VMXNET3 support?

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mattlach

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Hey all,

I'm about to embark on my first FreeNAS build, and I am doing it under VMWare ESXi 5.1

I have read in the past that some BSD based systems have issues with VMWares virtual VMXNET3 device, and to use the slower e1000 instead.

Is that the case with current builds of FreeNAS?

Obviously I'd like to use the fastest network device I can.

Thank you for your help,
Matt
 

pbucher

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I've been using VMXNet3 drivers under ESXi 5.0 & 5.1 for the last six months without issue.

Under 5.0 I was having problems when I tried setting the MTU to 9000(the interface would just go AWOL), I haven't tried it under 5.1 yet.

The tricky part is to mount the vmware tools CD image and then copy and untar the vmwaretools archive and find the vmxnet3.ko file in it for FreeBSD 8.1 and then copy it to /boot/module after you make the root drive writable.

I then add a vmxnet3_load="YES" to loader.conf to get it up and running and then in FreeNAS add a tunable entry to take it's place. That way it will survive version updates.
 

mattlach

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I've been using VMXNet3 drivers under ESXi 5.0 & 5.1 for the last six months without issue.

Under 5.0 I was having problems when I tried setting the MTU to 9000(the interface would just go AWOL), I haven't tried it under 5.1 yet.

The tricky part is to mount the vmware tools CD image and then copy and untar the vmwaretools archive and find the vmxnet3.ko file in it for FreeBSD 8.1 and then copy it to /boot/module after you make the root drive writable.

I then add a vmxnet3_load="YES" to loader.conf to get it up and running and then in FreeNAS add a tunable entry to take it's place. That way it will survive version updates.


Paul,

Thanks again, you have been very helpful!

It's too bad this forum doesn't have a +rep button!

--Matt
 

mattlach

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heh,


I figured this one was going to be easy, but the mount command apparently behaves differently in BSD than it does in the Linux distributions I am used to, the device names are different (I'm guessing the CD is /dev/cd0?) and man does not appear to be installed with FreeNAS...

Do you have any suggestions for getting the VMWARE CD mounted?

Thanks,
Matt
 

mattlach

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Never mind, I figured it out.

Mount under BSD is not able to autodetect CD file systems like in more recent linux diustributions.

I needed to issue the -t cd9660 option, and then it works.
 

mattlach

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hmm. I'm on 8.3, but the vmware tools tarball only includes a driver for 8.1...

Are drivers in 8.1 and 8.3 interchangeable?
 

pbucher

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You go it. Yes I used the 8.1 version for the ESXi 5.1 install most recently(I don't think the driver API changed much between 8.1 & 8.3). I've only been running this setup for a little over a week. Before I was using the driver from ESXi 5.0u1 but since my servers are mostly 5.1 now, I moved to the 5.1 drivers on both my 5.0u1 & 5.1 servers when I upgraded to 8.3-release.

Once you get the driver copied to /boot/modules, I add the vmxnet3_load tunable entry with a value of "YES" and reboot the box. The only issue I've run into is trying to set the MTU to 9000 to get better performance would cause some odd networking issues and I haven't gone back to revisit the issue now that I've got everything else stable on the box. The exact LSI setup while very simple took me a while to get down to what I posted in the other thread.

Also make sure you do everything in the GUI and don't hand edit the local.conf files and stuff because when you upgrade FreeNAS various config files get nuked. The good news is the modules in the /boot/modules folder stay between upgrades. So the vmxnet driver stays in place.
 

mattlach

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You go it. Yes I used the 8.1 version for the ESXi 5.1 install most recently(I don't think the driver API changed much between 8.1 & 8.3). I've only been running this setup for a little over a week. Before I was using the driver from ESXi 5.0u1 but since my servers are mostly 5.1 now, I moved to the 5.1 drivers on both my 5.0u1 & 5.1 servers when I upgraded to 8.3-release.

Once you get the driver copied to /boot/modules, I add the vmxnet3_load tunable entry with a value of "YES" and reboot the box. The only issue I've run into is trying to set the MTU to 9000 to get better performance would cause some odd networking issues and I haven't gone back to revisit the issue now that I've got everything else stable on the box. The exact LSI setup while very simple took me a while to get down to what I posted in the other thread.

Also make sure you do everything in the GUI and don't hand edit the local.conf files and stuff because when you upgrade FreeNAS various config files get nuked. The good news is the modules in the /boot/modules folder stay between upgrades. So the vmxnet driver stays in place.

Thank you very much. Do I need the quotation marks around the "YES" in th etunable entry?

I currently have it set up and working by having manually edited load.conf, but I am adding it to the tunables based on your recommendation.
 

pbucher

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Yes without the quotes. FreeNAS will add the quotes when it writes out a new file.
 
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