Hello,
I am a long time user of Astaro Security Gateway and both an employee of VMware and the author of the VMware vSphere Jumpstart and Plan and Design kits.
In working with the beta running on VMware ESX 4 and ESX 4i, I've noticed there is support only for the Flexible and VMXNET-2 'enhanced' network adapters. This results in terrible performance as neither virtual network card is optimized nor running at gigabit speeds.
The installer actually only seems to support the Flexible adapter, as it does not recognize VMXNET-2 enhanced. However, if VMXNET-2 enhanced adapters are added post-installation, they do function, as poorly as the Flexible (PCNET32 Lance).
The installer does identify the Intel E1000 virtual NIC but it does not function after installation. Adding an adapter to an installed system after the fact also does not work as the adapter is not recognized by the system.
Attempting to use the latest, VMXNET3 adapter results in no network cards being identified during installation. And as with the Intel E1000, attempting to add it after the fact also does not result in it being identified by the system.
Unfortunately and by design, the ASG does not ship with the components required to perform a VMware Tools update or reinstallation. (GCC, etc...). The fix for this is should be simple and straightforward: compile and pre-add either the VMware vSphere 4 drivers\tools or provide support for Intel E1000 adding the appropriate driver.
In its current form, the performance of virtualized ASG Beta 7.470 is so degraded that it is usable but not functionally viable. I would be happy to help sort this out so that performance on vSphere is on par with physical before the end of the beta. Please let me know if there's anything I can do. I have a complete vSphere test lab up and running with the latest ASG Beta.
Mark Ewert
WWSE VMware PSO Practice and Development
