USB Device

[bozyasar]

Hello

I am testing ESX4 and as far as I know there is usb support for vms, I can add usb controller to a vm and esx can see the usb flash disk, but usb disk can not be seen by vm

Is there any way to get the vm to use usb disk?

[AsherN]

No. You can't do it unless you get a network USB device. The argument is that they are cheap. However, they can only server one target at a time, so if 2 VMs require USB access you need 2 4-port USB devices.

VMware says that adding USB support would make it impossible to vMotion a VM. Fine, how about I make that decision. Maybe I can live with that restriction.

[bozyasar]

So, what does USB Controller mean? how and why can I use this USB controller?

[AsherN]

You need a network USB hub. It's a USB hub that attaches to your network via an ethernet cable and is addressable through it's IP address.

Search the ESX3.5 section for 'USB support' and you will find a number of interesting discussions.

[bozyasar]

I know network USB device, for example Keyspan

We use it on esx 3.5 version but there is no usb controller on esx3.5

But when I saw the USB Controller on esx4 I thought there is USB support

So there is no any improvement on esx4 regarding USB device, right?

[AsherN]

Not to my knowledge.

[weinstein5]

I believe USB support will be part of vSphere - or at least that is my understanding - and it is only devices connected to the ESX server - I have not tried it with the RC code -

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[AsherN]

That would be great news.

[EDV-COMPAS]

there will be no usb support in VM´s. so you need a network usb server for your vm´s

you can use usb in the cos, but this works already in 3.x

[bozyasar]

So, what is the reason of existing of USB Controller on ESX4?

[weinstein5]

I still stand by my statement - you will be able to access USB devices from your VMs -

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[EDV-COMPAS]

mhh, now i little bit confused ... some document say "connect host usb devices to virtual machine"...

i will test this if i have time..

[Dave_Mishchenko]

I was under the impression that USB support didn't make it into vSphere.

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1196631#1196631

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1175265#1175265

[EDV-COMPAS]

mh, i tested it in the lab, you can add an usb controller to your vm, but you can´t connect an device to the vm, so as i say before.. there is no usb support for vm´s in vsphere!

[komarm]

Still don't know why USB Controller in vSphere.

[EDV-COMPAS]

no one know´s

in fact you can´t connect host attached usb devices to an vm ...

it is maybe to get more the vm´s more compatible to vmware workstation and vmware server .. or it is for future use.

[dmadden]

Unfortunately there is zero support for connecting a host attached USB device to a virtual machine at this time.

[weinstein5]

Actually this is one of the new features of vSphere

Sent from my iPhone

On May 30, 2009, at 3:32 PM, "dmadden" <communities-

[dmadden]

I am aware that vSphere allows you to add a USB controller to a virtual machine. However, this virtual device cannot be passed through to a physical USB device connected to the ESX server at this time. This is according to VMware engineering.

Thanks

[TwgTech]

From memory, these network enabled USB hubs run independently of VM environment, relying on support from the client OS to access them... and there's none with Linux support, correct?

Rather than saying "We won't do it because it breaks vmotion" and requiring yet more equipment, surely VMware could allow various ESX(i) servers to present their USB ports for use "in the cloud" (ooh I used a buzzword rolls eyes) and then a VM guest configuration could say "USB device X on port Y on machine Z"... sure, it's not redundant - but the actual USB device one wants to access isn't redundant either and a separate network hub would be a single point of failure anyway?