Enabling RSS on ixgbe adapters

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

In vSphere 5.1, you can enable RSS on ixgbe physical NICs using host profiles.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

Resolution

To support RSS on ixgbe NICs, your environment must meet these prerequisites.

• vSphere 5.1 or later, with vSphere Web Client installed.
  
• ixgbe driver 3.7.13.6 or later

To create a host profile that sets the values for the RSS kernel module parameter, as follows.

1. In the vSphere Web Client, click Rules and Profiles and click Host Profiles.
2. Click Edit Host Profile and expand the General System Settings folder.
   
3. Expand Kernel Module Configuration, select Kernel Module and select ixgbe.
   
4. Select Kernel Module Parameter > RSS and set the value to a comma-separated list that specifies the number of queues for each port, in sequence. For example, for two ports with 4 queues each, set the value to 4,4. If a system has 5 ixgbe ports named vmnic6, vmnic7, vmnic8, vmni9, and vmnic 10, and you want to enable RSS for vmnic7 and vmnic8, then the value is 0,4,4,0,0.
   
5. Click Finish.
6. Reboot the ESXi host.