ESX 4.0 NIC type and CPU mask defaults

[Optic_Nerve]

Hi All,

Since upgrading to ESX 4.0 all of my guests have a CPU mask that they didn't have before. I have also tested creating a new VM in ESX 4.0 and even the new VM has a CPU mask. I find this strange as all my hosts are identical and I am not sure why I would want to have a mask. Is everyone else seeing this behaviour? Should I leave the mask or get rid of it?

Another strange one - when creating a new VM in ESX 4.0 and setting the OS to Windows 2003 or Windows 2008 the NIC defaults to E1000. I always thought that the VMXNET NIC types were faster due to them being designed from the ground up as virtual NICs yet ESX 4.0 now defaults to using E1000. Why? Should I change all my existing guests to match the new default (E1000), or should I delete the default and add a VMXNET 2 (or 3)?

Here are the defaults in ESX 4.0:

Windows 2003 Standard Edition x86 - E1000

Windows 2003 Standard Edition x64 - E1000

Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition x86 - E1000

Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition x64 - E1000

Windows 2008 x86 - E1000

Windows 2008 x64 - E1000

If you add a new NIC to any Windows 2003 OS, the available options are E1000, Flexible, VMXNET 2 (Enhanced) and VMXNET 3.

If you add a new NIC to any Windows 2008 OS, the available options are E1000, VMXNET 2 (Enhanced) and VMXNET 3.

Why would E1000 be the default now? Is it best practice to change them? Why would Windows 2003 offer the Flexible adapter but Windows 2008 would not? If I am creating a brand new template which is going to run on ESX 4.0 only is there any reason not to choose the latest and greatest (VMXNET 3)?

I wish VMware would document some of this stuff better. The product itself is great but a lot of these small details are hard to work out.

Cheers,

David

[AndreTheGiant]

Since upgrading to ESX 4.0 all of my guests have a CPU mask that they didn't have before

Are you using an EVC cluster?

when creating a new VM in ESX 4.0 and setting the OS to Windows 2003 or Windows 2008 the NIC defaults to E1000

Are you create a x64 VM?

Andre

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[Optic_Nerve]

Hi Andre,

No, I am not using EVC.

I specifically mentioned in my message that the E1000 is now the default for all Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 VMs, both x86 and x64.

Cheers,

David

[Symbion_Tech]

I think it just the default as it's the first alphabetically. Just use the paravirtualized VMXNET 3 and load up the tools to get the driver loaded.

[AntonVZhbankov]

E1000 is a NIC that almost every OS have drivers for. While VMXNET3 is fastest but works only if VMware tools are installed.

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