IT Solutions Technology Blog

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 8.x) – does not natively support USB NIC and upon a reboot the USB NICs are not picked up until much later in the boot process which prevents them from being associated with VSS/VDS and their respective portgroups. To ensure things are connected properly after a reboot you will need to add something like the following in /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh which re-links the USB NIC along with the individual portgroups as shown in the example below

[root@ra-vmware8-01:~] vi /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh
esxcfg-vswitch -L vusb0 vSwitch0
esxcfg-vswitch -M vusb0 -p „Management Network“ vSwitch0
esxcfg-vswitch -M vusb0 -p „VM Network“ vSwitch0
esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add -u vusb0 -v vSwitch0

[root@ra-vmware8-01:~] /sbin/auto-backup.sh
— /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh
+++ /tmp/auto-backup.137476//etc/rc.local.d/local.sh
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh ++group=host/vim/vmvisor/boot
–
-# local configuration options
–
-# Note: modify at your own risk! If you do/use anything in this
-# script that is not part of a stable API (relying on files to be in
-# specific places, specific tools, specific output, etc) there is a
-# possibility you will end up with a broken system after patching or
-# upgrading. Changes are not supported unless under direction of
-# VMware support.
–
-# Note: This script will not be run when UEFI secure boot is enabled.
–
–
-esxcfg-vswitch -L vusb0 vSwitch0
-esxcfg-vswitch -M vusb0 -p „Management Network“ vSwitch0
-esxcfg-vswitch -M vusb0 -p „VM Network“ vSwitch0
–
-exit 0
Bootbank lock is /tmp/86cb9330-264e48e6-2ca4-4bec9145294a.lck
Saving current state in /bootbank
Creating ConfigStore Backup
Locking esx.conf
Creating archive
Unlocked esx.conf
Using key ID 19efd047-dfbc-4c89-beeb-787f578b9e48 to encrypt
Clock updated.
Time: 19:25:28 Date: 12/19/2022 UTC
[root@ra-vmware8-01:~]

[root@ra-vmware8-01:~] esxcli network nic list
Name PCI Device Driver Admin Status Link Status Speed Duplex MAC Address MTU Description
—– ———- —— ———— ———– —– —— —————– —- ———–
vusb0 Pseudo uether Up Up 1000 Full a0:ce:c8:87:85:96 1500 ASIX AX88179A
[root@ra-vmware8-01:~]

Prerequisites:
PowerCLI 13 (v13 required for ESXi 8 support)
ESXi 8 depot zip file (Offline Bundle)
USB Network native driver zip file (Offline Bundle)

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> cd C:\esxi

PS C:\esxi>

PS C:\esxi> Add-EsxSoftwareDepot https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

PS C:\esxi> Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile „ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard“ -ExportToBundle -filepath ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard.zip

PS C:\esxi> Remove-EsxSoftwareDepot https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

PS C:\esxi> Add-EsxSoftwareDepot .\ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard.zip

PS C:\esxi> Add-EsxSoftwareDepot .\ESXi800-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-61054763-component-20826251.zip

PS C:\esxi> New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile „ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard“ -name „ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-USBNIC“ -Vendor „virten.net“

PS C:\esxi> Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile „ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-USBNIC“ -SoftwarePackage „vmkusb-nic-fling“

PS C:\esxi> Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile „ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-USBNIC“ -ExportToIso -filepath ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-USBNIC.iso

PS C:\esxi> Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile „ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-USBNIC“ -ExportToBundle -filepath ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-USBNIC.zip

VMware vSphere 8.0 – the command line interface esxcli has been extended with new features

VMware vSphere 8.0 – Download Links Available

Product Evaluation Center for VMware vSphere 8

VMware vSphere 8 – Download links for ESXi 8 and vCenter Server 8