From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Mar 28 21:21:31 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ADAD7DBA for ; Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:21:31 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dweimer@dweimer.net) Received: from webmail.dweimer.net (24-240-198-187.static.stls.mo.charter.com [24.240.198.187]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 80E9A36B for ; Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:21:30 +0000 (UTC) Received: from www.dweimer.net (webmail.dweimer.local [192.168.5.1]) by webmail.dweimer.net (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id r2SKtUZb031901 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:55:30 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from dweimer@dweimer.net) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:55:30 -0500 From: dweimer To: FreeBSD Questions Subject: FreeBSD on VMware ESXi with PCI Pass Through enabled Organization: dweimer.net Mail-Reply-To: dweimer@dweimer.net Message-ID: X-Sender: dweimer@dweimer.net User-Agent: Roundcube Webmail/0.8.1 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list Reply-To: dweimer@dweimer.net List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:21:31 -0000 Just curious if anyone has any good recommendations of settings for running FreeBSD under VMware ESXi 5.1 with PCI(e) pass through enabled. I have been doing some initial testing with a new motherboard processor and RAM. That I am hoping to be able to run 3 Servers on. The intended virtual machines for the setup. 1.) A FreeBSD system to run Bacula, which will require PCI pass through for an eSATA drive dock so backups volumes can be Rotated. 2.) A FreeBSD system to host my web/email server, no pass through required. 3.) A FreeNAS box host SMB shares and iSCSI, will use a PCI pass through to allow direct access to 4 Hard drives, attached to a separate SATA controller. Current Hardware Information: eSATA Controller for backups: Koutech IO-PESA111 PCI Express SATA II (3.0Gb/s) - uses Silicon Image 3132 Chipset System Board: ASUS F2A85-M PRO FM2 AMD A85X (Hudson D4) CPU: AMD A10-5800K Trinity 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) I still need to add an additional controller SATA controller for the FreeNAS VM, but so far testing with a new machine built for the Bacula install has only been consistently able to trigger a complete core dump and crash of the ESXi host machine, sometimes at boot of the VM with PCI pass through, sometimes not until a load has been applied to the external hard drive on the Pass through SATA controller. I have tried the following things to fix this that I have come across while searching for help. Added the following to /boot/loader.conf: hw.pci.enable_msi=0 hw.pci.enable_msix=0 Added the following to the Vmware Virtual Machine Configuration: pciPassthru0.msiEnabled = "FALSE" -- Thanks, Dean E. Weimer http://www.dweimer.net/