usb dongle support

[NelsonC2]

It is my understanding that ESX 4 supports usb to the VM's. I also understand that VMotion doesn't support the VM's that use usb dongles. I plugged a usb dongle into the ESX 4 host, however I do not see where I need to configure the VM's to use the usb dongle. Can someone please point in the direction of the documentation or tell me what configurations changes need to be made to make the usb dongle(s) visible to the VM's?

Gracious,

Nelson

[microkid · Accepted solution]

ESX doesn't support USB pass-through, like in VMware Workstation etc. If you need access to USB dongles and also need vMotion, you could take a look at the Anywhere USB solution from Digi (http://www.digi.com/products/usb/anywhereusb.jsp). It allows you to access USB devices over the TCP/IP network. Works with most Windows systems.

We have good experiences with this and just love it

[weinstein5]

Digi's USBAnywhere solution will still work with vSphere but vSphere now supports USB passthrough to the VM

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[microkid]

Might be, but passthrough is no option with vMotion, HA, DRS etc

[dab]

... but vSphere now supports USB passthrough to the VM

Have I missed something? Where can I configure this?

Daniel

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[NelsonC2]

Yes, how do I configure usb passthrough in vSphere? USB over IP is not an option right now.

[NelsonC2]

VMWare tech support has just advised me that pass-through is not supported and their is no eta on the release of this feature. Before posting, please ensure that the information you are providing is indeed a fact.

[weinstein5]

interesting USB pass through was one of the announced new features to vSphere - must be issues with its implementation that I was not aware of -

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[NelsonC2]

"New USB Pass-Through for Virtual Machines

Although you can add USB controllers to virtual machines, attaching USB devices is not supported."

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:yBL-croZPpAJ:www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_esx40_vc40_...vsphereusbpassthrough&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[NelsonC2]

I use usb dongles for licensing partically utilizing flexLM. Do you have a similar architecture? If so, are there any cons when using AnywhereUSB?

[RDPetruska]

"New USB Pass-Through for Virtual Machines

Although you can add USB controllers to virtual machines, attaching USB devices is not supported."

Gee... now THAT seems so very useful!

[ISexpress]

Can someone confirm if USB support is supported in 4.1 but not in 4.0.0?

Thanks