Support of 10Gbe in Fusion 12.5 /13.1 and half speed of download

[MIB_CZ]

We have encountered two problems with Fusion 12.5 / 13.01 hypervisor
a/ there is no support for 10GBe Ethernet card - in hosted Windows10 it behaves and indicates as 1Gbe card.
b/ Download speed on 1Gbe a symmetric internet line is roughly 40% of the line speed , upload is OK. Verified all settings , speed on symmetric OSX guaranteed line is stable around 900Mb/s both ways, in virtualized , brand new installed Windows 10 then on download maximum 380Mb/s , on upload we are somewhere on 850-900 Mb/s
We tested both on the built-in 10GBe ethernet in MacMini 2018 , Fusion 12.5 and 13.01  and also test on another external TB3- 1Gb Ethernet adapter , via two indenpended ethernet lines / ubnt driven, Microtik driven /. Any idea ?

[ColoradoMarmot]

What hardware are you on?  Most mac's don't have network cards.

In any case, unless it's a USB device that you attach directly to the guest, the card itself isn't exposed - it's virtualized and 1GB is the max supported.

[MIB_CZ]

Hi , the custom Intel Mac Mini build has a 10Gbe ethernet / AQC107 10gbe chip soldered to the motherboard , connected to the PCie bus , of course it's not a card .
Yes , I could try connecting the USB Realtek directly to the W10 guest , not to the Fusion and test , but I only have a problem with the download speed , it is half the upload speed . Regardless of the ethernet port , switch or other virtual configuration . While on a Mac as such the upload is ok

Yes , I found a couple of not official mentions that vmware Fusion probably has a bandwith limiter at 1gbps , which in 2023 year , when 10Gbit networks are common and 25Gbit backbones are a reality is quite a strange software vendor policy. Since Parallels is on the same footing as Fusion , there is no choice but to eventually solve the 10gbit thing in Virtualbox.

[ColoradoMarmot · Accepted solution]

Ok, so obviously Fusion and Apple won't support that system.

That said, even with supported 10gb thunderbolt connectors, Fusion's virtual network is limited to 1GB.  There's no way around that.  The only option is to bypass the fusion network stack and have the USB connector connected to the guest OS itself.

10g on workstations is still somewhat rare.  I'm sure it's on their radar, but given all the other things in the queue, wouldn't hold my breath for it soon.

[palter]

Apple supports this configuration because they sell it. Adding 10G Ethernet to a Mac mini, both Intel and the new M2 Pro, is a build-to-order option at the online Apple Store. (Well, just the M2 Pro mini now as you can't order an Intel model anymore but it was offered on the Intel.)

[ColoradoMarmot]

Oh when you said custom, I thought you had modified the machine.  Sorry about that!

[gringley]

10G is not so rare in Macs.  The iMac Pro shipped with 10G and it was a build to order option on 2018 MacMinis and 2020 27" iMacs.  2x10G standard on the 2019 Mac Pro.  1x10G standard on the 2022 Mac Studio.   The iMac 10G is also modern "Multi-Gig" that supports 2.5G and 5G as well as 1G and 10G.

[Technogeezer]

I know on Linux if you edit the vmx file and change the virtual NIC type from e1000e (the default) to vmxnet3 that the NIC speed is reported in the VM as 10Gbit. I don't know, though, if this makes any difference in the throughput of the network (I don't have a 10Gbit setup to test it out).