o NPIV support is subject to the following limitations:
o NPIV must be enabled on the SAN switch.
o NPIV is supported only for VMs with RDM disks.
o The physical HBAs on the ESX host must have access to a LUN using its WWNs in order for any VMs on that host to have access to that
LUN using their NPIV WWNs.
o The physical HBAs on the ESX host 220 701 must support NPIV.
o Each VMcan have up to 4 virtual ports. NPIV-enabled VMs are assigned exactly 4 NPIV-related WWNs. Can utilize up to 4 physical HBAs
for NPIV purposes.
o A VM with WWNs that are already in use on the storage network is prevented from powering on.
o While hyperthreading does not double the performance of a system, it can increase performance by better utilizing idle resources.
o The advanced CPU settings are useful only for fine-grained tweaking of critical VMs.
o NUMA memory node affinity enables fine-grained control over how VM memory is distributed to host physical memory.
o Specify nodes to be used for future memory allocations only if you have also specified CPU affinity.
o The following NIC types are supported:
vNIC Description
Flexible Supported on VMs that were created on ESX Server 3.0 or greater and that run 32-bit guest operating systems.
The Flexible adapter functions as a vlance adapter if VMware Tools is not installed in the VM and as a vmxnet
driver if VMware Tools is installed in the VM.
e1000 Emulates the functioning of an E1000 network card. It is the default adapter type for VMs that run 64-bit guest
operating systems.
Enhanced vmxnet An upgraded version of the vmxnet device with enhanced performance. It requires that VMware Tools be
installed in the VM.
vmxnet 3 Next generation vmxnet device with enhanced performance and enhanced networking features. It requires that
VMware Tools be installed in the VM, and is available only on VMs with hardware version 7 and greater.
o Independent disks are not affected by snapshots.
o Two modes for independent disks:
o Persistent – The disk operates normally except that changes to the disk are permanent even if the VM is reverted to a snapshot.
o Nonpersistent – The disk appears to operate normally, but whenever the VM is powered off or reverted to a snapshot, the contents of
the disk return to their original state. All later changes are discarded.
o VMDirectPath I/O allows a guest operating system on a VM to directly access physical PCI and PCIe devices connected to a host. Each VM can
be connected to up to two PCI devices. PCI devices connected to a host can be marked as available for passthrough from the Hardware
Advanced Settings in the Configuration tab for the host.
o Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters are high-performance storage adapters that can provide greater throughput and lower CPU utilization.
PVSCSI adapters are best suited for environments, especially SAN environments, running I/O-intensive applications. PVSCSI adapters are not
suited for DAS environments.
o Hardware requirements for 220 702 customizing the guest operating system:
o Must reside on a disk attached as SCSI 0:0 node in the VM configuration.
o If a VM has mixed IDE and SCSI disks, the first IDE disk is considered the boot disk, and vCenter Server passes it to the customizer.
o If the new VM encounters customization errors while it is booting
o Customization errors are logged to (Windows guest) %WINDIR%\temp\vmware-imc or (Linux guest) /var/log/vmware/customization.log.
o When you migrate a suspended VM, the new host for the VM must meet CPU compatibility requirements, because the VM must resume
executing instructions on the new host.
o Use of Jumbo Frames is recommended for best VMotion performance.
o Some restrictions apply when migrating VMs with snapshots. You cannot migrate a virtual machine with snapshots with Storage VMotion.
o You can migrate as long as the VM is being migrated to a new host without moving its configuration file or disks (the VM must reside on
shared storage accessible to both hosts).
o Reverting to a snapshot after migration with VMotion might cause the VM to fail, because the migration wizard cannot verify the compatibility
of the VM state in the snapshot with the destination host.
o During a migration with Storage VMotion, you can transform virtual disks from thick-provisioned to thin or from thin-provisioned to thick.
o Storage VMotion is subject to the following requirements and limitations:
o Virtual machines with snapshots cannot be migrated using Storage VMotion.
o Virtual machine disks must be in persistent mode or be raw device mappings (RDMs). For virtual compatibility mode RDMs, you can
migrate the mapping file or 220 701 convert to thick-provisioned or thinprovisioned disks during migration as long as the destination is not an NFS
datastore. For physical compatibility mode RDMs, you can migrate the mapping file only.
o Must have a license that includes Storage VMotion.
o ESX/ESXi 3.5 hosts must be licensed and configured for VMotion. ESX/ESXi 4.0 and later hosts do not require VMotion configuration in
order to perform migration with Storage VMotion.
o A particular host can be involved in up to two migrations with VMotion or Storage VMotion at one time
o NPIV must be enabled on the SAN switch.
o NPIV is supported only for VMs with RDM disks.
o The physical HBAs on the ESX host must have access to a LUN using its WWNs in order for any VMs on that host to have access to that
LUN using their NPIV WWNs.
o The physical HBAs on the ESX host 220 701 must support NPIV.
o Each VMcan have up to 4 virtual ports. NPIV-enabled VMs are assigned exactly 4 NPIV-related WWNs. Can utilize up to 4 physical HBAs
for NPIV purposes.
o A VM with WWNs that are already in use on the storage network is prevented from powering on.
o While hyperthreading does not double the performance of a system, it can increase performance by better utilizing idle resources.
o The advanced CPU settings are useful only for fine-grained tweaking of critical VMs.
o NUMA memory node affinity enables fine-grained control over how VM memory is distributed to host physical memory.
o Specify nodes to be used for future memory allocations only if you have also specified CPU affinity.
o The following NIC types are supported:
vNIC Description
Flexible Supported on VMs that were created on ESX Server 3.0 or greater and that run 32-bit guest operating systems.
The Flexible adapter functions as a vlance adapter if VMware Tools is not installed in the VM and as a vmxnet
driver if VMware Tools is installed in the VM.
e1000 Emulates the functioning of an E1000 network card. It is the default adapter type for VMs that run 64-bit guest
operating systems.
Enhanced vmxnet An upgraded version of the vmxnet device with enhanced performance. It requires that VMware Tools be
installed in the VM.
vmxnet 3 Next generation vmxnet device with enhanced performance and enhanced networking features. It requires that
VMware Tools be installed in the VM, and is available only on VMs with hardware version 7 and greater.
o Independent disks are not affected by snapshots.
o Two modes for independent disks:
o Persistent – The disk operates normally except that changes to the disk are permanent even if the VM is reverted to a snapshot.
o Nonpersistent – The disk appears to operate normally, but whenever the VM is powered off or reverted to a snapshot, the contents of
the disk return to their original state. All later changes are discarded.
o VMDirectPath I/O allows a guest operating system on a VM to directly access physical PCI and PCIe devices connected to a host. Each VM can
be connected to up to two PCI devices. PCI devices connected to a host can be marked as available for passthrough from the Hardware
Advanced Settings in the Configuration tab for the host.
o Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters are high-performance storage adapters that can provide greater throughput and lower CPU utilization.
PVSCSI adapters are best suited for environments, especially SAN environments, running I/O-intensive applications. PVSCSI adapters are not
suited for DAS environments.
o Hardware requirements for 220 702 customizing the guest operating system:
o Must reside on a disk attached as SCSI 0:0 node in the VM configuration.
o If a VM has mixed IDE and SCSI disks, the first IDE disk is considered the boot disk, and vCenter Server passes it to the customizer.
o If the new VM encounters customization errors while it is booting
o Customization errors are logged to (Windows guest) %WINDIR%\temp\vmware-imc or (Linux guest) /var/log/vmware/customization.log.
o When you migrate a suspended VM, the new host for the VM must meet CPU compatibility requirements, because the VM must resume
executing instructions on the new host.
o Use of Jumbo Frames is recommended for best VMotion performance.
o Some restrictions apply when migrating VMs with snapshots. You cannot migrate a virtual machine with snapshots with Storage VMotion.
o You can migrate as long as the VM is being migrated to a new host without moving its configuration file or disks (the VM must reside on
shared storage accessible to both hosts).
o Reverting to a snapshot after migration with VMotion might cause the VM to fail, because the migration wizard cannot verify the compatibility
of the VM state in the snapshot with the destination host.
o During a migration with Storage VMotion, you can transform virtual disks from thick-provisioned to thin or from thin-provisioned to thick.
o Storage VMotion is subject to the following requirements and limitations:
o Virtual machines with snapshots cannot be migrated using Storage VMotion.
o Virtual machine disks must be in persistent mode or be raw device mappings (RDMs). For virtual compatibility mode RDMs, you can
migrate the mapping file or 220 701 convert to thick-provisioned or thinprovisioned disks during migration as long as the destination is not an NFS
datastore. For physical compatibility mode RDMs, you can migrate the mapping file only.
o Must have a license that includes Storage VMotion.
o ESX/ESXi 3.5 hosts must be licensed and configured for VMotion. ESX/ESXi 4.0 and later hosts do not require VMotion configuration in
order to perform migration with Storage VMotion.
o A particular host can be involved in up to two migrations with VMotion or Storage VMotion at one time
