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    ESXI 6 and intel i211 nic

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Virtualization
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    • P
      patrtech
      last edited by

      I confirmed the device id is correct and you'll see below that it actually says its vmnic1, but yet not accessible.  I booted up ubuntu server and it detects both nics.  pfsense bare metal also detects both nics as fine and working.

      lspci -v | grep Network -A1
      0000:00:19.0 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (3) I218-LM [vmnic0]
              Class 0200: 8086:15a2 (e1000e version 2.5.4-5vmw)
      –
      0000:02:00.0 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic1]
              Class 0200: 8086:1539       (igb version 5.0.5.1.1-4vmw_
      –
      0000:03:00.0 Network controller Network controller:
              Class 0280: 10ec:8179

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      • G
        gjaltemba
        last edited by

        Passthrough is disabled for vmnic1 in Advanced Settings and it is also not listed in Network Adapters?

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        • P
          patrtech
          last edited by

          @gjaltemba:

          Passthrough is disabled for vmnic1 in Advanced Settings and it is also not listed in Network Adapters?

          Yes, passthrough is disabled and it is not listed in network adapters.  I went through these settings numerous times, I reinstalled esxi 6 and even 5.5 several times and the same issue consistently.  I checked the bios, not much in there other than enable and disable network adapters - which i tried disabling just for the sake of it.  I did a restore to defaults also, but no change at all.  Watching esxi load, I see modules for e1000e and igb (which is supposedly the i211) but in network adapters only the i218 is listed.

          I don't know what it is about the i211, hyper-v 2012r2 similarly shows only the i218. I had to manually install the drivers but only i218 shows up.  The i211 nic is not bad because I tested with ubuntu live cd and pfsense bare metal.

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          • G
            gjaltemba
            last edited by

            What is the output for

            vmkchdev -l | grep vmnic1

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            • P
              patrtech
              last edited by

              @gjaltemba:

              What is the output for

              vmkchdev -l | grep vmnic1

              Just ran it:

              [root@localhost:~] vmkchdev -l | grep vmnic1
              0000:02:00.0 8086:1539 1297:4028 vmkernel vmnic1

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              • G
                gjaltemba
                last edited by

                Yikes!

                So vmnic1 is not shown with

                esxcfg-nics -l

                All I can suggest is a refresh to be sure

                vim-cmd hostsvc/net/refresh

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                • P
                  patrtech
                  last edited by

                  No change even with the refresh command above.  :(

                  Thanks for your efforts, I will keep searching and maybe try a different hypervisor or just eventually put pfsense on bare metal.

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                  • G
                    gjaltemba
                    last edited by

                    The following article seems to describe the same symptoms and a resolution

                    http://atherbeg.com/2014/01/27/missing-vmnics-from-esxi-after-installation/

                    So basically

                    Enter maintenance mode
                    Keep only vmnic0 remove all other vmnics
                    Shutdown computer
                    Disable I211 in bios
                    Boot computer
                    Shutdown computer
                    Enable I211 in bios
                    Boot computer

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                    • P
                      patrtech
                      last edited by

                      I tried the above and unfortunately no change.  Not sure if the listing order on the esx.conf file is weird? :

                      /device/00000:002:00.0/vmkname = "vmnic1"
                      /device/00000:000:31.2/vmkname = "vmhba0"
                      /device/00000:000:25.0/vmkname = "vmnic0"

                      and then checking to see installed nics, it shows i211 isn't even installed (i blanked out the MAC for the one that is installed)

                      [root@localhost:~] esxcfg-nics -l
                      Name    PCI          Driver      Link Speed    Duplex MAC Address      MTU    Description
                      vmnic0  0000:00:19.0 e1000e      Up  1000Mbps  Full  xx❌xx:xx:xx:xx 1500  Intel Corporation <class>Ethernet controller</class>

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                      • G
                        gjaltemba
                        last edited by

                        Not so much the order but vmnic0 seems to be at different locations. That cannot be correct.

                        /device/00000:000:25.0/vmkname = "vmnic0"

                        vmnic0  0000:00:19.0

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                        • P
                          patrtech
                          last edited by

                          Maybe I should reformat and install esxi again but with i211 disabled?  I lost count how many times I installed this now, but I haven't tried in this method.

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                          • G
                            gjaltemba
                            last edited by

                            I am curious which is correct for vmnic0. 00000:000:25.0 or 0000:00:19.0

                            What does lspci show?

                            Before a reinstall I would  try a Restore System Configuration (factory reset) on the Direct Console (DCUI) first.

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                            • P
                              patrtech
                              last edited by

                              I believe I tried a factory reset yesterday in one of the iterations of using 2 drives to troubleshoot, but course I can do it again.  Here's the lspci output:

                              [root@localhost:~] lspci
                              0000:00:00.0 Bridge:
                              0000:00:02.0 Display controller:
                              0000:00:03.0 Multimedia controller:
                              0000:00:14.0 Serial bus controller:
                              0000:00:16.0 Communication controller:
                              0000:00:19.0 Network controller:  [vmnic0]
                              0000:00:1b.0 Multimedia controller:
                              0000:00:1c.0 Bridge:  [PCIe RP[0000:00:1c.0]]
                              0000:00:1c.2 Bridge:  [PCIe RP[0000:00:1c.2]]
                              0000:00:1c.3 Bridge:  [PCIe RP[0000:00:1c.3]]
                              0000:00:1d.0 Serial bus controller:
                              0000:00:1f.0 Bridge:
                              0000:00:1f.2 Mass storage controller:  [vmhba0]
                              0000:00:1f.3 Serial bus controller:
                              0000:02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation I211  Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic1]
                              0000:03:00.0 Network controller:

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                              • G
                                gjaltemba
                                last edited by

                                Then in esx.conf
                                /device/00000:000:25.0/vmkname = "vmnic0"
                                should be
                                /device/00000:000:19.0/vmkname = "vmnic0"

                                I wonder what is at 0000:03:00.0 Network controller:

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                                • P
                                  patrtech
                                  last edited by

                                  Should i edit esx.conf to /device/00000:000:19.0/vmkname = "vmnic0"?

                                  0000:03:00.0 Network controller <–-----that probably is a wireless nic, which I can't disable in the bios. Maybe I should physicall just remove that?

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                                  • G
                                    gjaltemba
                                    last edited by

                                    Yeah. It is the wifi card. You could try and edit esx.conf but it is not supported.

                                    Personally, I would try re-installing with VT-d off in the bios but it is just a shot in the dark.

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                                    • P
                                      patrtech
                                      last edited by

                                      So I tried again today, formatted the drive, disabled VT-d, disabled nic and exactly the same results as before. I tried editing the esx.conf file from /device/00000:000:25.0/vmkname = "vmnic0" to /device/00000:000:19.0/vmkname = "vmnic0" but after rebooting it went back to what it was before.  That second nic just won't show up, I wish they hadn't put two different nics into this unit.  I'm going to try installing some igb driver i found igb-5.2.7-1331820-2157967.zip, not sure if this is will do anything but it can't make it worse.

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                                      • G
                                        gjaltemba
                                        last edited by

                                        If I211 nic works in passthru why not use it for the wan port in pfsense? You will still have I218 for a vswitch to assign to pfsense lan port and new VMs.

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                                        • P
                                          patrtech
                                          last edited by

                                          I'm totally new to esxi and pfsense….as trivial as it might sound, are there any downsides to your suggestion? in terms of security, performance etc.  Basically I was following this guide https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_2_on_VMware_ESXi_5 and trying to implement it that way.  If nothing much is being affected, maybe this is the way to go?  I'll have to reformat one last time as the vib driver I just installed didn't make a difference either.

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                                          • G
                                            gjaltemba
                                            last edited by

                                            A passthru nic is bare metal to the pfsense vm and cannot be used as a vnic for other VMs. If you configure the I211 as passthru and assign it to the wan port in pfsense then it can used to provide internet for all the VMs on the lan (vmnic0).

                                            Configure vswitch0 to use vmnic0 and add a VMKernel port group for management and Virtual Machine port group for pfsense lan port and other VMs.

                                            https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_2_on_VMware_ESXi_5

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