ESXi 5.0.0 DirectPath I/O NIC issue

JeanM

Hello,

Installed an eval / demo version of ESXi 5.0.0 - 469512-standard on an older SuperMicro 775 board + Intel Pro 1000 4port nic card.
Vt-d is enabled in bios.

No problems with the install, Summary page shows "DirectPath I/O = Supported"
Configuration - Advanced Settings tab shows 4 Intel Corporation 82546GB Gigabit Ethernet Controllers as "This device is running in passthrough mode" as it should.

I can assign individual ports from the NIC to the VM (be it xp or windows 7). OS detects the card and shows no issues.
Disconnecting / connecting individual patch cables from the 4 port nic is detected by the guest OS , which is interesting.

The issue is that when I try to use the card or it's ports in this manner it does not get ip address from dhcp OR if I assign a static IP it has no connectivity.

Now, the same card, with the same cable , same switch etc...works just fine if I am not using DirectPath. (is using it with the vmswitch for example)

I tried moving the card to another slot, tried setting the speed on each port to a static 100 or 1000. Tried rebooting the switch, tried another switch, tried another cable (cat 5 and cat 6). Tried rebooting the host.

What am I missing here? Obviously it's not the switch or cables or the card, as these all work outside of trying to work in this specific configuration.

Is it a limitation of the demo license possibly? The 4 port nic works fine otherwise, I can assign any of its four ports to a management interface even.

Any suggestions?

JeanM

Update - connected the quad nic to a dedicated cisco switch and watched log messages on the switch. The interface is flapping..... maybe it's a card issue after all..

Similar issue - https://communities.intel.com/thread/20582 with flapping interfaces.

JeanM

Confirmed, card itself isn't bad. Works fine with every port when assigned to vswitch, I guess it just doesn't work with directpath i/o.

jibbajabba

Have you enabled Beacon Probing ? This can cause MACs to flap. If that is the case, try to change the failure detection to Link Status only.

JeanM

I've created vswitches and been using it that way, I didn't enable anything specific unless it was default. I'll give it another shot and look into beacon probing / link status failure detection.

Thanks!