[Info-vax] VMWare ESXi emulator

[Robert A. Brooks]

On 2/5/2025 10:25 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 2/5/2025 9:07 PM, Robert A. Brooks wrote:
>> On 2/5/2025 7:51 PM, Chris Townley wrote:
>>> KVM is supported, as is Virtualbox
>>
>> It's a bit of a stretch to say that VirtualBox is supported.
>>
>> We will not break stuff for running on VirtualBox, but it does not get
>> exhaustively tested the way ESXi and KVM do.
> 
> The message from a few weeks ago was that several VSI developers
> were using VirtualBox.
> 
> That does not make it a supported config, but it makes it
> likely that any VirtualBox problems will be found and fixed
> before the formal test of ESXi and KVM even start. 

While some developers do use VirtualBox, I'm pretty sure that
as many developers use KVM/ESXi as use VirtualBox, and pretty much all the
testers use either KVM or ESXi.

There is no fibre channel passthrough for VirtualBox, and that is a major
focus of our storage work now.

Specifically, we're working on Proliant Gen 11 systems with the HPE SN1610Q 32Gb
adapter.  We're a bit ahead on our ESXi work compared to KVM, and have been able
to configure and mount devices on an ESXi VM, and the adapter has negotiated 
with the fibre switch to communicate at 32Gb/sec, as shown by

$ SHOW DEVICE /FULL.

The older HPE SN1600Q 32Gb adapter is not supported on Gen 11 systems, nor are
any of the 16Gb adapters.

If all goes well, this support will be in the V9.2-3 Update 2 kit (not the 
Update 1 kit that will be out in a bit more than a month).

-- 

                    --- Rob