WilliamLam.com

ESXi on GMKtec EVO-X1 with AMD Ryzen AI Pro 300 Series (formally Strix Point)

by // 7 Comments

My experiences with small form factor (SFF) systems and Mini PCs over the years have primarily involved Intel-based systems, as they have been the most capable and compatible with the VMware ESXi Hypervisor—especially when it comes to onboard networking options.

Intel's introduction of their Hybrid CPU core architecture starting with 12th Gen (Alder Lake) and continues with 13th Gen (Raptor Lake), 14th Gen (Meteor Lake), and now 15th Gen (Arrow Lake), presents a unique challenge for running ESXi.

When AMD announced their Ryzen AI 300 Series processors (formally codenamed Strix Point) based on their new Zen 5 architecture, I was pretty excited with their approach to a "Hybrid" processor:

AMD's approach to its 'compact' Zen 5c cores is inherently different than Intel's approach with its e-cores. Like Intel's E-cores, AMD's Zen 5c cores are designed to consume less space on a processor die...But the similarities end there. Unlike Intel, AMD employs the same microarchitecture and supports the same features with its smaller cores.

Since both the Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores contain the exact same CPU features, they would be considered uniform cores unlike the Intel platform, which now includes three different core types (Performance, Efficiency & Low-Power Efficiency), requiring additional workarounds to be able to utilize most of the cores available on the SoC.

While there is currently only a handful of Ryzen AI Pro 300 Series kits that are available for purchase, I was fortunate to get hands on with one from a company called GMKtec, who is a relatively new player in the small form factor market. I have personally never used a GMKtec system before, so I was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.


Disclaimer: As of publishing this blog post, a fellow colleague has not had any luck in contacting GMKtec to initiate a return, they have been completely non-responsive for several weeks now. I have also observed simliar negative feedback on various Reddit threads, which is certainly concerning for potential prospects. Users may want to consider purchasing GMKtec systems using Amazon, rather than directly from the vendor in case you need an exchange or return.

[Read more...]

Enhancements to VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) & vSphere Automated Lab Deployment Scripts

by // 2 Comments

Simplicity is something I try to strive for when creating automation, whether that is for myself or for our customers. When I develop a script, I try to keep everything within a single file, so that it is easy to share and consume. As a script increases in functionality, it may be useful to break out some of its functions, typically libraries or modules.

I was recently debugging an issue with my popular automated lab deployment script for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and while looking through the script that the user had been using, I found numerous variables that were commented out and replaced with their own values, which looked like they had different configuration and environments where they were using this single script.

It then hit me, why have I not considered externalizing all the variables that the script relied on, such that a user could easily supply different configuration options without needing to edit the primary deployment script!? ?

[Read more...]

vSAN ESA hardware mock VIB for physical ESXi deployment for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)

by // Leave a Comment

Several weeks back I had shared a solution in which you can install a hardware mock VIB for Nested ESXi when using vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) and VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) to work around the vSAN ESA certified disks pre-check validations.


While the majority of my testing uses Nested ESXi, I have recently been deploying a physical VCF environment and I due to the limited number of NVMe devices, I wanted to use vSAN ESA for the VCF Management Domain but of course I would run into the same vSAN ESA certified disks pre-check validations, which would prevent the installer from proceeding.

I was hoping that I could also use the mocking method to allow my physical deployment but after some trial and error, I ran into inconsistent behaviors and after speaking with Engineering, I came to learn that the existing solution would also apply to a physical ESXi deployment as the physical storage controllers are made hidden by the mocking method and as long as you have vSAN ESA capable NVMe devices, it should allow vSAN ESA HCL pre-check to pass and continue with the installation!

[Read more...]