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Configure a PCI Device on a Virtual Machine
Passthrough devices provide the means to more efficiently use resources and improve performance
in your environment. You can configure a passthrough PCI device on a virtual machine in the
vSphere Web Client.
Enable Passthrough for a Network Device on a Host
Passthrough devices provide the means to use resources efficiently and improve performance of your
environment. You can enable DirectPath I/O passthrough for a network device on a host.
Caution If your ESXi host is configured to boot from a USB device or an SD card attached to a USB
channel, make sure that you do not enable DirectPath I/O passthrough for the USB controller. Passing
through a USB controller on an ESXi host that boots from a USB device or SD card might put the host in
a state where its configuration cannot be persisted.
Procedure
1 Browse to a host in the vSphere Web Client navigator.
2 On the Configure tab, expand Hardware and click PCI Devices.
3 To enable DirectPath I/O passthrough for a PCI network device on the host, click Edit.
A list of available passthrough devices appears.
Icon Description
green icon A device is active and can be enabled.
orange icon The state of the device has changed, and you must reboot the host before you can use the device.
4 Select the network device to be used for passthrough and click OK.
The selected PCI device appears in the table. Device information is displayed at the bottom of the
screen.
5 Reboot the host to make the PCI network device available for use.
Configure a PCI Device on a Virtual Machine
Passthrough devices provide the means to more efficiently use resources and improve performance in
your environment. You can configure a passthrough PCI device on a virtual machine in the
vSphere Web Client.
When using passthrough devices with a Linux kernel version 2.6.20 or earlier, avoid MSI and MSI-X
modes because these modes have significant performance impact.
Prerequisites
Verify that a passthrough networking device is configured on the host of the virtual machine. See Enable
Passthrough for a Network Device on a Host.
vSphere Networking
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