I'm trying to load OS X in VM under ESXi 5.1 on 2012 Mac Mini 2.6 GHz 16 GB RAM. I have enabled the following devices for Direct Path (pass through):
00:1b.0 | Intel Corporation Panther Point High Definition Audio Controller
02:00.0 | Broadcom Corporation BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n
03:00.0 | Agere Systems FW643 PCIExpress1349b Controller (PHY/Link)
After enabling these devices for Direct Path, I rebooted the Mac Mini, and ESXi came back up fine with all of my VMs auto-starting correctly. I have now added these three controllers to the newly created OS X VM, so once I install OS X (10.8.2) Mountain Lion in this VM, I'm hoping to get audio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Firewire directly passed to the Mountain Lion VM. Later, I'm hoping to enable video for Direct Path to use this system not just as a headless ESXi server but also as a OS X desktop.
I have a USB stick that I created for booting and installing OS 10.8.2 directly from the USB stick. I have loaded 10.8.2 on a few physical Macs using this USB stick. However, when I try to power up the OS X VM with the virtual USB device configured, the VM cannot find the installation media. I went to the ESXi EFI and looked at the available boot devices, but USB is not listed among them. If I enable USB for Direct Path (pass through), would I be able to boot off this USB stick and load Mountain Lion from it? Also, there are two USB controllers listed in ESXi for my Mac Mini:
00:1a.0 | Intel Corporation Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
00:1d.0 | Intel Corporation Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
Which one should I enable for the Direct Path (pass through)? Is each controller responsible for two USB ports in the back of the Mac Mini or is one controller responsible for all 4 USB ports and the other one is for some internal connectivity via USB?
I'd love to hear some advice. Because I don't know what each of these USB Enhnaced Host Controllers is responsible for, I'm a little apprehensive about enabling one (or both) of them for Direct Path lest should ESXi hang on the reboot. I'm afraid I may not be able to recover ESXi if something like this should happen.
Thanks!