About VMDirectPath I/O passthrough devices

• ESX\ESXi 4.0: 2 Devices
• ESX\ESXi 4.1: 4 Devices
• ESX\ESXi 5.0: 4 Devices
• ESX\ESXi 5.1: 4 Devices
• ESX\ESXi 5.5: 16 Devices
• ESX\ESXi 6.x: 16 Devices
• ESX\ESXi 7.x: 16 Devices

For more information, see Hardware Features Available with Virtual Machine Compatibility Settings

Configuring passthrough devices

1. Select an ESX\ESXi host from the Inventory of VMware vSphere Client.
2. In the Configuration tab, click Hardware Advanced Settings. The passthrough Configuration page lists all available pass-through devices.
   
   Note: A green icon indicates that a device is enabled and active. An orange icon indicates that the state of the device has changed and the host must be rebooted before the device can be used.
    
3. Click Edit.
4. Select the devices and click OK.
5. When the devices are selected, they are marked with an orange icon. Reboot for the change to take effect. After rebooting, the devices are marked with a green icon and are enabled.
   
   Note: The configuration changes are saved in the /etc/vmware/esx.conf file.
   
   The PCI slot number where the device was connected is 00:0b:0. It is recorded as:
   
   /device/000:11.0/owner = "passthru"
   
   Note: 11 is the decimal equivalent of the hexadecimal 0b.

1. From the Inventory in vSphere Client, right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
2. Click the Hardware tab.
3. Click Add.
4. Choose the PCI Device.
5. Click Next.
   
   Note: When the device is assigned, the virtual machine must have a memory reservation for the full configured memory size.