You can add a VMware Paravirtual SCSI high performance storage controller to a virtual machine to provide greater throughput and lower CPU use.

VMware Paravirtual SCSI controllers are best suited for environments, especially SAN environments, running I/O-intensive applications.

For information about SCSI controller maximums and virtual device assignments, see SCSI, SATA, and NVMe Storage Controller Conditions, Limitations, and Compatibility.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the virtual machine has a guest operating system with VMware Tools installed.
  • Verify that the virtual machine compatibility is ESXi 4.x and later.
  • Ensure that you are familiar with the VMware Paravirtual SCSI controller type.
  • To access boot disk devices attached to a VMware Paravirtual SCSI controller, verify that the virtual machine has a Windows 2003 or Windows 2008 guest operating system.
  • In some operating systems, before you change the controller type, create a virtual machine with an LSI Logic controller, install VMware Tools, and then change to paravirtual mode.

Procedure

  1. Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
  2. On the Virtual Hardware tab, click the Add New Device button.
  3. Select SCSI Controller from the drop-down menu.
  4. Expand New SCSI controller and from the Change Type menu, select VMware Paravirtual.
    The controller appears at the bottom of the Virtual Hardware device list.
  5. Click OK.