ESXI 4.1 and pci serial card

[yasapl]

Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum and a starter in VmWare ESXi. I've installed ESXi 4.1 on HP DL360 G4 (HV unsupported). It does what we need very well but there is one issue.

As I need to connect some serial devices (door access control system and PBX) and this server has only one serial port, I have added additional PCI serial card (SER4037T but also tried with LP-P200A3). I'm not sure how to initialise this card as additional ports are not available on vSphere for use with VMs.

Does such a card require an additional driver?

lspci -v lists this card with the proper name.

"000:007:01.0 Serial controller Communication controller: Timedia Technology Co Ltd SER4037A (2x RS232 port)

+ Class 0700: 1409:7168"+

PCI Passthrough is not an option as my server does not support this option.

Please advise.

[mcowger · Accepted solution]

if there is not native driver for this card from VMware and you cant do PCI passthru, then you are, unfortunately, SOL.

--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek, Storage Nerd

[golddiggie]

Instead of using a PCI card how about using one of the serial over IP boxes (or however many you need to do the job)?

As always, you should check with the VMware HCL before purchasing any hardware to go into an ESX/ESXi host server... Otherwise you'll quickly accumulate a large stack of useless items (or have to deal with the headache of attempting to return these items and pay restocking fees)... Even the vm-help site doesn't list serial cards, which means you're SOL when it comes to using PCI cards for additional ports right now... MAYBE in a future release they will be supported, but I tend to doubt that...

VMware VCP4

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[yasapl]

Hi,

Thank you both for quick response. You are right, serial cards aren't listed but fortunately I was in possesion of both so no problem.

I though it might use generic serial driver like the one used for onboard port.

Btw. Serial over TCP server is on my way. For the moment I have used an application to run serial over tcp and used another pc with serial port.

Thank you.

Jacek