Hi,

I'm new to the forum since i recently got an ESXi 4.1 U1 setup with a core i3 2100, 16GB ram. Motherboard DP67BAB3.

I know that i3 does not support intel vt-d (if I knew this VMDirectPath technology existed I would have never bought a core i3).

My idea here is to run a firewall inside a VM, for that, I plan to use VMDirectPath from the VM to the network controller hardware directly because I dont trust ESXi software layer for handling attacks. It can be dangerously vulnerable. Am I right here? Is it safe to VMDirectPath a network card and use a VM as a firewall?

Does VMDirectPath support cheap fast ethernet PCI cards like the ones with realtek 8139c? If not, does it support the 8169 or intel cheap desktop nics?? (right now I have onboard e1000e and pci 8169 running ok attached to vSwitches using modded drivers, no vmdirectpath tested due to lack of vt-d).