Realtek 8168/8111/8411/8118 based NICs on Vmware EXSI 6.7
This guide will help you install the drivers for Realtek 8168/8111/8411/8118 based NICs so you can use those network cards on vmware exsi 6.7 hosts.
Googling you may have found the net51-drivers package, or even tried it and had it fail, but that is out of date for esxi 6.7.
Use the following:
Online installation
If your host is already installed and has a direct Internet connection then you can install it from an ESXi shell by running the following commands:
esxcli software acceptance set -level=CommunitySupported
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
esxcli software vib install -n net55-r8168 -d http://vibsdepot.v-front.de
esxcli software vib install -n net55-r8169 -d http://vibsdepot.v-front.de
esxcli software vib install -n net55-sky2 -d http://vibsdepot.v-front.de
Offline installation
If you do not have network connectivity then you can use the available offline bundles from the above links.
-
unzip the bundle on your computer.
-
move/copy the .vib file to any location on the esxi. (for example /tmp)
-
run the esxcli command with complete path to the vib file.
esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/xxxxxxxxxxx.vib
- If a reboot is required, reboot the esxi host.