how many PCI pass-through device support on ESXi7.0U1

[sikeee]

hi,

I have the server with ESXi 7.0U1 installed, VM is RHEL8.2,

successfully to set 10x NVMe device into passthrough mode and allocated those devices to VM-RHEL8.2, but failed to boot up the VM, no error info reported, just failed to boot into OS and it will auto shutdown the VM, reduced to 8x NVMe device can bootup as normal.

try different NVMe devices observed the same behavior, the number of passthrough devices over 8 will cause VM can't boot up.

if someone knows it and help to explain this behavior?  Appreciated!

[scott28tt]

@sikeee 

Moderator: Please try and create a thread in the area for the product used - moved to ESXi Discussions

[jburen]

According to configmax.vmware.com, the maximum number of PCI passthrough devices per VM is 16. Maybe look at the log file of the VM to see what is going on when you start the VM.