Vmware ESxi passthrough problem

[sturk]

Hi All,

i m using vmware esxi 5.1.0 build 799733. i got a problem about passthrough devices. when i adding a passthrough device under the advanced settings after the reboot still the device recongnized. Can anyone has any idea about this issue. Thanks.

[zXi_Gamer]

Hi and welcome to the communities,

after the reboot still the device recongnized.

I wanted to confirm, if the device is recognized as passthrough enabled device under configuration-hardware advanced settings or is it not recognized by the VM?

[sturk]

hi and thx for your answer. vmware listed the device. i checked with lspci and the usb device at list but i m setting up the device over the vsphere client under advanced settings it s adding the device and saying reboot the host. after the reboot doesn' t recognized. i tried for the other devices but result same. i don t understand what s wrong!

pc. sorry i saw the my mistake at the first post. the device not recognized...

[zXi_Gamer]

after the reboot same old same old.

So you are saying that the device is NOT listed as the passthrough device in the VI?

sorry for asking again, I wanted to double confirm on the issue before proceeding. Also, when you make the device as passthrough and select ok. Before rebooting the server, can you look at the vmkernel.log file for any information regarding the device at the same time?

[sturk]

np my mistake... i m connecting the host over ssh and the device at list but when i was try and over vsphere client under configuration>advancedsettings it s adding the device and want reboot. after the reboot device not recognized. i tried the issue with other devices results is same...

[zXi_Gamer]

after the reboot device not recognized. i tried the issue with other devices results is same...

The device might not be listed under lspci since the vmkernel does not have its boundary on the device which has been selected as Passthrough. For example, if I passthrough a network card, before reboot, I can see in lspci as vmnic5, vmnic6. After reboot, the vmnic5 and vmnic6 will not be displayed. Can you please post a screenshot of the Configuration-hardware-advanced settings?

[sturk]

here is the issue. you can check attachments.

[zXi_Gamer]

I am finding that you are trying to give passthrough the ONboard USB controller itself instead of the device followed by one of the bus. This will not be working, since ESX needs the onboard controller. You can make passthrough a PCI or PCIe device only.

Now what wonders is me that how you are able to make the usb controller itself as passthrough. this could be a bug with VMware or you have usb-arbitrator stopped, Any case, this could be a serious bug.

While the other device is listed as unknown, I am pretty sure that this is not a device but a bus itself. Can you take a screenshot when you select advanced settings-Edit and the list of devices.

[sturk]

it s a pci x usb card. i installed it on hp dl 380 g7. i m trying to understand passthrough meaning. because passthrough mean is simple : please pass 2 through the device to my virtualmachine (: or what...

[zXi_Gamer]

Thank you for your reply, which helps to narrow down the issue.

pci x usb card

This must have been my first question "What device you are trying to PT?" :smileysilly:

Anyways, it would be good to check if ESX is taking over the USB services which does not allow the PCI-X usb card to be given. In this case, if you are not booted, from USB disk, can you let me know the status of the usb-arbitrator service?

chkconfig --list | grep -i usb should list at usbarbitrator as ON or running.

[sturk]

here is the result :

/var/log # chkconfig --list | grep -i usb

usbarbitrator  on

[zXi_Gamer]

Well, then there are three things to check out.

1. Check if the device is having  SBIOS requirement to limit MMIO addresses to 42-bits. This can be confirmed by checking the vmkernel logs for messages like

2013-02-17T12:20:07.184Z| vmx| I120:  PCIPassthru: 0b:00.0 : Device BAR 2 requested 64-bit memory address that  exceeded MPN type (66038343401472).

2013-02-17T12:20:07.184Z|  vmx| I120: PCIPassthru: 0b:00.0 : Device BAR 4 requested 64-bit memory  address that exceeded MPN type (66037269659648)

Or,

2. Check if your card is having ACS capability. This you can confirm by looking at the vmkernel logs for messages like

PCI: ssss: nnn:nnn:nn.n: PCIe description
PCI: ssss: Not a ACS capable device

more info of this at here

3. Worst case, you are also one of the victim of 5.1 Passthrough being broken. Join the clan here

[sturk]

observing the vmkernel log 5 mins and the results at bellow :

tail -f vmkernel.log

2013-01-25T13:12:45.282Z cpu0:4104)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

2013-01-25T13:13:15.284Z cpu6:4102)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

2013-01-25T13:13:45.288Z cpu4:6079)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

2013-01-25T13:14:15.291Z cpu6:6079)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

2013-01-25T13:14:45.295Z cpu5:4101)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

2013-01-25T13:15:15.298Z cpu6:4102)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

2013-01-25T13:15:45.301Z cpu6:4102)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

2013-01-25T13:16:15.305Z cpu5:6079)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

2013-01-25T13:16:45.307Z cpu6:6076)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

2013-01-25T13:17:15.311Z cpu2:6106)WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

[zXi_Gamer]

WARNING: NFS: 221: Got error 13 from mount call

These errors are from NFS mount.

To have a better look at the log, do a tail on the vmkernel and continue the operation of adding the pcie device from vi client. Also, after reboot, grep the vmkernel.log for the errors that I have mentioned.

[ninyop]

@ZXi_Gamer-

If I am seeing #1 - what does that mean?

[zXi_Gamer]

You should take a look at here