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Wednesday 10 April 2013

Direct Path I/O

DirectPath I/O


DirectPath I/O allows virtual machine access to physical PCI functions on platforms with an I/O Memory Management Unit.
The following features are unavailable for virtual machines configured with DirectPath:


Hot adding and removing of virtual devices
Suspend and resume
Record and replay
Fault tolerance
High availability
DRS (limited availability. The virtual machine can be part of a cluster, but cannot migrate across hosts)
Snapshots
Cisco Unified Computing Systems (UCS) through Cisco Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) distributed switches support the following features for migration and resource management of virtual machines which use DirectPath I/O:


vMotion
Hot adding and removing of virtual devices
Suspend and resume
High availability
DRS
Snapshots
You can configure passthrough networking devices on a host.


1
Select a host from the inventory panel of the vSphere Client.
2
On the Configuration tab, click Advanced Settings.
The Passthrough Configuration page appears, listing all available passthrough devices. A green icon indicates that a device is enabled and active. An orange icon indicates that the state of the device has changed and the host must be rebooted before the device can be used.
3
Click Edit.
4
Select the devices to be used for passthrough and click OK.


Passthrough devices provide the means to use resources efficiently and improve performance of your environment. You can configure passthrough networking devices on a host.


1
Browse to a host in the vSphere Web Client navigator.
2
Click the Manage tab, click Settings.
3
In the Hardware section, click PCI Devices.
4
To add a PCI device to the host, click Edit.
A list of available passthrough devices appears.


Icon
Description
green icon
A device is active and can be enabled.
orange icon
The state of the device has changed, and you must reboot the host before you can use the device.
5
Select the devices to be used for passthrough and click OK.


The selected PCI device appears in the table. Device information is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
You must reboot the host to to make the PCI device available for use.


You can configure a passthrough PCI device on a virtual machine.
Verify that a passthrough networking device is configured on the host of the virtual machine. See Configure Passthrough Devices on a Host


1
Select a virtual machine from the inventory panel of the vSphere Client.
2
Power off the virtual machine.
3
From the Inventory menu, select Virtual Machine > Edit Settings.
4
On the Hardware tab, click Add.
5
Select PCI Device and click Next.
6
Select the passthrough device to use, and click Next.
7
Click Finish.
8
Power on the virtual machine.


Adding a DirectPath device to a virtual machine sets memory reservation to the memory size of the virtual machine.


Passthrough devices provide the means to more efficiently use resources and improve performance in your environment. You can configure a passthrough PCI device on a virtual machine in the vSphere Web Client.
Verify that a passthrough networking device is configured on the host of the virtual machine. See Configure Passthrough Devices on a Host with the vSphere Web Client.


1
Locate the virtual machine in the vSphere Web Client.


a
To locate a virtual machine, select a datacenter, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host and click the Related Objects tab.
b
Click Virtual Machines and select the virtual machine from the list.
2
Power off the virtual machine.
3
Click the Manage tab of the virtual machine, and select Settings > VM Hardware.
4
Click Edit.
5
From the New device drop-down menu select PCI Device and click Add.
6
Select the passthrough device to use, and click OK.
7
Power on the virtual machine.


Adding a DirectPath device to a virtual machine sets memory reservation to the memory size of the virtual machine.




You can enable DirectPath I/O with vMotion for virtual machines in a datacenter on a Cisco UCS system that has at least one supported Cisco UCS Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) distributed switch.


Enable high performance network I/O on at least one Cisco UCS port profile on a supported Cisco VM-FEX distributed switch. For supported switches and switch configuration, see Cisco's documentation at http://www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcomputing/b-series-doc.
Power off the virtual machine.


1
In the vSphere Client, select the VMs and Templates inventory view.
2
Right-click the virtual machine to modify and click Edit Settings.
3
On the Resources tab, select Memory.
4
Select Unlimited.
5
On the Hardware tab, select the network adapter to configure as a passthrough device.
6
Select a port profile with high performance enabled from the network label drop-down menu, and click OK.
7
Power on the virtual machine.
After the virtual machine is powered on, DirectPath I/O appears as Active on the Hardware tab of the virtual machine properties dialog box.






You can enable DirectPath I/O with vMotion for virtual machines in a datacenter on a Cisco UCS system that has at least one supported Cisco UCS Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) distributed switch.


Enable high performance network I/O on at least one Cisco UCS port profile on a supported Cisco VM-FEX distributed switch. For supported switches and switch configuration, see documentation at the CIsco Web site.http://www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcomputing/b-series-doc
Power off the virtual machine.


1
Locate the virtual machine in the vSphere Web Client.


a
To locate a virtual machine, select a datacenter, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host and click the Related Objects tab.
b
Click Virtual Machines and select the virtual machine from the list.
2
Click the Manage tab of the virtual machine, and select Settings > VM Hardware.
3
Click Edit.
4
Click the Virtual Hardware tab.
5
Expand the Memory section, and set the Limit to Unlimited.
6
Expand the Network adapter section to configure a passthrough device.
7
Select a port profile with high performance enabled from the network drop-down menu and click OK.
8
Power on the virtual machine.


After the virtual machine is powered on, DirectPath I/O appears as Active on the Hardware tab 

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