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Ultimate Lab Resource for VCF 9.0

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Since the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, you may have seen a few blogs from me ?

To help folks digest all the resources for deploying and running VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 in a lab environment, I have put this blog post together to summarize the various considerations and/or tweaks that will allow you to get the full experience of VCF 9.0 for non-production/commercial usage.

Make sure you to bookmark this page as I will continue to add new updates, I still have a number of backlog items to share ... but for now that will have to wait as I am in need of some PTO, which starts tomorrow! ?

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VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) on ASUS NUC 15 Pro (Cyber Canyon)

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With the release of ASUS’s 15th Generation NUCs powered by Intel’s new Core Ultra 2 processors (codenamed Arrow Lake), Intel has made yet another architectural change by dropping the long-standing Hyper-Threading feature from the Performance cores (P-cores), first introduced over two decades ago.


While the verdict is still out regarding this change, I was able to get hands on with an ASUS NUC 15 Pro (formally known as Cyber Canyon) to see what impacts it might have for running ESXi and even VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), since that has been a frequent question from many since VCF 9.0 went GA last week.

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VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) on Minisforum MS-A2

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Since launching the MS-01 in 2024, Minisforum has steadily gained popularity for its unique design that sets it apart from established players in the small form factor (SFF) market. Following the successful launch of the MS-01, an Intel-based system, Minisforum had also released an AMD variant in the same form factor called the MS-A1.

Unlike the MS-01 which was fully compatible with VMware ESXi and widely used by the VMware community to deploy the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform, the MS-A1 was less ideal due to its use of Realtek-based network adapters, which are not compatible with ESXi.


When Minisforum announced the MS-A2 earlier this year at CES 2025, a proper successor to the MS-01, it generated a lot of excitement within the VMware community, especially for those looking to refresh their lab in preparation for the latest VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) release!

After several months of waiting, the MS-A2 has finally arrived! I have been spending countless hours experimenting with the MS-A2 using different configurations to understand whether it would be an ideal kit for running our newest VCF 9.0 release ?

ProTip: Orders directly from Minisforum may have a longer lead time than with Amazon (this MS-A2 7945HX Barebones kit is currently showing a delivery of next week!)

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