ESXi 4.0 and 4.1 Free Edition and Jumbo Frames

[lostjames]

Hello Everyone.

Happy New Year.

Please can someone answer my question.

Jumbo Frames are not supported in the Free Edition of ESXi 4.0

This is discussed here.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=101245...

Are they supported in ESXi 4.1 Free Edition or do I need to upgrade to Essentials?

Many thanks

James

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

I searched for this information a couple of days ago. However I did not find anything specific for ESXi 4.1. I guest it's still the same limitation in 4.1

André

[RParker]

Are they supported in ESXi 4.1 Free Edition or do I need to upgrade to Essentials?

It looks that way, although I fail to understand why jumbo frames is not supported in a FREE version.  I can understand turning off certain features, but Jumbo Frames, I don't get it.

It's not like you can't get Gig or 10Gig ethernet without it... that makes ZERO sense to me.

[lostjames]

Many thanks, both are helpful answers but I really need clarification on this and preferably a link to VMWARE Documentation.

It is most frustrating!

If I discover anything I will update.

Kind regards

James

[Troy_Clavell]

....but I really need clarification on this and preferably a link to VMWARE Documentation

why not provide feedback to the KB article, with your contact information, asking for clarification.

[lostjames]

Thanks Troy.

I have no idea why I did not think of that myself!

Have submitted the question now.

Will respond if I answer before anyone else.

Kind regards

[lostjames]

http://vmware.com/products/vsphere/buy/editions_comparison.html

Further, what is annoying, is that the original article point to the above link, but I can find no mention of Jumbo Frames there anyhow?

I have submitted a question and will hopefully get a response.

Regards

[DSTAVERT]

The official stance is that Jumbo Frames are not supported in the free version. I have just used the Tech Support console to set the MTU and it appears to work. This is ESXi as a VM and I have no way to test this. Like many things with the free version remote access does not allow writing to the configuration. Local commands do not seem to be affected.

esxcfg-vmknic -m 9000 "Management Network"

esxcfg-vmknic -l  shows the MTU value as 9000

So give it a try.      

[lostjames]

Thanks David.

Any links to the official Stance please?

best regards

[DSTAVERT]

From the FAQ http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/faq.html

Note that the free VMware vSphere Hypervisor does not allow any configuration changes through the vCLI. This would include setting Jumbo Frames.

[lostjames]

Thanks David, I have given you helpful points.  it is frustrating that it is mentioned for 4.0 but not for 4.1 in VMWARE Documentation, though agree with your point made about the CLi in the free edition and understand that this makes sense.

Scott Lowes'

Next Generation Best Practices for Storage and VMware Presentation to the MidWest VMUG, seems to imply that the performance gains are marginal (Slide 24)

If I don't have Jumbo Frames - am I really going to miss anything - or is it just a nice to have?

I am setting up a QA environment with a dedicated HP switch for iSCSI traffic and am using the Iomega IX12-300r for Storage..

Budget is limited, hence the requirement to use ESXi.

There is no fancy high end requirements.  Just the need to create lots of smallish VM's for testing purposes.

Kind regards

James

[DSTAVERT]

The unsupported would only apply if you had support which in the free version, you don't. There are many documents to update and it takes time. In 3.5 and 4 access to the Tech Support console and SSH were unsupported so enabling Jumbo Frames could only be accomplished from the vCLI as a supported method. SInce that has changed in 4.1 it is certainly possible that VMware is just not going to make mention of it.

[DSTAVERT]

I too have seen many references to Jumbo Frame providing marginal benefits at best.

Good luck and thanks for dropping by.

[lostjames]

Yes, it is a great product and at a nice price and I am not disputing that there are a lot of documents to update, but Jumbo Frame support seems to be "a key requirement" for many people and some clarification from VMWARE on the subject, for supported or not supported versions of their software would be useful

Hopefully, someone will respond to my online request for clarification that I submitted earlier.

It would be a shame if they choose to make no mention of it.

I have spent 2 hours of my time today trying to establish if it is or is not supported.

Regards

[DSTAVERT]

lostjames wrote:

Yes, it is a great product and at a nice price and I am not disputing that there are a lot of documents to update, but Jumbo Frame support seems to be "a key requirement" for many people and some clarification from VMWARE on the subject, for supported or not supported versions of their software would be useful

Hopefully, someone will respond to my online request for clarification that I submitted earlier.

It would be a shame if they choose to make no mention of it.

I have spent 2 hours of my time today trying to establish if it is or is not supported.

Regards

Works or supported. VMware's statement is very clear in the KB article. If it is a  "key requirement" then the path is clear.

Jumbo frames support is not included in a ESXi 4.0 free edition license.  

To resolve this issue, upgrade to ESX 4.0 Essentials or higher.

That there is a way to make it work isn't promoted. That the KB article hasn't been updated is unfortunate. I have added to your feedback on the article and as a moderator I submitted this post to the knowledgebase folks. I doubt that there will be a change outlining how to circumvent the vCLI limitations. My early tests with Jumbo Frames in 3.5 suggested it wasn't worth persuing and I haven't changed.

[lostjames]

Hi Dave, thanks for your time, responses and opinions but it is not clear at all if Jumbo Frames are supported in 4.1.

I am just stating that I think, as this is a "Key Requirement" to many people and their Infrastructure and that VMWARE have chosen to comment about it on an earlier release of their software, they really should do for their latest release too.

Kind regards

EDIT - Sorry David - it is late here and I totally misread your last post.

[DSTAVERT · Accepted solution]

Jumbo Frames are supported in ESXi 4.1. http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1023990 Just not in the free version at least via the vCLI.

[lostjames]

Splendid stuff - many thanks David - it is most appreciated.

is this a new document - or have you just come across it?

Regards

James

[DSTAVERT]

This is an older document. There is one for 3.5 and 4. I was assuming this was a question about whether it was available in the free version not whether it was available in any version. I would have posted that earlier if I had understood that.

[DSTAVERT]

One of the many problems with assuming.