Better to use E1000 or VMXNET3

[pstoric]

I'm in the process of creating new VM on ESXi 5.5 and I was curious to see what everyone recommends as far as network adapters. I see VMXNET3 is the newest one so is it safe to assume that I should be using that for all new VM's?

[tomtom901 · Accepted solution]

VMXNET3 is the paravirtualized adapter from VMware, less overhead (so more speed), and a 10 GbE connection. Only disadvantage, you need the VMware Tools installed in most to all guest OS'ses. So yes, I'd go with that, but which guest OS are you trying to virtualize?

[pstoric]

Just setup a new Server 2008 R2 vm using the VMXNET3 adapter. Thanks for the input

[JarryG]

If your VM supports vmxnet3, I do not see any reason to use e1000(e). vmxnet3 offers better performance, higher speed, lower cpu-load, and better stability...

[JarryG]

"...you need the VMware Tools installed in most to all guest OS'ses..."

No linux-distro with kernel >= 2.6.32 needs vmware-tools just because of vmxnet3. Its driver is part of kernel-tree...

[tomtom901]

Correct, but most Windows and older Linux OS'ses need the tools installed.

[pstoric]

I always install VMware Tools so that's no problem.