ESX 3.5i on VMware Fusion

[aikora92]

i seem to have an issue with USB wireless adapter working within ESXi 3.5 under Fusion 2.0 on Mac OsX 10.5. When i enable the adapter, both guest and host do not have connectivity. I am using bridged networking and was wondering if there was something I needed to add into the .vmx file during the initial setup for ESXi to work. Keep in mind that the usb adapter works fine for the host OS and all other guest OS systems just not in ESXi.

Any thoughts?

Altria

Setup:

macPro 2.6

Fusion 2.0

OSX 10.5

zytel wireless usb adapter 2100

[admin]

What guest OS type did you choose for your ESX 3.5i virtual machine? The best choice is "Other 64-bit." If you chose a 32-bit guest OS type, you will have to change the virtual NIC to e1000, with the following configuration file entry:

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

[aikora92]

Thanks Jmattson for your reply!

Actually the OS i picked for the VM was Other, will check tonight but I followed the directions below explicitly;

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-6590

Thanks,

aikora92

[admin]

Those instructions do include the "e1000" setting for the virtual NIC, so you should be fine with a 32-bit guest OS type.

When you say that this USB wireless adapter works with other guests, do you mean that it works as a bridged adapter to a virtual NIC, or do you mean that it works as a USB pass-through device? Note that ESX 3.5i is unlikely to support the USB wireless adapter as a pass-through USB device. Your host will have to manage the wireless adapter, and then it can be bridged to a virtual NIC.

[aikora92]

Well I assume it is working as a Virtual NIC as I did not have to modify any settings for the networking to work on the other Guest VMs.

Is there some other modification that i could use to force ESXi to recognize the usb adapter within the .vmx file? I have read other places where they mention to use NAT instead of bridged networking, maybe I will try this as I am stuck at this point!

Will let you know how it goes...

Thanks,

aikora92

[admin]

Is there some other modification that i could use to force ESXi to recognize the usb adapter within the .vmx file?

Why are you trying to do this? As jmattson said, ESXi is unlikely (read: I would be shocked if it worked) to recognize the USB adapter directly. You can't plug random devices into ESXi, it's not a general-purpose OS. Also, by connecting the device to the guest, OS X is losing sight of it (which is why you lose host connectivity).

Is there a reason you're using this device instead of the built-in wireless?

[aikora92]

I do not have any built in wireless device on my MacPro desktop? I bought the USB adapter thinking that it would have been enough to suffice. Are you suggesting that the only way to overcome this issue is by buying a airport wireless or use built in ethernet?

thanks,

aikora92

[admin]

I do not have any built in wireless device on my MacPro desktop?

For some reason I thought Airport was standard on Mac Pros, but I see it's not. Anyway, if you're just trying to get network in an ESXi guest, connecting the adapter to it is not the way to go - trying NAT is definitely worth a shot. Is the guest getting an IP address at all?

Are you suggesting that the only way to overcome this issue is by buying a airport wireless or use built in ethernet?

I don't think getting an Airport card is likely to help. Testing whether wired ethernet works would be good.

[aikora92]

It seems that NAT is the way to go. I have set in on the DHCP and I can ping an external DNS on my network suggeting that communication is occuring through the adapter. Now all I hope to do is configure the virtual network settings within fusion to apply a IP range within my network.. I really wish that Fusion made this feat as simple as workstation, rather you have to use these scripts to manipulate. Nonetheless, I feel very close to solution. Will let everyone know how it goes tonight.

Thanks for all the help....

Aikora92