In this section:
To install the SBC on a virtual machine (VM) with Direct I/O pass-through, you must first configure the pass-through I/O devices on a ESXi host and create a VM and allocate its resources (for example CPU, memory, and NICs), as well as configure a datastore to contain the SBC operating system and application software. VMDirectPath I/O is a VMware technology that can be used with I/O hardware to reduce the CPU impact of high-bandwidth throughput workload's by "bypassing" the hypervisor. VM DirectPath I/O allows guest operating systems to directly access an I/O device, bypassing the virtualization layer and enhancing the performance.
You must follow the BIOS setting recommendations for the particular server. Refer to BIOS Settings Recommendations for more information.
Perform the following steps to configure the passthrough I/O devices.
ESXi 6.5 Login
The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented image exactly.
Navigate to Manage>Hardware>PCI Devices.
PCI Devices
Select the devices to use for passthrough. Click Toggle passthrough.
Toggle Passthrough
Click Reboot host.
Make sure that all NICs are physically plugged in (link light on) before creating your VM. Otherwise, when you perform the ISO, an incorrect port mapping occurs (logical to physical) and the SBC does not function properly.
Passthrough devices are not detected in VMware ESXi version Build–1483097 and the VM does not power on.
Perform the following steps to create new SBC VM.
Click Virtual Machines. Click Create / Register VM to open the New virtual machine window.
Create / Register a VM
The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented image exactly.
Make sure that Create a new virtual machine is selected and click Next.
Create a new Virtual Machine
Configure the VM name and guest OS.
Provide a name for your VM. The name can be up to 80 characters.
Avoid special characters for the name. Refer to System Name and Hostname Naming Conventions for details.
Click Next.
VM Name and Guest OS
Select a datastore and click Next. Make sure that the datastore has at least 100GB or more of free space. This datastore is required to store all log-related data files.
Select Storage - Datastore
In the Cores per Socket field, enter the total number of cores to allocate to each virtual socket (the following screen capture uses four cores).
The number of virtual sockets automatically updates.
In the Reservation field, enter a reservation number.
Set the CPU reservation so that it equals 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 4 CPUs with a processor of 2.99 GHz CPU frequency reserves "(4 * 2992)/2 = 5984 MHz".
In the Limit field, select Unlimited for optimal performance.
CPU Settings
Under Virtual Hardware, expand the Memory drop-down menu and assign memory to the virtual machine.
Use 20 GB of RAM for large configurations and 17 GB of RAM for small configurations. Refer to SBC SWe Performance Metrics for more information on memory required for different call capacities.
For fewer than 6000 calls, the minimum reservation must be 10GB. Anything more than 6000 calls requires at least 14GB vRAM. Refer to SBC SWe Performance Metrics for more information.
Memory Settings
In the Disk Provisioning field, select Thick provisioned, eagerly zeroed.
The Virtual Device Node field should use the default values of SCSI controller 0 and SCSI (0:0).
Disk Settings
Under Virtual Hardware, select LSI Logic Parallel in the SCSI Controller 0 field.
SCSI Settings
Select the HA interface for the second network adapter (HA Network in the following screen capture).
These network adapters and labels are already created on the ESXi host server. If you are installing for the first time on a new ESXi host server, these network adapters and corresponding labels (VM Network, HA Network) need to be created. For details, refer to Creating Virtual Machine using vNetwork Standard Switch (vSwitch). The PKT0 and PKT1 are created using the PCI devices.
Make sure that the Network Adapters are mapped in the following order:
Select VMXNET 3 in each Adapter Type field.
The VMXNET 3 virtual network adapter has no physical counterpart. VMXNET is optimized for performance in a virtual machine.
Network Adapter Settings
Expand both New PCI device drop-down menus. In the New PCI device fields, select the PCI devices.
Since it is a Direct I/O, the same passthrough device must not be used by multiple VM instances. Select a PCI/PCIe device for the PKT0 interface that is different from the PKT1 interface.
PKT0/PKT1 Settings
Click Next. Review the VM settings that you configured and click Finish to create the VM.
Review Settings
Enabling and disabling the autostart of the VM is useful when the VM regains power that was previously lost. Perform the following steps to enable and disable autostart of the VM.
Click Actions and select Autostart>Enable to enable autostart.
Enable Autostart
The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented image exactly.
Click Actions and select Autostart>Configure. Adjust the settings in the Configure autostart window as desired. Click Save.
To disable autostart, click Actions and select Autostart>Disable from the pop-up menu.
Configure Autostart