Before you can connect virtual machines to virtual functions, use the vSphere Client to enable SR-IOV and set the number of virtual functions on your host.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to the host.
  2. On the Configure tab, expand Networking and select Physical adapters.
    You can look at the SR-IOV property to see whether a physical adapter supports SR-IOV.
  3. Select the physical adapter and click Edit adapter settings.
  4. Under SR-IOV, select Enabled from the Status drop-down menu.
  5. In the Number of virtual functions text box, type the number of virtual functions that you want to configure for the adapter.
    A value of 0 means SR-IOV is not enabled for that physical function.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Restart the host.

Results

The virtual functions become active on the NIC port represented by the physical adapter entry. They appear in the PCI Devices list in the Settings tab for the host.

You can use the esxcli network sriovnic vCLI commands to examine the configuration of virtual functions on the host.

What to do next

Associate a virtual machine with a virtual function through an SR-IOV passthrough network adapter.