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  • 1.  Proper way to upgrade e1000 to VMXNET3?

    Posted Sep 04, 2012 09:41 PM

    What is the proper way to upgrade a NIC from e1000 to VMXNET3?

    Should I add a new VMXNET3 NIC to the server, remove the old e1000 NIC, and reconfigure IP, etc.? 

    Or can I just change ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000" to ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet3" and reconfigure IP, etc.? If I just change the value in the .vmx file, does the MAC address change?

    Mike



  • 2.  RE: Proper way to upgrade e1000 to VMXNET3?

    Posted Sep 05, 2012 12:12 AM

    Both methods accomplish roughly the same thing, although I'm more of a fan of removing the e1000 and adding a vmxnet3.

    In the Windows world, either way will require configuring the hardware as a new adapter will be found by the OS. For grins I did it in my lab (from vmxnet3 to e1000) and as you can see a hidden device remains from the old adapter.

    As for the MAC, if you edit the adapter it should stay the same, adding a new one would introduce a new MAC. You can edit the auto generated one to make it whatever you want, though.



  • 3.  RE: Proper way to upgrade e1000 to VMXNET3?

    Posted Sep 06, 2012 07:20 PM

    So far I've found the best way to do it is to add the new hardware NIC and remove the old hardware NIC. Windows will 'see' that the old one is gone and remove it and then you can configure the ip, etc. on the new NIC. Windows might complain about assigning an IP that is already assigned, but this can be ignored. Then I do a reboot just to make sure it all comes up okay.

    Mike



  • 4.  RE: Proper way to upgrade e1000 to VMXNET3?

    Posted Sep 07, 2012 07:31 AM

    I've always added a new NIC and removed the old one.



  • 5.  RE: Proper way to upgrade e1000 to VMXNET3?

    Posted Sep 07, 2012 11:23 AM

    Dear Mike,

    As Gooose mentioned, Its always a better and troublefree option is to add new nic, remove the old and reconfigure.

    Regards,

    Raj



  • 6.  RE: Proper way to upgrade e1000 to VMXNET3?

    Posted Sep 07, 2012 02:29 PM

    The following is the old school / clean approach:

    1.  Backup the current IP info:

    cd c:\temp

    ipconfig /all > ipconfig.txt

    2.  Set the current adapter to DHCP and reboot (stops the IP from being cached in the regsitry)

    3.  Shutdown guest

    4.  Remove old vNIC; add new vNIC (Edit Settings)

    5.  Power on and configure IP

    6.  Check for ghost adapters - remediate as appropriate

    7.  If you disabled any app services for maint, set back to automatic and reboot