
Solarflare
Server
Adapter
User
Guide
SR
‐
IOV
Virtualization
Using
ESXi
Issue
20
©
Solarflare
Communications
2017
352
Features
Supported
On
ESXi
Solarflare
adapters
support
the
following
deployments:
Recommended
Reading
The
instructions
in
this
chapter
follow
the
procedures
for
VF
and
PF
passthrough
as
documented
in
the
.
Platform
Compatibility
SR
‐
IOV
and
DirectPath
I/O
are
not
supported
on
all
server
platforms
and
users
are
advised
to
check
server
compatibility.
DirectPath
I/O
‐
PF
Passthrough
does
not
require
platform
SR
‐
IOV
support.
•
Check
for
SR
‐
IOV
support
in
the
VMware
compatibility
web
page:
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php
•
Ensure
the
BIOS
has
all
SR
‐
IOV/Virtualization
options
enabled.
•
On
a
server
with
SR
‐
IOV
correctly
configured,
identify
if
Virtual
Functions
(VF)
can
be
exposed
to
the
host
OS.
Refer
to
sfboot
options
below
for
the
procedure
to
configure
VFs
on
the
Solarflare
adapter.
BIOS
To
use
SR
‐
IOV
modes,
SR
‐
IOV
must
be
enabled
in
the
platform
BIOS
where
the
actual
BIOS
setting
can
differ
between
machines,
but
may
be
identified
as
SR
‐
IOV,
IOMMU
or
VT
‐
d
and
VT
‐
x
on
an
Intel
platform.
There
may
be
other
BIOS
options
which
should
be
enabled
to
support
SR
‐
IOV,
for
example
on
DELL
servers
the
following
BIOS
option
must
also
be
enabled:
Integrated
Devices,
SR
‐
IOV
Global
Enable
Users
are
advised
to
consult
the
server
vendor
BIOS
options
documentation.
Table
84:
ESXi
Virtualization
Features
Feature
Guest
OS
VF
Passthrough
Linux
6.5
to
7.x
PF
Passthrough
(DirectPath
I/O)
Linux
6.5
to
7.x
Windows
Server
2012
R2