Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on a VMware ESX or VMware ESXi host
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Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on a VMware ESX or VMware ESXi host

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Article ID: 309986

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information on configuring VMDirectPath I/O direct PCI device connections for virtual machines.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x

Resolution

About VMDirectPath I/O passthrough devices

The supported maximums for passthrough devices per VMs are:

  • ESX\ESXi 8.0u2: 128 Devices - Hardware version 21
  • ESX\ESXi 8.0u1: 64 Devices - Hardware version 20
  • ESX\ESXi 8.0: 32 Devices - Hardware version 20
  • ESX\ESXi 7.x: 16 Devices -Hardware version 13-19

For more information, see Hardware Features Available with Virtual Machine Compatibility Settings.

Configuring passthrough devices:

Before configuring a device for PCI Passthrough, ensure that platform and device meets the PCI Passthrough requirements, see VMware vSphere VMDirectPath I/O: Requirements for Platforms and Devices.
 
To configure passthrough devices on an ESX/ESXi host:
  1. Select an ESX\ESXi host from the Inventory of VMware vSphere Client.
  2. In the Configure tab, Under the Hardware section, select the PCI Devices. 

    Note: A green icon indicates that a device is enabled and active. An orange icon indicates that the state of the device has changed and the host must be rebooted before the device can be used. 

  3. Click the All PCI Devices button to expose all hardware recognized by the PCIe bus, including unclaimed devices.

  4. Utilize the filter function to search for the device description

         Executed esxcli storage core adapter list via SSH to get the Description of the device

         

      5.Select the target PCI device and click TOGGLE PASSTHROUGH.

     6. The status change to Enabled

Note: The configuration changes are saved in the /etc/vmware/esx.conf file.

The PCI slot number where the device was connected is 00:0b:0. It is recorded as:

/device/000:11.0/owner = "passthru"

Note: 11 is the decimal equivalent of the hexadecimal 0b.

To configure a PCI device on a virtual machine:
  1. Click the Virtual Hardware tab.
  2. Click Add New Device.
  3. Choose the PCI Device.
  4. Click Next.



Note: When the device is assigned, the virtual machine must have a memory reservation for the full configured memory size.



Additional Information

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