The only letdown with Intel NUC is the only one Ethernet adapter. Luckily thanks to some great minds out there there is a way out of this.
All is needed is a Startech USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (Part Number: USB31000S) and the USB driver for ESXI downloadable from here: https://github.com/lamw/ax88179_178a-esxi
UPDATE (1/1/18) – Updated driver for ESXi 6.5, details here.
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- Download the driver – ESXI 6u2 driver – see above github link
- Transfer the vib file to your ESXI host
scp vghetto-ax88179-esxi60u2.vib root@esxi:/
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- Ensure that your NUC has USB 3 adapter enabled
[root@esxi:~] lsusb Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0b95:1790 ASIX Electronics Corp. AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet Bus 001 Device 005: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp. Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0951:1665 Kingston Technology Digital DataTraveler SE9 64GB Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
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- Install the vib driver:
[root@esxi:~] esxcli software vib install -v /vghetto-ax88179-esxi60u2.vib -f Installation Result Message: Operation finished successfully. Reboot Required: false VIBs Installed: virtuallyGhetto_bootbank_vghetto-ax88179-esxi60u2_6.0.0-1.0.0 VIBs Removed: VIBs Skipped:
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- Verify that it was installed correctly:
[root@esxi:~] esxcli network nic list Name PCI Device Driver Admin Status Link Status Speed Duplex MAC Address MTU Description ------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ----------- ----- ------ ----------------- ---- -------------------------------------------- vmnic0 0000:00:1f.6 e1000e Up Up 1000 Full b8:ae:ed:7d:e2:d5 1500 Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I219-V vusb0 Pseudo ax88179_178a Up Up 1000 Full 00:24:9b:16:33:f8 1500 Unknown Unknown
