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deven
Contributor
Contributor

caveats with vmxnet3

Hi folks,

I am working on virtualizing a linux based service, and for performance reasons, bending towards using vmxnet3 (with some changes for better performance ).

Any caveats to relying only on vmxnet3?  It has some issues with "hardware version 4". Any other caveats?

I am not considering providing support for e1000 so wanted to make sure it doesn't lock me out of some deployments.

Thanks in advance,

Dev

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

One that I can think of, it is not supported with Fault Tolerance in ESX(i) 4.0.

In ESX(i) 4.1 it is supported, see http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_availability.pdf

André

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AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

You cannot use vmxnet3 with virtual hardware 4.

Actually vmxnet3 can be used without big issues. But also the e1000 or vmxnet2 works fine.

The only big issue that I know is related to a Linux box that act as a router/firewall.

See: http://www.shabangs.net/vmware/slow-linux-router-performance-with-vmware-vmxnet3-adapter/

But is well documented also on: http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_esxi41_vc41_rel_notes.html#knownissues

Andre

Andre | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
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chriswahl
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I believe your VMs will need to be hardware version 7, as prior to that the option for vmxnet3 doesn't exist.

VCDX #104 (DCV, NV) ஃ WahlNetwork.com ஃ @ChrisWahl ஃ Author, Networking for VMware Administrators
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