Single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) compatible devices

[ferdis]

Hi,

I cant find any supported Single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) device in Compatibility list for ESXi 5.1. Any information regarding this?

[JCMorrissey]

Hi,

take a look at the supported nics section in

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-51/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.networking.doc%2FGUID-E8E8D7...

many tx

[jrmunday]

Here are the supported requiremetns for SR-IOV;

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-51/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.networking.doc/GUID-E8E8D7B2-FE67-4B4F-92...

At the bottom, you will see Supported NICs;

The following NICs are supported for virtual machines configured with SR-IOV. All NICs must have drivers and firmware that support SR-IOV. Some NICs might require SR-IOV to be enabled on the firmware.

■	Products based on the Intel 82599ES 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller Family (Niantic)
■	Products based on the Intel Ethernet Controller X540 Family (Twinville)
■	Emulex OneConnect (BE3)

Upgrading from earlier versions of vSphere

If you upgrade from vSphere 5.0 or earlier to vSphere 5.1 or later, SR-IOV support is not available until you update the NIC drivers for the vSphere release. NICs must have firmware and drivers that support SR-IOV enabled for SR-IOV functionality to operate.

Cheers,

Jon

[ferdis]

Thanks. What about DirectPath I/O compatibility? I know that some devices are supported:

• QLogic QLA25xx 8 Gb Fibre Channel adapters
• Emulex LPe12000 8 Gb Fibre Channel adapters
• LSI 3442e-R and 3801e (1068 chip based) 3 Gb SAS adapters
• Intel 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller
• Broadcom 57710 and 57711 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers

But what about other PCI RS-232 resp. USB cards? I cant find any support from VMware.

You know customer is looking to use RS-232 card in VM... Im looking for solution.

Maybe better will be to go with something like DIGI AnywhereUSB TS network RJ45 --> USB/RS-232 ports?

http://www.digi.com/products/model?mid=3291

What do you think?

[jrmunday]

DirectPath I/O and SR-IOV have similar functionalty;
- With DirectPath I/O you can map only one physical funtion to one virtual machine
- SR-IOV lets you share a single physical device, allowing multiple virtual machines to connect directly to the physical funtion.

But what about other PCI RS-232 resp. USB cards? I cant find any support from VMware.

Since this is PCI and not a PCIe, this rules out SR-IOV leaving your only option DirectPath I/O.

The following USB devices are supported for passthrough from an ESX/ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine;

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102134...

You know customer is looking to use RS-232 card in VM... Im looking for solution.

Have you got an example of what they are trying to achieve so that I can understand this requirement better?

Cheers,

Jon