6.5.1

Table Of Contents
SR-IOV Only Mode
The physical adapter provides virtual functions to virtual machines connected to a virtual switch, but does
not back traffic from non SR-IOV virtual machines on the switch.
To verify whether the physical adapter is in SR-IOV only mode, examine the topology diagram of the
switch. In this mode, the physical adapter is in a separate list called External SR-IOV Adapters and
appears with the icon.
Non SR-IOV Mode
The physical adapter is not used for traffic related to VF aware virtual machines. It handles traffic from
non SR-IOV virtual machines only.
Enabling SR-IOV by Using Host Profiles or an ESXCLI Command
You can configure the virtual functions on an ESXi host by using an ESXCLI command, or by using a host
profile to set up multiple hosts simultaneously or to set up stateless hosts.
Enable SR-IOV in a Host Profile
For multiple hosts or a stateless host, you can configure the virtual functions of the physical NIC by using
a host profile and apply the profile on a host by using Auto Deploy.
For information about running ESXi by using Auto Deploy with host profiles, see the vSphere Installation
and Setup documentation.
You can also enable SR-IOV virtual functions on the host by using the esxcli system module
parameters set vCLI command on the NIC driver parameter for virtual functions in accordance with the
driver documentation. For more information about using vCLI commands, see vSphere Command-Line
Interface Documentation.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that the configuration of your environment supports SR-IOV. See SR-IOV Support.
n
Create a host profile based on the SR-IOV capable host. See the vSphere Host Profiles
documentation.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Host Profiles.
2 Select the host profile from the list and click the Configure tab.
3 Click Edit Host Profile and expand the General System Settings node.
4 Expand Kernel Module Parameter and select the parameter of the physical function driver for
creating virtual functions.
For example, the parameter for the physical function driver of an Intel physical NIC is max_vfs.
vSphere Networking
VMware, Inc. 161