Will Linux driver for Sound Blaster work under ESX 4.0?

[rickrcomm]

ESX 4.0 on HP ML110G4. Sound Blaster X-Fi PCIe board installed but not recognized by vSphere. If I install Linux driver, will I screw up vSphere? Any other suggestions? (Want it for Win7 running in VM.)

Thanks,

Rick

[dconvery]

Unfortunately, you cannot virtualize a sound card under ESX. As far as I know it only works on VMware Workstation. I have never tried it on the (hosted) Vmware Server. You could try the RHEL driver to see if it works, but it wont be supported.

Dave Convery

VMware vExpert 2009

Careful. We don't want to learn from this.

Bill Watterson, "Calvin and Hobbes"

[Dave_Mishchenko]

If the chipset of the MB would support Intel VT-D (directed I/O) then you could use VMDirectPath to pass the PCI device directly into the VM.

Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

New book in town - vSphere Quick Start Guide -http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/08/12/new-book-in-town-vsphere-quick-start-guide/.

Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=21.

[dconvery]

Dave -

Is this an Intel-VT thing or a Nahelem thing? Not that it matters here, the G4's do not even have Inte-VT as far as I know.

Dave Convery

VMware vExpert 2009

Careful. We don't want to learn from this.

Bill Watterson, "Calvin and Hobbes"

[rickrcomm]

The CPU is a DP Xeon 3060. It DOES have VT. (else it couldn't be running vSphere, right?) I will do some research on the DirectedIO feature.

Thanks,

Rick

[admin]

Could you describe how you plan to utilize the sound card which is locally attached to server made available to the V (since VM is normally accessed via remotely through VNC or VI Client or VC)? Do you plan to have a local display for the VM and make USB keyboard/mouse also made available to the VM via VMDirectPath as well?

[rickrcomm]

Well, the main reason I wanted the sound card was to get the full experience of Windows 7 running under ESX 4.0 and not have to dedicate a full system to Win7. The server (HP ML110G4) is small and desk-side. Display and keyboard/mouse would be via VIC. But it appears that the chipset in the ML110 does not support VT-d, so I guess it's a lost cause anyway.

Rick

[admin]

Thanks.