimomercuro.wordpress.com/
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