USB Network Native Driver for ESXi
Summary
USB has become one the most widely adopted connection type in the world & USB network adapters are also popular among Edge computing platforms. In some platforms, there is either limited or no PCI/PCIe slots for I/O expansion & in some cases, an Ethernet port is not even available. Another advantage of a USB-based network adapter is that it can be hot-plugged into an system without a reboot which means no impact to the workload, same is true for hot-remove.
This Fling supports the most popular USB network adapter chipsets found in the market. The ASIX USB 2.0 gigabit network ASIX88178a, ASIX USB 3.0 gigabit network ASIX88179, Realtek USB 3.0 gigabit network RTL8152/RTL8153 and Aquantia AQC111U. These are relatively inexpensive devices that many of our existing vSphere customers are already using and are familiar with.
Contributors
Changelog
Sep 21, 2023 - v1.13
- Added support for ESXi 8.0 Update 2
- ESXi80U2-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-67561870-component-22416446.zip (md5: bf62144b4e695c3d00cb614a4ecfb2c3)
Note:
This is ONLY for ESXi 8.0 Update 2, for other ESXi versions (including update releases), please ensure you are using the correct version of driver.
Apr 26, 2023 - v1.12
- Added support for ESXi 8.0 Update 1
- Added support for new DLINK RTL8156 device (0x2001:0xb301)
- Fixed 2.5GbE link speed issue for RTL8156 adapter
- Updated maximum supported USB Network devices to 12 and persists setting over module parameters
- ESXi800-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-64098182-component-21668107.zip (md5: 4a35899f77ce4635d0cfa76a7975504d)
- ESXi80U1-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-64098092-component-21669994.zip (md5: 9c41b5f488ec5cee325207e16b047c10)
Note 1:
This is ONLY for ESXi 8.0 & 8.0 Update 1, for other ESXi versions (including update releases), please ensure you are using the correct version of driver.
Note 2:
Known performance issue with RTL8156, TX up to 2.35Gbps while RX up to 2.15Gbps
Nov 23, 2022 - v1.11
- Added support for ESXi 8.0
- ESXi800-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-61054763-component-20826251.zip (md5: 55087041545d2500c1b22deb65107f22)
Note:
This is ONLY for ESXi 8.0, for other ESXi versions (including update releases), please ensure you are using the correct version of driver.
May 24, 2022 - v1.10
- Added support for ESXi 7.0 Update 3c and later
- Resolve a PSOD issue
- ESXi703-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-55634242-component-19849370.zip (md5: 2db2ab5341bd45487e322c7e3d8f7e30)
Note:
This is ONLY for ESXi 7.0 Update 3c & later, for other ESXi versions (including update releases), please ensure you are using the correct version of driver.
Nov 10, 2021 - v1.9
- Added support for ESXi 7.0 Update 3, 3a & 3b
- Added support for VID: 0x0b05/PID: 0x1976 and VID: 0x1A56/PID: 0x3100
- Resolve power management issue on xHCI
- Disable USB bus scanning (usbBusFullScanOnBootEnabled=0) by default, which prevents PSOD for customers using multiple USB NICs
- ESXi703-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-51233328-component-18902399.zip (md5: 067c7003cd00fcb861c3910cac430506)
Note:
This is ONLY for ESXi 7.0 Update 3, Update 3a & Update 3b, for other ESXi versions (including update releases), please ensure you are using the correct version of driver.
Jun 14, 2021 - v1.8
- Added support for ESXi 7.0 Update 2
- Disable USB bus scanning (usbBusFullScanOnBootEnabled=0) by default, which prevents PSOD for customers using multiple USB NICs
- ESXi702-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-47140841-component-18150468.zip
Note:
This is ONLY for ESXi 7.0 Update 2, for other ESXi versions (including update releases), please ensure you are using the correct version of driver.
October 26, 2020 - v1.7
- Added support for ESXi 7.0 Update 1
- USB NIC Bindings are now automatically persistent
- 5GbE USB NICs now properly show Full vs Half Duplex
- ESXi701-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-40599856-component-17078334.zip
Note 1:
Customers using multiple USB NICs on a single host may observe PSOD during reboot. Please see the Instructions for workaround
Note 2:
This is ONLY for ESXi 7.0 Update 1, for other ESXi versions (including update releases), please ensure you are using the correct version of driver.
Aug 24, 2020 - v1.6
- Add support for Aquantia and Trendnet AQC111U (0xe05a:0x20f4) (see Requirements for more details)
- Add support for Realtek RTL8153 (0x045e:0x07c6) (see Requirements for more details)
- Add support for Realtek RTL8156 (0x0bda:0x8156) (see Requirements for more details)
- Support for persistent VMkernel to USB NIC MAC Address mappings (see Instructions for details)
- Simplified USB NIC persistency (see Instructions for details)
- Resolved link speed issue for RTL8153 chipsets
- ESXi700-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-39035884-component-16770668.zip
- ESXi670-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-39203948-offline_bundle-16780994.zip
- ESXi650-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-39176435-offline_bundle-16775917.zip
Note 1:
There are known issues when using Jumbo Frame 9K for RTL* chipset, this is still being investigated. For now, only up to 4K is supported.
Note 2:
This will be the last release which will include support for ESXi 6.5
April 6, 2020 - v1.5
- Added support for ESXi 7.0
- ESXi700-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-34491022-component-15873236.zip
Note:
This is ONLY for ESXi 7.0, for ESXi 6.5/6.7, please ensure you are using the correct version of driver.
February 12, 2020 - v1.4
- Add SuperMicro/Insyde Software Corp USB Devices in the supported list
- Resolved invalid speed reporting for some quick devices by using the default speed
- ESXi670-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-33242987-offline_bundle-15615590.zip
- ESXi650-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-33268102-offline_bundle-15620342.zip
November 27, 2019 - v1.3
- Resolved USB device detection issue on Intel XHCI controller
- Resolved packet record issue for ASIX USB network adapters
- ESXi670-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-30899283-offline_bundle-15188556.zip
- ESXi650-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-30940032-offline_bundle-15188510.zip
September 27, 2019 - v1.2
- Added support for Aquantia Multi-Gig (1G/2.5G/5G) USB network adapter (see Requirements for more details)
- Added support for Auto Speed/Connection detection for RTL8153/RTL8152 chipsets
- ESXi670-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-28903484-offline_bundle-14722970.zip
- ESXi650-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-28903792-offline_bundle-14722993.zip
June 17, 2019 - v1.1
- Added support for 9 additional USB NIC devices including USB 2.0 RTL8152 & TPLINK (see Requirements for complete list)
- Added support for Jumbo Frames (up to 4K) for RTL8153 & AX88179
- ESXi670-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-24524132-offline_bundle-13958648.zip
- ESXi650-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-24599816-offline_bundle-13964320.zip
February 12, 2019 - v1.0
- ESXi670-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-20124247-offline_bundle-11613968
- ESXi650-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-20123976-offline_bundle-11613344
Requirements
| Vendor |
Chipset |
VendorID |
ProductID |
| AQUANTIA |
AQC111U |
0xe05a |
0x20f4 |
| AQUANTIA |
Aquantia Pacific |
0x2eca |
0xc101 |
| ASIX |
AX88179 |
0x0b95 |
0x1790 |
| ASIX |
AX88178a |
0x0b95 |
0x178a |
| CISCO LINKSYS |
RTL8153 |
0x13b1 |
0x0041 |
| DLINK |
RTL8156 |
0x2001 |
0xb301 |
| DLINK |
AX88179 |
0x2001 |
0x4a00 |
| INSYDE SOFTWARE CORP |
Insyde Software Corp. |
0x0b1f |
0x03ee |
| LENOVO |
RTL8153 |
0x17ef |
0x3062 |
| LENOVO |
RTL8153 |
0x17ef |
0x3069 |
| LENOVO |
RTL8153 |
0x17ef |
0x720a |
| LENOVO |
AX88179 |
0x17ef |
0x304b |
| LENOVO |
RTL8153 |
0x17ef |
0x7205 |
| NVIDIA |
RTL8153 |
0x0955 |
0x09ff |
| Qualcomm |
NA |
0x1A56 |
0x3100 |
| Qualcomm |
NA |
0x0b05 |
0x1976 |
| REALTEK |
RTL8152 |
0x0bda |
0x8152 |
| REALTEK |
RTL8156 |
0x0bda |
0x8156 |
| REALTEK |
RTL8153 |
0x045e |
0x07c6 |
| REALTEK |
RTL8153 |
0x0bda |
0x8153 |
| SITECOMEU |
AX88179 |
0x0df6 |
0x0072 |
| SUPERMICRO |
Supermicro computer Inc |
0x15d9 |
0x1b83 |
| TP-LINK |
RTL8153 |
0x2357 |
0x0601 |
| TRENDNET |
AQC111U |
0xe05a |
0x20f4 |
Instructions
Custom ESXi Image Profile/ISO
- See this blog post for creating custom ESXi ISO or Image Profile using vSphere Lifecycle Manager
Manual
- Step 1 - Download the ZIP file for the specific version of your ESXi host and upload to ESXi host using SCP or Datastore Browser
- Step 2 - Place the ESXi host into Maintenance Mode using the vSphere UI or CLI (e.g. esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e true)
- Step 3 - Install the ESXi Offline Bundle (6.5/6.7) or Component (7.0)
For (7.0+) - Run the following command on ESXi Shell to install ESXi Component:
esxcli software component apply -d /path/to/the component zip
For (6.5/6.7) - Run the following command on ESXi Shell to install ESXi Offline Bundle:
esxcli software vib install -d /path/to/the offline bundle zip
- Step 4 - Plug-in the USB NIC and reboot for the change to go into effect. Once the host has rebooted, ESXi should automatically pickup and claim the USB NIC (e.g. vusb0)
Note:
Secure Boot can not be enabled if you need to use Option 2 to persist USB NIC bindings.
Multiple USB NIC Bindings
When multiple USB NICs are connected and used with ESXi, an ESXi PSOD may occur. To prevent the PSOD, the USB driver parameter usbBusFullScanOnBootEnabled=0 is now the default value and will prevent ESXi from performing a full USB bus rescan during bootup.
The implication is that to persist the USB NIC bindings, you will need to use Option 2 in the Persisting USB NIC Bindings section below. For customers who only have a single USB NIC and does not wish to add the additional persistent script or wish to enable Secure Boot, then you can configure usbBusFullScanOnBootEnabled=1 by using Option 1 in the Persisting USB NIC Bindings section below.
Persisting USB NIC Bindings
Option 1:
Run the following ESXCLI command which will enable the driver parameter to perform a full USB bus scan during startup:
esxcli system module parameters set -p "usbBusFullScanOnBootEnabled=1" -m vmkusb_nic_fling
Option 2:
Currently there is a limitation in ESXi where USB NIC bindings are picked up much later in the boot process and to ensure settings are preserved upon a reboot, the following needs to be added to /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh based on your configurations.
Standard Virtual Switch (VSS):
vusb0_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb0 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print $NF}')
count=0
while [[ $count -lt 20 && "${vusb0_status}" != "Up" ]]
do
sleep 10
count=$(( $count + 1 ))
vusb0_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb0 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print $NF}')
done
esxcfg-vswitch -R
Distributed Virtual Switch (VDS):
VDS_0_NAME=vDS
VDS_0_PORT_ID=10
VDS_1_NAME=vDS-NSX
VDS_1_PORT_ID=2
vusb0_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb0 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print "v0:" $NF}') && vusb1_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb1 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print "v1:" $NF}')
count=0
while [[ $count -lt 40 ]] && [[ "${vusb0_status}" != "v0:Up" || "${vusb1_status}" != "v1:Up" ]]
do
sleep 5
count=$(( $count + 1 ))
vusb0_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb0 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print "v0:" $NF}') && vusb1_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb1 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print "v1:" $NF}')
done
if [ "${vusb0_status}" = "v0:Up" ]; then
esxcfg-vswitch -P vusb0 -V ${VDS_0_PORT_ID} ${VDS_0_NAME}
fi
if [ "${vusb1_status}" = "v1:Up" ]; then
esxcfg-vswitch -P vusb1 -V ${VDS_1_PORT_ID} ${VDS_1_NAME}
fi
Note:
The vusbX vmkernel interface may not show up in either ESXi Embedded Host Client and/or vSphere HTML5 UI, this does not mean there is an issue. ESXi was never designed to support USB-based NICs for Management Network and the UI may not properly detect these devices when using the UI. It is recommended to use the ESXi Shell for any operations requiring configuration of vusbX devices.
Persisting VMkernel to USB NIC mappings
When multiple USB NICs are connected, it is possible that the mapping between vmkX to physical MAC Address of the USB NIC could random change upon rebooting ESXi. To ensure this does not happen, customers can specify the mapping by adding custom parameter to USB NIC module.
Here is an example where we are mapping vusb0 to 70:88:6b:85:c0:53 and vusb1 to 58:ef:68:7f:2b:f7:
esxcli system module parameters set -p "vusb0_mac=70:88:6b:85:c0:53 vusb1_mac=58:ef:68:7f:2b:f7" -m vmkusb_nic_fling
