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BDorroh
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Guest OS NIC Speed

I've got 4 ESX 3.5 hosts in a cluster, running a lot of WinXP guest OS's.

The hosts have GB quad port NICS attached the network, all locked down at 1000/FULL (both in ESX and on the physical port side)

However, in the guest OS, the NICs only go up to 100mb. There's no 1000mb option. Can anyone explain this? Can the VMs not do GB?

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RParker
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http://communities.vmware.com/message/302962

That shows older driver, but it explains what is going on. Basically it's legacy drivers, but only for compatibility. The performance you get will equal Physical NIC.

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DSTAVERT
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Do you have vmware tools installed. Tools provides the XP drivers.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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RParker
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However, in the guest OS, the NICs only go up to 100mb. There's no 1000mb option.

This is visual only. The drivers for that card are not limited, they just show that speed, but those NICS are as fast as whatever your physical NIC's are.

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BDorroh
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Yes, VMware tools are installed and fully updated.

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RParker
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http://communities.vmware.com/message/302962

That shows older driver, but it explains what is going on. Basically it's legacy drivers, but only for compatibility. The performance you get will equal Physical NIC.

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DSTAVERT
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Then RParker would be correct.

\

Are you experiencing problems?

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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BDorroh
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We had a bunch of VMs disconnect from a SAN share and we're just eliminating possible causes. This was just something we noticed and started to question.

Is there then any reason to configure the speed/duplex of the Gues OS NIC if it actually just connects at the same speed/duplex of the physical NIC?

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RParker
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Is there then any reason to configure the speed/duplex of the Gues OS NIC if it actually just connects at the same speed/duplex of the physical NIC?

No in fact if you do set them, you would probably be limiting the speed at the point, let it 'auto' configure is the best.

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J1mbo
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The virtual NICs are connected to a virtual switch, all running within ESXi.

The physical NIC is serving only as a trunk port (uplink) to other (presumably physical) switches.

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