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I'm assuming ESXi will act very similarly to VMware Workstation or other products, so answers based on knowledge of those programs might also help.
I want to plug in 30 USB Wireless or Ethernet adapters into my server, and let each VM access one and only one of these devices.
Unfortunately, I don't have the hardware to just try it out as the purchase of hubs and adapters hinges on the result of this question.
The answer could be a resounding "yes, easy!" and that would be great. I couldn't find any answers to this question with google, and it's possible that this is because it's so easy to do.
31eee384
Posted 2011-06-20T22:58:25.060
Reputation: 185
Hmm, thanks for the info, I'll look into that tomorrow. – 31eee384 – 2011-06-21T05:37:36.140
According to your first link, "The USB arbitrator can monitor a maximum of 15 USB controllers. [Additional controllers] are not available to the virtual machine." If I understand what a USB arbitrator is, that completely obliterates the possibility of having 30+ USB network adapters used directly by the virtual machines. Hmm. Now I'm thinking that if each network adapter was recognized by the host, VMware could potentially give each connection to a VM. From this document: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_config_max.pdf it seems that maybe it would work, depending on adapters.
– 31eee384 – 2011-06-21T15:40:40.723(I was going to add that I'm currently looking into this, and will post another question if I can't find the information I'm looking for--but I ran out of characters. Thanks for the help, Linker3000!) – 31eee384 – 2011-06-21T15:46:34.883
Sorry for all the comments, but I'm pretty sure I messed up... I didn't understand that there is a difference between USB controllers and USB devices. In that same document, it says that 20 USB devices can be added to a single VM, which contradicts my earlier thought that only 15 would be allowed and re-expands my search. Sorry again for the commentspam, and thanks for the links. – 31eee384 – 2011-06-21T16:09:21.837
Hope you get a definitive answer - I think it's still likely that this can only come from VMWare themselves. I still worry that you won't find a supported adapter. – Linker3000 – 2011-06-21T16:55:46.203
True, I should look into contacting them before making a decision about this. It may all be unnecessary, though--there are options besides many usb network adapters. I'm just exploring all options and this happened to be particularly difficult to investigate. I did manage to find a Russian article with a table of supported usb devices, though; a USB wireless adapter and USB ethernet adapter are included. (http://www.esx.cx/p/unsupported-usb-device-models-for.html) I don't trust this source too well, but if I need to test this idea I can at least select an adapter that someone else has working.
– 31eee384 – 2011-06-21T18:35:19.747