How to disable/delete vusb0 in ESXi if it is not being used

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• The vusb0 interface is a virtual USB network adapter provisioned in ESXi, typically generated by a physical USB network dongle or a server Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) utilizing virtual USB passthrough (e.g., Dell iDRAC, HPE iLO).
• In vSphere environment , ESXi leverages this interface to automatically create a dedicated standard virtual switch (vSwitchBMC) for direct OS-to-BMC communication and Data Processing Unit (DPU) management.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi.

Cause

• The vusb0 interface is generated by the ESXi host detecting a virtual USB network adapter, which is presented to the OS because the "OS to BMC pass-through" feature is enabled in the server's hardware management settings (e.g., iDRAC, iLO).
• Example configuration of HP iLO.
  • Login into the HP iLO management interface and navigated to Security > Access settings.
  • Locate the iLO setting for the virtual NIC vUSB0, Validate the status is enabled or disabled.

Resolution

Disabling vusb0 from Dell iDRAC/ HP iLO:

• Make sure vusb0 is not being used in the environment for any connectivity.
• If the vusb0 interface is not required for management traffic, administrators can prevent its creation by disabling the "OS to BMC" or "Virtual NIC" passthrough feature directly within the server's hardware management console.
• Contact hardware vendor to disable this feature.
• This operation needs host maintenance.

Deleting virtual standard switch "vSwitchBMC" created by OS if in case not required in the environment:

• Make sure vusb0 is not being used in the environment for any connectivity.
• Maintenance Mode: Place the problematic ESXi host into Maintenance Mode.
• Validation: In the vCenter UI, navigated to the ESXi host > Configure > Virtual switches, and located the standard switch "vSwitchBMC". Expand the network interfaces on the switch "vSwitchBMC"  . Make sure no vmkernel adapters/workloads are mapped to the vStandard switch.
• vSwitch Deletion: Perform deletion of vStandard Switch  "vSwitchBMC".

Additional Information

If additional assistance is needed with troubleshooting, reach out to Broadcom support by creating a support case using the instructions at Creating and managing Broadcom support cases.

ESXi creates standard switch vSwitchBMC with uplink vusb0 automatically after upgrading to 8.0.3 version.