With the information from the forums, I've managed to get ESXi 3.5.0 installed on my ICH10 SATA disks (Asus P5Q Pro motherboard).
Of course, the problem now is that the onboard network card is unsupported. I can get a supported card; but before I do that I would like to know if the onboard card will be available to the guest OSs at all?
The answer tells me whether I'm buying a 1-port or 2-port network card to place in my last PCI-E x16 slot
it your ESX Host can not see the NIC then your Guests will not be able to either.
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Tom Howarth
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Blog: www.planetvm.net
Welcome to the Forums - Is this you only physical NIC in te box - Are you able to access you ESXi server via the VI Client? If you are then yes you will be able to use that card - in fact I do not think ESX or ESXi will install without a working NIC -
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At the moment, the onboard port (Atheros gbit) is the only one in the machine, and although ESXi is installed (with oem.tgz hacks to recognise the onboard AHCI SATA controller), it does not detect the network. I'm not expecting to find an Atheros driver for ESXi! I cannot manage this machine yet, it has no IP address at all.
lspci from a supported OS (Ubuntu 8.10 LiveCD) says
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. L1 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev b0)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 8226
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ2299
Memory at feac0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: Power Management version 2
Capabilities: Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=-/0 Enable+
Capabilities: Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: Advanced Error Reporting <?>
Capabilities: Device Serial Number ff-54-23-00-d3-f2-18-ff
Kernel driver in use: ATL1E
Kernel modules: atl1e
It's always a struggle getting a server-grade bit of software running on desktop-spec equipment I have only one PCI-Express x16 slot left (there are three x1's spare), and I want the machine to have more than one physical network port available to the guests. If guests will be unable to use the onboard Atheros, that means I have to get at least a 2-port supported NIC. If guests can use the Atheros, I can save $$$ and get a single port NIC
I see from the forums that many people with the P5Q Pro motherboard have purchased an extra NIC in order to get ESXi working; which is fine. I just need to know how many NICs I need to buy so I need to know if the onboard Atheros NIC can be used by guests ...
If ESX doesn't recognize the NIC your guests won't be able to "use" it.
so I need to know if the onboard Atheros NIC can be used by guests ...
guests on ESXi are never using a nic (directly). So the nic must be seen by the ESXi host.
Go and buy an Intel dualport (or, if you can afford a quadport) card.
it your ESX Host can not see the NIC then your Guests will not be able to either.
If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or correct buttons to award points
Tom Howarth
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: www.planetvm.net