How to Disable / Enable a VM's Network Adapter DirectPath I/O Parameter

[GregorSm]

Hi!

There are examples on the internet on how to get this setting, like

(Get-VM -Name "a-vm-name" | Get-NetworkAdapter).ExtensionData.UptCompatibilityEnabled

but there is none on how to set it. I know I could use Onyx but my vCenter has overtaken it (6.0 --> 6.5). :smileyhappy: Maybe I can get a quicker answer here...

Thanks

Gregor

[LucD]

Try like this

$vmName = 'VM1'

$nicName = 'Network Adapter 1'

$directPath = $false   # or $true to enable Direct Path IO

$vm = Get-VM -Name VM1

$nic = Get-NetworkAdapter -VM $vm -Name $nicName

$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec

$dev = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpec

$dev.Operation = [VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpecOperation]::edit

$dev.Device = [VMware.Vim.VirtualDevice]$nic.ExtensionData

$dev.Device.UptCompatibilityEnabled = $directPath

$spec.DeviceChange += $dev

$vm.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)

[simsync]

Is there a way to achieve this in v6 as it looks like "'UptCompatibilityEnabled'" does not exist :(

Thanks

[simsync]

Ignore my question! I finally found the answer. It's an advanced option, so I could get its status with:
Get-VM MyVM | Get-AdvancedSetting | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "ethernet*.uptCompatibility"}

And could set it like this:

Get-VM MyVM| Get-AdvancedSetting | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "ethernet*.uptCompatibility"} | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value "False" -Confirm:$false

Note that I'm using "ethernet*.uptCompatibility" to catch all NICs

[simsync]

Arggg! Also what I posted above seems not to be entirely true. In fact, I see that option enabled on multiple VMs but DirectPath I/O is disabled. I'm lost now!

[LucD]

I'm not sure what you are seeing.

On the UptCompatibilityEnabled property, that was introduced in vSphere API 6.0, so the script above should work for vSphere 6.x

[simsync]

My fault! I just realised I was running an ancient version of powercli. Now I can see also ExtensionData.UptCompatibilityEnabled. 

[YashvM]

Hi Simsync,

I ran into the same problem running in pcli 5.5, could you please share which version of PCLi you updated to to get this working?

thanks in advance!!

[nickurquhart]

Great script, thank you!

Do you have a version of it to disable DPIO on multiple VM's?  I need to apply this fix to over 300 VM's due to this bug being present when a template was created.

[LucD]

You can run the code in a ForEach loop.

In the code below I just do a Get-VM, but you can make the selection more specific by using a mask or even an external file to provide the names of the VMs.

$nicName = 'Network Adapter 1'

$directPath = $false   # or $true to enable Direct Path IO

foreach($vm in Get-VM){

   $nic = Get-NetworkAdapter -VM $vm -Name $nicName

   $spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec

   $dev = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpec

   $dev.Operation = [VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpecOperation]::edit

   $dev.Device = [VMware.Vim.VirtualDevice]$nic.ExtensionData

   $dev.Device.UptCompatibilityEnabled = $directPath

   $spec.DeviceChange += $dev

   $vm.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)

}

[nickurquhart]

Thank you LucD, added in a VM mask and tested and it works perfectly!

I was struggling to put the code into the ForEach loop properly and turns out I was just massively over complicating it.

Thanks for your help!  Much appreciated! :)

[rebaudin]

Hello LucD,

The code provided doesn't throw any error. However when I double check the vmx file the result is not applied and the previous value persist.

I have copy/paste your code, and to verify the value of "$dev.Device.UptCompatibilityEnabled" I collect it before and after the config is applied.

I have also check in the vmx file and the value for the UptCompatibilityEnabled persist.

The line $vm.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec) looks to not apply the config to the vmx file.

Is anyone else who notice that behavior ?

I am on ESXi 6.5 U2

Thanks !

Regis B

[LucD]

The settings in the VMX are not updated immediately.

Was the VM powered off when you ran the script?

[plaman]

i know it is an old post, but I have a lot of vms , with DirectPath I/O enabled. when I have tried to run the script the $dev.Device variable returns Null.

any idea?

[LucD]

Since that value comes from the $nic variable, is there anything in there?

[plaman]

but it does bring the network adapter  1. 

[LucD]

I would need to see the code you are using.

[plaman]

please see below \

$directPath = $false
$nic = (Get-NetworkAdapter -VM $VMname).Name
write-host $nic -ForegroundColor Cyan
$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec
write-host $spec -ForegroundColor Cyan
$dev = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpec
write-host $dev -ForegroundColor Cyan
$dev.Operation = [VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpecOperation]::edit
write-host $dev.Operation -ForegroundColor Cyan
$dev.Device = [VMware.Vim.VirtualDevice]$nic.ExtensionData
write-host $dev.Device  -ForegroundColor Cyan
$dev.Device.UptCompatibilityEnabled = $directPath
$spec.DeviceChange += $dev
$VMname.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)

 

[LucD]

Does that VM have more than 1 vNIC?
In that case, that snippet will not work I'm afraid.

Also, there are a couple of errors in there.
You populate the $nic variable with the name of the vNIC(s).
Then you use $nic.ExtensionData, which doesn't exist.

[Brewy]

Anyone else having similar issue when trying to run this against a list of VMs in a text file?  Using the script below...

$nicName = 'Network Adapter 1'

$directPath = $false   # or $true to enable Direct Path IO

$vmlist = Get-Content C:\Temp\VmList.txt

foreach($vm in $vmlist){

   $nic = Get-NetworkAdapter -VM $vm -Name $nicName

   $spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec

   $dev = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpec

   $dev.Operation = [VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpecOperation]::edit

   $dev.Device = [VMware.Vim.VirtualDevice]$nic.ExtensionData

   $dev.Device.UptCompatibilityEnabled = $directPath

   $spec.DeviceChange += $dev

   $vm.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)

}

I receive the following error...

You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.

At E:\Scripts\DirectPathIO.ps1:13 char:4

+    $vm.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)

+    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull

I can't see any undeclared variables but doing this one by one is out of the question with over 350 VMs affected.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[LucD]

Could it be that you have a blank line in the file? At the end perhaps?

[Brewy]

Confirmed that there's no blank lines in the text file. 

I've been testing with only one or two server names in VmList.txt, no spaces or blank lines in the file.

[LucD]

Ok, I see the issue.

You are calling the ReconfigVM method on a [string] object.
Change line 3 to

$vmlist = Get-VM -Name (Get-Content C:\Temp\VmList.txt)

[Brewy]

That was it... thanks for your help!