ESXI 4 and VMdirectpath Configuration

[Formatter]

Having a Dell Poweredge T610 I have a number of USB ports that show as able to be configured for passthrough. One such port I believe is the one that I rin the ESXI sd card on and there are a few others that may have functions that they do. However, how do you sort out which ports you may be able to passthrough to a vm and which ones are in use and you shouldnt passthrough? anyone have any ideas?

P Skipton

[Formatter]

Here is a pic of what shows so maybe someone could make a suggestion.

Has anyone tried this or can anyone tell me which usb port is the one that I am booting from on the internal sd card slot? Or how to find out?

[Zymergi · Accepted solution]

I too have been configuring this.

In the dell bios, Intel Virtualization Technology... which I assume includes VT-d (direct IO); was enabled

reboot

Now in vCenter I selected all the USB related devices (exactly the same as your screen shot)... the icon went to "Reboot host required"

reboot ESX (vSphere4) server

Upon connection, the passthrough devices no longer appear. (was hoping for the green circle)

This link was the only other help on the issue I could find:

One difference, the dell USB devices are off the root whilst in the article they are nested heirarchally.

Off to browse the vSphere logs.

I found no entries in Adminstration / System Logs / <vCenter node> mentioning either "adding" the above devices for passthru or removing them upon system start.

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/server-poweredge-t610-tech-guidebook.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_controller_interface

lead me to believe that we are NOT dealing with PCI usb. And could be the root cause...

If so, next step is to purchase PCI USB card and install on machine and see if passthru works then... notice in the ...USB_Setup.php link he uses a PCI device rather than the orphaned USB Controller device

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Zymergi, when you see Intel VT in the BIOS it is referring to VT-x. You'll want a specific option for Directed I/O (VT-d). What sort of server and chipset are you dealing with?

Perry, how did you make out with your server?




Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

New book in town - vSphere Quick Start Guide -http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/08/12/new-book-in-town-vsphere-quick-start-guide/.

Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=21.

[Formatter]

Dave,

I have found the same issue, in the Dell T610 the usb does not seem to be PCI based even though it looks like it should be. Thats ok I am also getting an actual PCI usb and I am going to try that. Since my server is working so well I really didnt want to take a chance on making the boot CF card unavalible as I do have some production machines on that T610.

I shall post when I get the card and I am able to test.

Thanks for asking how it was going Dave, Also large VMware VMUG in Halifax Nova Scotia on the 24 Nov 2009 at the WTC.

[zmclean]

Is the support for USB only avaliable in ESXi? I have VSPhere 4 Enterprise. I enable the USB ports for Passthrough and they tell me to reboot and then dont show up. Dell R710 and their is no specific option to enable Virtual I/O but an option for Virtualization Enable/Disable.

Z-Bone

[Formatter]

I got an off the shelf pcix usb card and installed it and then I was able to use that card and allow passthrough of the usb ports to the VM's. although they are only usb 1.1 they work fine. Hope that helps. the card is a StarTech PEXUSB4DP 4 Port PCI Express High Speed USB Card - PCI, USB 2.0

Let me know if this works for you also and I have it on ESXi 4.0 but I dont believe it is a supported feture but mine has been working for a while now I think 3 months.

[JKling99]

Sorry to re-open an old topic but I am planning on using the vt-d vmdirectpath combination to enable usb passthrough on a vm with vyatta as a guest for my firewall. Before I start throwing money at the problem I am hoping someone has been successful in getting vmdirectpath and vt-d to pass usb in 2.0 mode, which in my case will be used for usb 2.0 wired network adapters.

[DSTAVERT]

Welcome to the forum. You do need to create a new post. Feel free to refer back to this post.

[JKling99]

Thanks will do