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How to bootstrap ESXi compute only node and connect to vSAN HCI Mesh?

01.31.2023 by William Lam // Leave a Comment

After documenting the process for bootstrapping vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) using my Intel NUC 12 Pro, I was looking for an easier way to share my physical vSAN storage, which is powered by a single Supermicro E200-8D, to other physical ESXi hosts for testing purposes.

I had recently been playing with the vSAN HCI Mesh feature, which was launched back in 2020, as I was running out of spare NVMe devices when needing to test different physical hardware kits. While my use case for the storage is typically short lived, it means I do not have to play musical chairs with the limited number of NVMe devices I have installed in the various kits I have.

The vSphere UI in vCenter Server already provides a very simple workflow to mount a remote vSAN storage on an ESXi compute-only node, but I was also looking at this from a bootstrapping point of view and what if vCenter Server was not deployed or even available? Could I still make this work? After a bit of trial and error, I was able to figure out this can be accomplished by using a series of ESXCLI commands!

[Read more...]

Categories // Automation, ESXi, Home Lab, VSAN, vSphere 7.0, vSphere 8.0 Tags // Express Storage Architecture, HCI Mesh, VSAN, VSAN 8

Quick Tip - Easily move or copy VMs between two Free ESXi hosts?

01.30.2023 by William Lam // 6 Comments

There are many options when it comes to moving or copying Virtual Machine(s) across two ESXi hosts that are fully licensed and can be managed by a vCenter Server, but what about standalone ESXi hosts that only use the Free ESXi Hypervisor license?

Luckily, we have a couple of native solutions from VMware that not only work, but they are completely free to use, which some folks may not even realize!

[Read more...]

Categories // Automation, ESXi, vSphere 7.0, vSphere 8.0 Tags // free esxi, ovftool, vCenter Converter

ESXi with Intel Arc 750 / 770 GPU

01.24.2023 by William Lam // Leave a Comment

I have to say, the @IntelGraphics team does a very nice job on their packaging!

Look forward to kicking the tires on their new Arc GPUs, luckily this fits nicely in the Intel 12 Extreme NUC (Dragon Canyon) 😁 pic.twitter.com/DHTC93pzmc

— William Lam (@*protected email*) (@lamw) January 21, 2023

I recently had the opportunity to play with one of Intel's Arc 7 series discrete GPU (A750), which is part of the new Intel Arc desktop graphics product line, that was just released last Fall. While the primary audience for the Intel Arc graphics is for creators and desktop gaming, I was really interested in its applicability for a vSphere-based environment which also has a number of interesting use cases for graphics from Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), video transcoding/rendering, AI/ML, Kubernetes, general purpose graphics acceleration and even basic gaming to name a few.

While there are many GPU options in the market for vSphere, depending on your needs and budget, the new Intel's new Arc 7 series could be a nice modern option as it is touted to be both price and performance competitive with other offerings within the market.

[Read more...]

Categories // ESXi, vSphere 7.0, vSphere 8.0 Tags // ESXi 7.0, ESXi 8.0, GPU, Intel Arc

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Author

William Lam is a Senior Staff Solution Architect working in the VMware Cloud team within the Cloud Infrastructure Business Group (CIBG) at VMware. He focuses on Cloud Native technologies, Automation, Integration and Operation for the VMware Cloud based Software Defined Datacenters (SDDC)

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Recent

  • Automated ESXi Installation with a USB Network Adapter using Kickstart 02/01/2023
  • How to bootstrap ESXi compute only node and connect to vSAN HCI Mesh? 01/31/2023
  • Quick Tip - Easily move or copy VMs between two Free ESXi hosts? 01/30/2023
  • vSphere with Tanzu using Intel Arc GPU 01/26/2023
  • Quick Tip - Automating allowed and not allowed Datastores for use with vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) 01/25/2023

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