Creating Virtual Machines using SR-IOV Interfaces

In this section:

Prerequisites

Ensure SR-IOV is enabled in the host's BIOS settings by logging in through the iLO console.
When using SR-IOV interfaces, do not add more than 64 VLANs, as the driver does not support it.
SR-IOV is a licensed feature on VMware. Procure the "VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus" license to enable SR-IOV support on ESXi.
- Install SR-IOV supported two 10 Gigabit PCI cards.
- Minimum 10 GB RAM.
- VM must be created with four Interfaces:
  - One virtual interface for Management Port
  - One virtual interface for HA Port
  - Two virtual interfaces for SR-IOV Ports

Note

Configuring all four ports with different IP addresses in four networks is recommended.

For example:

MGMT - Network 1
HA - Network 2
SR-IOV - Network 3
SR-IOV - Network 4

Configuring Virtual Machine Instances

Configuring SR-IOV

Perform the following steps:

Log on to VMware ESXi GUI as the root user.

Note

The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented images exactly.
To check the status of the SR-IOV cards:
1. Navigate to Host > Manage.
2. Select the tab Hardware.
  Ensure both the SR-IOV cards are in a disabled state or the Passthrough is disabled.

If the SR-IOV cards are not disabled, disable them by performing the following:

Enable SSH. To enable SSH,
1. Navigate to Host and select the tab Actions.
2. From the drop-down list, select the option Services. Click Enable Secure Shell (SSH) and Enable console shell.

Check the name of the NIC cards. To check the name of the NIC cards,

Log on to CLI as root.

Enter the following command:

Input

lspci|grep X540

The following is the sample display output:

0000:0b:00.0 Network controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 [vmnic8]
0000:0b:00.1 Network controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 [vmnic9]

Open the esx.conf file and find the PCI ID associated with the NIC card.

Change the owner of the PCI ID from passthrough to vmkernel.

Enter the following command:

vi /etc/vmware/esx.conf

The following is the sample display output:

/system/uuid = "5a33649d-c9db-e792-c676-5cb9018acc24"
/system/uservars/psa/defaultLunMasksInstalled = "1"  
/system/uservars/corestorage/Filter/DefaultVMWRulesLoaded = "1"
/system/uservars/corestorage/VAAI/DefaultVMWRulesLoaded = "1"  
/system/uservars/host-acceptance-level = "partner"           
/resourceGroups/version = "6.5.0"                 
/adv/Misc/HostIPAddr = "10.54.12.81"
/adv/Misc/DiskDumpSlotSize = "2560" 
/adv/Misc/HostName = "hpg9-9"      
/adv/Net/ManagementIface = "vmk0"
/adv/Net/ManagementAddr = "10.54.12.81"
/adv/UserMem/UserMemASRandomSeed = "1418738923"
/adv/UserVars/HostClientCEIPOptIn = "1"        
/device/00000:005:00.0/vmkname = "vmhba1"
/device/00000:002:00.0/vmkname = "vmnic0"
/device/00000:002:00.2/vmkname = "vmnic2"
/device/00000:003:00.0/vmkname = "vmhba0"
/device/00000:002:00.1/vmkname = "vmnic1"
/device/00000:011:00.1/owner = "vmkernel"
/device/00000:011:00.1/device = "1528"   
/device/00000:011:00.1/vendor = "8086"
/device/00000:011:00.1/vmkname = "vmnic9"
/device/00000:004:00.2/vmkname = "vmnic6"
/device/00000:004:00.1/vmkname = "vmnic5"
/device/00000:002:00.3/vmkname = "vmnic3"
/device/00000:004:00.0/vmkname = "vmnic4"
/device/00000:005:00.1/vmkname = "vmhba2"
/device/00000:004:00.3/vmkname = "vmnic7"
/device/00000:011:00.0/vmkname = "vmnic8"
/device/00000:011:00.0/vendor = "8086"   
/device/00000:011:00.0/device = "1528"
/device/00000:011:00.0/owner = "vmkernel"
- /etc/vmware/esx.conf 33/499 6%

Save the file.
Reboot the host.

In the VMware ESXi GUI, navigate to Host > Manage.
Select the Hardware tab.
From the PCI Devices, select the SR-IOV card.
Click Configure SR-IOV.
The window to configure the SR-IOV card is displayed.
For the option Enabled, select Yes and set the number of virtual functions.
Click Save.
Configure the other SR-IOV card. Repeat the steps from 4 to 6.
Reboot the host by clicking Reboot host.

The following warning message is displayed.
Click Reboot.
The VMware ESXi login window displays "The host is rebooting...".
Once the virtual function is created, the SR-IOV cards and the Passthrough for the virtual functions display the status as "Active".

Creating a vSwitch

Creating a Management vSwitch

Perform the following steps:

Navigate to Networking. From the Port group tab, click the Add port group.
The Add port group window is displayed with the following fields:
Field Example or Recommendation
Name VMNetwork
VLAN ID 0
Virtual switch vSwitch0
Security Select Inherit from vSwitch
Click Add.

Creating an HA vSwitch

Perform the following steps:

Navigate to Networking. From the Port group tab, click the Add port group.
The Add port group window is displayed with the following fields:
Field Example or Recommendation
Name HANetwork
VLAN ID 0
Virtual switch vSwitch1
Security Select Inherit from vSwitch
Click Add.

Creating the Virtual Machine

Perform the following steps:

Navigate to Virtual Machines. Click Create / Register VM to create or register a virtual machine.
The Select creation type option is displayed.

Note

The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented images exactly.
Select the option Create a new virtual machine.
Click Next.
The Select a name and guest OS option is displayed with the following fields:
Field Example or Recommendation
Name Name of the virtual machine. For example, "VM".
Compatibility ESXi 6.5 virtual machine
Guest OS family Linux
Guest OS version Debian GNULinux 8 (64-bit)
Click Next.
The Select storage option is displayed.
Select datastore1.

Note

Ensure that the datastore has minimum 500 GB or more space. This datastore is required to store all log-related data files.
Click Next.
The Customize settings option is displayed.

Configure virtual hardware from Customize settings:

Set the CPU

When configuring virtual CPUs within the vSphere Web Client, you can configure:

The total number of vCPUs for the virtual machine
The total number of cores per socket

The following table provides examples of socket determination based on the CPU and Cores per Socket within the vSphere Web Client:

Total Number of Virtual CPUs (CPU)	Cores per Socket	Number of Sockets Determined by the vSphere Web Client
4	4	1
4	2	2
4	1	4
8	8	1
8	2	4
8	4	2
8	1	8

Note

A minimum of 4 vCPUs is required. Any number of vCPUs may be configured depending on the call capacity requirements, but the number should be even (4, 6, 8, etc.) to avoid impacting performance.

Note

Set the CPU reservation to equal the physical processor CPU speed multiplied by the number of vCPUs assigned to the VM, divided by 2.

CPU Reservation = (No. of vCPUs * CPU frequency)/2

For example, a configuration of 32 CPUs with a processor of 2.30 GHz CPU frequency reserves "(32 * 2300)/2 = 36800 MHz".

The following table describes the CPU fields.

Fields	Example?Recommendation
CPU	10
Number of Virtual sockets	1
Number of cores per virtual socket	10
CPU Reservation	12925 MHz
Limit	Unlimited
Shares	Normal
Hardware virtualization	None
Performance counters	None
Scheduling Affinity	None

Adjust the Memory using the following fields:

Fields	Examples/Recommendation
Memory	20480 MB. Note: It is recommended to use more than 20 GB of memory.
Reservation	Select the option "Reserve all guest memory (All locked)".
Limit	Unlimited
Shares	Normal
Memory Hot Plug	None

Set the Hard disk 1.

The following table describes the Hard disk 1 fields.

Fields	Examples/Recommendation
Hard disk 1	200 GB
Maximum Size	1.43 TB
Location	datastore1
Disk Provisioning	Select Thick provisioned, lazily zeroed
Shares	Normal
Limit-IOPs	Unlimited
Virtual Device Node	SCSI controller 0 and SCSI (0:0)
Disk mode	Dependent
Sharing	None

Set the SCSI Controller
The following table describes the SCSI Controller fields.
Fields Examples/Recommendation
SCSI Controller Select "LSI Logic Parallel" from the drop-down list
SCSI Bus Sharing None
SATA Controller 0 N/A
USB controller 1 USB 2.0

Set the Network Adapter 1
Network Adapter 1 is used to provision MGMT ports.

The following table describes the Network Adapter 1 fields.

Fields	Examples/Recommendation
Network Adapter 1	Select the MGMT ports from the drop-down list. For example, "VM Network".
Status	Select the option "Connect" at power on.
Adapter Type	VMXNET3
MAC Address	Automatic

Once Network Adapter 1 is created for MGMT ports, create a new Network Adapter for HA ports.

Select Add network adapter. The option to create a New Network Adapter for the HA port is displayed.
The following table describes the New Network Adapter fields.

Fields	Examples/Recommendation
New Network Adapter	Select the HA port from the drop-down list. For example, "HA Network".
Status	Select the option "Connect" at power on.
Adapter Type	VMXNET3
MAC Address	Automatic

To attach packet ports on VMware ESXi 7.0 and above versions, skip steps 7.g to 7.j, and follow the steps in Attach SR-IOV Interface in VMware ESXi 8.0 and Above.

Click Add other device to continue the configuration on PKT0 and PKT1.
Select the option PCI device from the drop-down list.
The New PCI device option is created.
Repeat steps g and h to create more PCI Devices from PKT networks.
Note
Follow the same procedure for both a non-port redundancy and port redundancy scenario.
- 2 PKT interfaces are supported for a non-port redundancy scenario
- 4 PKT interfaces are supported for a port redundancy scenario
Ensure packet ports are attached to the SBC VM in the correct sequential order. See Readjust SR-IOV Network Adapter Addition Sequence.
Click Next. The Ready to complete option is displayed.
PKT Port NUMA Affinity: Perform the following steps:
1. Find the PKT port NUMA affinity by executing the following command on the ESXi host:
```
vsish -e get /net/pNics/<PKT port name - vmnicX>/properties | grep "NUMA"
```
2. Update VM NUMA affinity to be the same as NIC NUMA affinity:
  1. Edit Settings -> VM options -> Configuration Parameters -> Add Parameters.
  2. Add the following parameters:
    numa.nodeAffinity' = 0 or 1 (based on PKT port NIC affinity) numa.autosize.once = FALSE
Once the review is performed, click Finish. The Virtual Machine is created.

RSS Configuration for VMs using SR-IOV Interfaces

Receive side scaling (RSS) is a mechanism that enables spreading incoming network traffic across multiple CPUs, thus eliminating a potential processing bottleneck. For SR-IOV configurations, update the RSS configuration in the ESXi host as shown in the procedure below:

Enter the following command to unload the IXGBE driver:
```
esxcfg-module -u ixgbe
```
Enter the following command to verify the driver is unloaded:
```
esxcfg-module -l | grep ixg 
```
Enter one of the following commands to reload the driver with the required virtual function (VF) and RSS configurations:
```
vmkload_mod ixgbe max_vfs=2,2 RSS=4,4
```
~ or ~
```
esxcfg-module -s 'max_vfs=2,2, RSS=4,4' ixgbe
```
Reboot the host for the RSS to take effect. This modified configuration is retained after the reboot.

Installing the SBC Application on VMware

Once the VMware instance is created, install the SBC application.

Perform the following steps:

Select the Virtual Machine where you want to install the SBC application.
Click Edit. The Edit Settings window is displayed.
Select CD/DVD Drive 1.

Note

The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented images exactly.
The Datastore browser window is displayed. Browse the ISO image file.
Click Select. The following window is displayed.
Click Save.
Click Power on to power on the VM.
The SBC Installer window is displayed. Press Enter to boot.
Once the installation completes, you are prompted to enter the login credentials.
Log on to CLI as linuxadmin. Provide the following IP addresses:
1. Primary Management IPv4 Address
2. Primary Management Network Mask
3. Primary Management Gateway IP Address, you are prompted to use IPv6 address.
4. Enter n if you do not want to set IPv6

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Prerequisites

Configuring Virtual Machine Instances

Configuring SR-IOV

Creating a vSwitch

Creating a Management vSwitch

Creating an HA vSwitch

Creating the Virtual Machine

RSS Configuration for VMs using SR-IOV Interfaces

Installing the SBC Application on VMware

Field	Example or Recommendation
Name	VMNetwork
VLAN ID	0
Virtual switch	vSwitch0
Security	Select Inherit from vSwitch

Field	Example or Recommendation
Name	HANetwork
VLAN ID	0
Virtual switch	vSwitch1
Security	Select Inherit from vSwitch

Field	Example or Recommendation
Name	Name of the virtual machine. For example, "VM".
Compatibility	ESXi 6.5 virtual machine
Guest OS family	Linux
Guest OS version	Debian GNULinux 8 (64-bit)

Fields	Examples/Recommendation
SCSI Controller	Select "LSI Logic Parallel" from the drop-down list
SCSI Bus Sharing	None
SATA Controller 0	N/A
USB controller 1	USB 2.0