Vmdirectpathio, Working with io accelerators and vmdirectpathio, Using products with multiple devices – HP Fusion ioFX 410GB PCIe Accelerator User Manual
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VMDirectPathIO
Working with IO Accelerators and VMDirectPathIO
Each IO Accelerator device can either be used as a VMFS datastore in ESX or ESXi, or it can be passed
through directly to a VM. In VMware documentation, passing through to a VM this is referred to as
VMDirectPathIO.
If you are passing the devices through, you do not have to install the VSL on the ESX or ESXi system. Instead,
install the software on the guest system. Install the driver only if you plan to create a VMFS on the devices.
When using VMDirectPathIO, if you upgrade the firmware on an IO Accelerator device, you must cycle the
power to have the change take place. Restarting the VM will not apply the change.
Using products with multiple devices
Some products, such as the HP IO Accelerator ioDrive Duo, contain multiple devices. The VSL does not
support splitting the modules between two functions or VMs. The following scenarios are supported:
•
Both IO Accelerator devices are used as a VMFS datastore in ESX or ESXi.
•
Both IO Accelerator devices are passed through to the same VM using VMDirectPathIO.
- B-series Switch Accelerators Thunderbolt-2 PCIe 1-port IO Card IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class Storage C-series Switch Accelerators Thunderbolt 2-Port AiO Module HPAtalla AXL600L SSL Accelerator Card AXL300 Accelerator SSL PCI Card MSR Encryption Accelerators PCIe IO Accelerators for ProLiant Servers