To enable a virtual machine to exchange data by using RDMA, you must associate the virtual machine with a PVRDMA network adapter.

You can add up to ten PVRDMA network adapters to a virtual machine when using vSphere 7.0.2 and later.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the host on which the virtual machine is running is configured for RDMA. See Configure an ESXi Host for PVRDMA.
  • Verify that the host is connected to a vSphere Distributed Switch.
  • Verify that the virtual machine uses virtual hardware version 13 and above.
  • Verify that the guest operating system is a Linux 64-bit distribution.

Procedure

  1. Locate the virtual machine in the vSphere Client.
    1. Select a data center, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host and click the VMs tab.
    2. Click Virtual Machines and click the virtual machine from the list.
  2. Power off the virtual machine.
  3. From the Actions menu, select Edit Settings.
  4. Select the Virtual Hardware tab in the dialog box displaying the settings.
  5. From the Add new device drop-down menu, select Network Adapter.
    The New Network section is added to the list in the Virtual Hardware tab.
  6. Expand the New Network section and connect the virtual machine to a distributed port group.
  7. From the Adapter type drop-down menu, select PVRDMA.
  8. Expand the Memory section, select Reserve all guest memory (All locked), and click OK .
  9. Power on the virtual machine.