Windows Server 2016+ with VMware Paravirtual SCSI Controller

Owned by JM Lopez
Last updated: Feb 27, 2023
3 min read

Introduction

When you deploy a virtual machine selecting High IO on the ITS Private Cloud Portal or the option --high-io in the VSS Command Line Interface, the virtual machine will be created with the VMware Paravirtual SCSI Controller, which will provide higher throughput and lower  CPU utilization - according to VMware:

PVSCSI adapters are high-performance storage adapters that can result in greater throughput and lower CPU utilization. PVSCSI adapters are best for environments, especially SAN environments, where hardware or applications drive a very high amount of I/O throughput. The VMware PVSCSI adapter driver is also compatible with the Windows Storport storage driver. PVSCSI adapters are not suitable for DAS environments. VMware Paravirtual SCSI adapters are high-performance storage adapters that can result in greater throughput and lower CPU utilization.

The PVSCSI adapter offers a significant reduction in CPU utilization as well as potentially increased throughput compared to the default virtual storage adapters, and is thus the best choice for environments with very I/O-intensive guest applications.

For *nix operating systems this may not be a problem, however when trying to install Windows 201 on a virtual machine with VMware Paravirtual SCSI Controllers, the installer will NOT be able to detect disks. This is because Windows does not come with the required drivers.

The following section guides through the process of loading the drivers on the VM by creating an additional CD/DVD unit with the VSS Command Line Interface. Summarizing we will:

  1. Power Off the VM.

  2. Create a CD/DVD unit

  3. Mount the VMware Tools installer (windows.iso).

  4. Load the Driver in the Windows installer.

Step-by-step guide

Using https://vss-cli.eis.utoronto.ca or a local VSS CLI install

  1. Execute the following command to power off the virtual machine:

    vss-cli compute vm set --wait VM-NAME state -c off id : 18551 status : IN_PROGRESS task_id : 842eddab-5682-40b3-8d34-387838362bae message : Request has been accepted for processing ⏳ Waiting for request 18551 to complete... 🎉 Request 18551 completed successfully: warnings : New state is poweredOff errors :



  2. Create a new CD/DVD unit backed by the VMware Tools ISO image (windows.iso)

    vss-cli compute vm set --wait VM-NAME cd mk --backing windows.iso id : 18552 status : IN_PROGRESS task_id : 2eabee34-54b7-4738-987e-089362e03414 message : Request has been accepted for processing ⏳ Waiting for request 18552 to complete... 🎉 Request 18552 completed successfully: warnings : CD/DVD drive 2 ([] /vmimages/tools-isoimages/windows.iso) -> IDE 0:1 created errors :



  3. Execute the following command to power ON the virtual machine:

    vss-cli compute vm set --wait VM-NAME state -c on id : 18553 status : IN_PROGRESS task_id : 842eddab-5682-40b3-8d34-387838362bae message : Request has been accepted for processing ⏳ Waiting for request 18551 to complete... 🎉 Request 18553 completed successfully: warnings : New state is poweredOn errors :



  4. Launch the Console, proceed with the Windows install and load the drivers as follows:

  5. Once the driver loads properly, you can proceed with the install.

 





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