Configure link state as seen by the VF in ESXi

Infrastructure & Networking Adapters and Cables
1

Hello! I need VM to be able to talk to hypervisor and/or other VMs on same PF even if cable is disconnected. I found this article which describes the process of configuring Mellanox Adapter this way.

https://community.mellanox.com/s/article/howto-set-virtual-network-attributes-on-a-virtual-function–sr-iov-x

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It is possible to change the link state as seen by the VF. The set options are:

  • auto: a reflection of the PF link state (default)

  • enable: lets the VF to communicate with other VFs on this host even if the PF link state is down

  • disable: causes the HW to drop any packets sent by the VF.

#ip link set vf <vf_index> state auto|enable|disable

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But this manual is for linux. Is it possible to do this in ESXi? ESXi doesn’t have ip link command.

I checked all tools under /opt/mellanox/bin and didn’t find anything to configure VF link state.

I tried nmlxcli without any luck.

My Mellanox Adapter is ConnectX-4 Lx, ESXi 6.5U3, latest native drivers.

Please help!

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2

In Linux, it is indeed feasible and the option of configuring the Mellanox adapter/s port to the link-state “enable” exists and is possible

Unfortunately, within Esxi6.X - Mellanox don’t have this similar support, meaning, In Eaxi - VM is not be able to talk to hypervisor and/or other VMs on same PF even if cable is disconnected.

3

In ESXi VM is ABLE to talk to hypervisor with cable connected. I used that many times.