ESXi 5.5 Network Card Help

[dylanbatt74]

Hello,

This is my first post so hope its in correct place !

Anyway a have recently built myself a home lab ESXi box from a GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 and i5 2500k, 16 GB Ram etc...

What i didn't allow for is that the on-board network adapter did not work

I have searched Google high and low for a fix, tried downloading a .vib file for the board/ card and creating custom iso but no luck

I can get the card to be seen by ESXi but no connection ither from Static or DHCP

Anyway after further investigation i fount a card everyone is talking about the EXPI9301CTBLK from intel, has anyone had experience using this successfully as its not to cheap so want to make sure it s going to work before a buy it

The link is below to product

Intel EXPI9301CTBLK Gigabit Pro PCI Express Gigabit Network Card OEM - Scan.co.uk

Any help would be greatly appreciated and or if anyone knows a definite way to get on-board card working , i just need LAN

Thanks

[vNEX · Accepted solution]

Hi,

YES it uses Intel® 82574L controller which is listed on HCL also:

VMware Compatibility Guide: I/O Device Search

Intel® Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter Benefits and Support Overview

If you want to know about other vendors supportability and have a list of all supported NICs have a look to this PDF:

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/pdf/vi_io_guide.pdf

For just Intel cards look here:

http://www.intel.com/support/network/adapter/pro100/sb/CS-029808.htm

For hardware compatibility difficulties in lab/home environment as workaround you can run ESXi as nested in VMware Workstation instead of deploying it directly to your laptop hardware, for more info see:

VMware KB: Support for running ESXi/ESX as a nested virtualization solution

[dylanbatt74]

Great i shall be ordering one of these

Many thanks for you help

[vNEX]

You're welcome

don't forget to award points 😉

[dylanbatt74]

I will later on