Hi all!

 

I'm evaluating Unraid instead of my current NAS + ESXi combination. Because of this I'm currently (temporarily) running Unraid virtualized inside an ESXi Host. I have a ESXi bridged network interface connected to the Unraid VM and passed a USB disk through that Unraid can access for its array (currently just one disc for testing purposes). I have a feeling that my problem is caused by the extra virtualization layer of ESXi, but I still do not get why this is not working.

 

I have searched for simmilar problems and tried everything proposed (most hits were br0/virbr0 related and suggested enabling bridging).

 

Here's the rest of my setup:

 

Inside Unraid I try to run a VM. This is working; except networking. I cannot get a DHCP lease from my router. All other devices and VMs running insided ESXi do receive an IP address by DHCP assignment.

 

Unraid network configuration:

• Unraid version 7.0.1
• IP assignment: currently static (192.168.1.187/24), but also tested DHCP and this worked fine
• Bonding: disabled (also tried enabled and selected my only network interface available)
• Bridging: enabled
• Bridging members: eth0
• Network protocol: ipv4 only
• Enable VLANs: no

Internet on the Unraid host works fine; app/plugin installation works, docker containers can reach the internet, etc.. 🙂

 

I have installed a HomeAssistant VM by copying the prepared QCOW2 image from the HomeAssistant team. The VM boots fine, everything seems to be working except networking.

 

HomeAssistant relevant VM settings:

• VM Name: Linux
• Machine type: i440fx-9.1
• Network source: br0 (when using virbr0)
• Network model: e1000 (also tried VirtIO)

 

I cannot think of anything else I could try. I'm currently waiting for some parts to build the new system and then I'm able to run Unraid bare metal; but best scenario would be that everything is prepared and I just have to mount the HDD in the system and everything 'just' works 🙂

 

Attached is my diagnostic output.

 

 

tower-diagnostics-20250403-2050.zip

Edited April 3, 20251 yr by davasch
typos

After installing Unraid on the bare metal system everything is working as expected without any change to the configuration. So it had to be an ESXi / Unraid configuration issue. Happy it is working now!