Does ESXi work with AMD Ryzen?

[Satman]

ESXi 6.7.0 U2 and ESXi 6.5.0 U2 both give the same error.  I am using an MSI B450-A-Pro motherboard, AMD Ryzen 7 1700 and 32G RAM.  I get the following error, " no network adapters were detected.  either no network adapters are physically connected or a suitable driver could be located."

Any help would be appreciated.

Brian

[Satman]

I thought I would update this post as I was able to add the Realtek drivers for my NIC adapter into the ISO and I have managed to install ESXi 6.7 U2 on my MSi motherboard with AMD Ryzen 7 1700 processor.

However, I now receive a Hardware Virtualization Warning, indicating hardware virtualization is not a feature of the CPU or is not enabled in the BIOS.

I have confirmed hardware virtualization is supported and enabled in BIOS.

Any help would be appreciated,

Brian

[daphnissov]

AMD Ryzen CPU series are consumer-grade processors. ESXi is not a consumer operating system and does not support the Ryzen line. That you got it to work at all is a gift and so you'll have to take it as it comes.

[ChengtseLU]

Hello Brian

AMD Ryzen can run on ESXi

Maybe it is homelab simple test can be installed successfully

Computer specifications are as follows:

AMD Ryzen R5-3400G

Asrock DeskMini A300 (Need BIOS P3.5 -Update support CPU microcode )

Micron SO-DIMM DDR4-3200 16GB*2

PLEXTOR M9PeG 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe SSD*1

Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 (Thin cpu cooling fan)

The computer is installed and only runs 1 virtual machine.

Test and physical machine performance difference

As the Asrock DeskMini A300 and MSI B450-A-Pro motherboard

The built-in network cards are all Realtek RTL8111H (A300 can not be inserted into the card slot) <== net-r8168

Also install a consumer SATA driver  <== sata-xahci

So I have added NIC driver &  consumer SATA driver support before installation.

Use esxi 6.7U2

Attached picture

Asrock DeskMini  A300

- Motherboard: 5.8" x 5.4" (Mini-STX)

- Barebones: 155 x 155 x 80 mm (1.92L)
Install only M.2 SSD 512GB

[ellatj]

I prepare to build a esxi for Nas and Plex. And I find your list. it is great. And could the Ryzen 3400G APU passthrough on ESXI? Thank you in advance

[danielpruim]

Hi ChengtseLU,

How did you create you iso?

I've created one myself. It detects my network card, but unfortunatelly is does not detect any harddrive in my Deskmini A300.

I've (for testing purposes) install 2 x m2 drives and one drive to the sata connector.. none get detected.

I've imported sata-xahci-1.42-1-offline_bundle and net55-r8168-8.045a-napi-offline_bundle. Network works, but not drives.

Regards,

Daniel

[ashishsingh1508]

That CPU is not for server workload. It may still work.

[Rajiv Pandey]

Hi Satman ,

Yes AMD Ryzen work with VMware ESXi 6.5 but only in home labs or in small environments . Because to when you installed ESXi 6.5 on AMZ Reyzen may be you will get PSOD on same time or latter . Although they have fix the issue like PSOD and many other Linux kernel issues , Disabling SMT is not good fix as it effect  the performance.

Rajiv Pandey

vthesis.wordpress.com

[ChengtseLU]

ESXI6.5U1 should solve the SMT problem

Although I don't know exactly the stability

But I am happy to see ESXI compatibility getting better and better.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/6que0q/esxi_65_now_works_on_amd_ryzen_with_smtall_cores/

[son99]

ChengtseLU​

Can you please tell me on the DeskMini A300 which devices are able to be passthrough to the guest?

On this A300, it seems there the SATA, USB, and NVMe are not hanging from the chipset but rather directly from the CPU.

This means there is a good chance these items can be directly passed through to the guest VM.

If you are able, can you please test if you can are able to individually isolate and pass through the USB controller, NVMe, and SATAs?

Thank you

[ChengtseLU]

Items in the black box in the picture cannot be selected individually

Although it can be checked

However, the host USB will not be available (the ESXI physical machine cannot use the keyboard)

I tested the VM of WIN7, USB can passthrough

But USB needs driver not recognized

And after a while ESXI may not respond

This equipment is not recommended

Passthrough using ESXI is not very stable

[son99]

ChengtseLU​

OK, that's a shame. I appreciate your help.

Thank you.

[Kopp]

ASRock X470D4U or X470D4U2-2T + Ryzen CPU for ESXi 6.7 homelab

https://forum.level1techs.com/t/asrock-rack-has-created-the-first-am4-socket-server-boards-x470d4u-x470d4u2-2t/139490

[applepanic]

I'll say "YES"

Ryzen 7 3700X, stock cooler, ASRock B450M Pro4-F mainboard, 32Gig G.Skill Ripjaws 3400Mhz RAM, SSD and SATA HDDs.

Uptime of 14 days now, collection of 10 x Windows Server 2012R2, Linux Debian and FreeBSD servers running 24x7...

CPU with one core flat-out reaches 4.5GHz, with 4 x cores flat-out 4.0GHz per core.

For past 2 weeks at least 1 x core was running flat-out all the time.

Hardware PCI Passthrough? I don't use it, I don't need it..... no hardware listed in vSphere client is listed as "capable".

Happy? Very :smileyhappy: this machine is fast!

[roki62]

Hi, i am about to buy same CPU for my ESXI homelab as you got. Please tell me i was looking for motherboards with Intel NIC integrated...but i saw you got realtek one did you change Image to make it work ? or do you have Intel lan card ? BR Rok

[applepanic]

Hi,

I actually have both (onboard, and Intel LAN card), and both are working. Yes I stitched the realtek driver into the vmware ISO (info from https://www.v-front.de) using esxi-customizer (although old, still worked).

The intel LAN card is a "CT Desktop Adapter" (can't remember the actual intel LAN chip number). Did some speed tests using both NICs, but same speed - no advantage from the Intel NIC, since actual transfer speed seems heavily dependent on CPU capability.

Probably will need a server-grade NIC for better throughput...

[RihardsK]

Hi applepanic,

I have very similar setup for my PC, vmware is working nice and smooth, but i can't understand about CPU performance, you wrote that your cpu is boosting till 4-4.5GHZ, how can you measure it?
Im running windows server 2016 and it show only clock base 3.6GHZ and under load it doesnt boost higher.

I would appreciate your comments. applepanic​

[applepanic]

Hi RichardK,

Apparently "Windows doesn't have access to CPU information running as a VM. It will always just show the base clock as the speed"

When you have windows task manager telling you CPU is running 100% (or 50% with 2 x CPU VM), check the actual CPU speed used by the VM with any of your VM tools (vSphere, web client, etc.)

[applepanic]

Just an update to my 02-27-2020 post:

Still running 24/7, however had 2 x purple-screen-of-death's since then. Have not really investigated, but plan on upgrading esxi 6.7.0 with latest patches if it happens again (yes still running 6.7.0 Update 3 (Build 15160138) - should have patched for security fixes long ago I guess!). Maybe something got fixed in patches that will fix this very in-frequent purple screen.

If patching does not help, plan B is to de-clock the RAM a bit...

But for now, uptime 55 days - but I rebooted manually 55 days ago since I added a Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe M2 SSD to the motherboard all VMs now running from this fast SSD (so I can't really remember when the last purple screen happened... yes I need to patch.... :)) Before reboot I was only using the Intel NIC as well, and after reboot now only using the Realtek NIC.... touch wood no purple screen since...

 

[osmanoz]

Hello

When I try to install ISXI I get the error "Failed to initialize acpi subsystem : Failure" and the installation does not continue
I tried with versions 6.7 and 7.02 and got the same error in both

Mainboard :Asrock Deskmini x300 Bios 1.70
CPU : Ryzen 7 5700G
Ram : 2 X Kingston 32 GB KVR32S22D8/32
HDD : Samsung 980 MZ-V8V500BW

[applepanic]

My gut feeling tells me it's some BIOS setting on that MB that needs change. Something needs to be enabled or disabled... start with UEFI items that might need to be set to legacy....

[achan011]

Hey, i've got a similar setup (X300/5600G) and have the same error. Have you still this error or is it running now at your x300 and what have you changed in BIOS to get it running?

[osmanoz]

Hello problem solved

 

https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=19498&PN=2&title=esxi-on-deskmini-x300-do-not-work