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Configuring passthrough devices


To configure passthrough devices on an ESX/ESXi host:

  1. Select an ESX\ESXi host from the Inventory of VMware vSphere
    Client.

    Note: If you have a chipset with VT-d, when you
    click Advanced Settings in vSphere Client, you can select the devices that are
    dedicated to the VMDirectPath I/O.


  2. In the Configuration tab, click Advanced
    Settings. The passthrough Configuration page lists all
    available pass-through devices.

    Note: A green icon
    indicates that a device is enabled and active. An orange icon indicates that the
    state of the device has changed and the host must be rebooted before the device
    can be used.

  3. Click Edit.
  4. Select the devices and click OK.
  5. When the devices are selected, they are marked with an orange icon. Reboot
    for the change to take effect. After rebooting, the devices are marked with a
    green icon and are enabled.

    Note: The configuration
    changes are saved in the /etc/vmware/esx.conf
    file.

    The PCI slot number where the device was connected is 00:0b:0. It is recorded
    as:

    /device/000:11.0/owner =
    "passthru"


    Note: 11 is the decimal
    equivalent of the hexadecimal 0b.

To configure a PCI device on a virtual machine:

  1. From the Inventory in vSphere Client, right-click the virtual machine and
    click Edit Settings.
  2. Click the Hardware tab.
  3. Click Add
  4. Choose the PCI Device.
  5. Click Next.

    Note: When the device
    is assigned, the virtual machine must have a memory reservation for the full
    configured memory size.