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Nested

Here is a consolidated page on all the articles that I have written about Nested Virtualization.

All Nested ESXi Virtual Appliances

  • https://brcm.tech/flings

Installing ESX / ESXi in VM

  • Refresher on Nested ESXi Networking Requirements
  • How to install all versions of ESX and ESXi in VM?

VMware Cloud Foundation

  • Automated Lab Deployment Script updated to support VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1
  • Automated VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Workload Domain deployment using PowerVCF
  • Custom vSAN HCL JSON for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1 and vSAN ESA using Nested ESXi

VMware Cloud

  • Automated Nested Lab Deployment on SDDC Part 1: VMware Cloud on AWS
  • Automated Nested Lab Deployment on SDDC Part 2: Azure VMware Solution
  • Automated Nested Lab Deployment on SDDC Part 3: Google Cloud VMware Engine
  • Automated Nested Lab Deployment on SDDC Part 4: Oracle Cloud VMware Solution
  • Nested ESXi on VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC)
  • ESX 3.x on VMware Cloud on AWS? 

vSphere 8.0

  • vSphere & vSAN 8 Lab Deployment Script
  • Enabling vSAN 8 Express Storage Architecture (ESA) using Nested ESXi

vSphere 7.0

  • Simplified Nested ESXi installation in ESXi 7.0 Update 2 using HTTP Boot over VirtualEFI
  • Heads Up - Nested ESXi crashes in ESXi 7.0 running on older CPUs

vSphere 6.7

  • Native MAC Learning in vSphere 6.7 removes the need for Promiscuous mode for Nested ESXi
  • Nested ESXi 6.7 Virtual Appliance Updates
  • Leveraging Instant Clone in vSphere 6.7 for extremely fast Nested ESXi provisioning

vSphere 6.5

  • Nested ESXi Enhancements in vSphere 6.5
  • Virtual NVMe and Nested ESXi 6.5?
  • ESXi 6.5 Virtual Appliance is now available
  • vGhetto Automated vSphere Lab Deployment for vSphere 6.0u2 & vSphere 6.5
  • ESXi Learnswitch – Enhancement to the ESXi MAC Learn DvFilter
  • Updated Nested ESXi 6.0u3, 6.5d & 6.5u1 Virtual Appliances
  • New Nested ESXi 6.x Content Library

vSphere 6.0

  • How to configure an All-Flash VSAN 6.0 Configuration using Nested ESXi?
  • Updated VSAN 6.0 Nested ESXi OVF Templates for 64 Nodes, All-Flash Array & Fault Domain Testing
  • How to configure SMP-FT using Nested ESXi in vSphere 6?
  • VMware Tools is now pre-installed with Nested ESXi 6.0
  • Quick Tip – Upgrading VMware Tools for Nested ESXi 6.0
  • Subscribe to vGhetto Nested ESXi Template Content Library in vSphere 6.0
  • How to VMFork aka Instant Clone Nested ESXi?
  • Nested ESXi Virtual Appliance 6.x
  • vSphere 6.0 Update 2 hints at Nested ESXi support for Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) in the future
  • Updated Nested ESXi 6.0u3 & 6.5d Virtual Appliances
  • New Nested ESXi 6.x Content Library

vSphere / vCloud 5.x

  • Having Difficulties Enabling Nested ESXi in vSphere 5.1?
  • How to Enable Nested ESXi & Other Hypervisors in vSphere 5.1
  • How to Enable Nested ESXi & Other Hypervisors in vCloud Director 5.1
  • The Missing Piece In Creating Your Own Ghetto vSEL Cloud
  • How to Enable Support for Nested 64bit & Hyper-V VMs in vSphere 5
  • Nested ESXi Virtual Appliance 5.x

vCloud Air

  • Nested ESXi on vCloud Air (Promiscuous Mode not required)
  • How to deploy vSphere 6.0 (VCSA & ESXi) on vCloud Director and vCloud Air?

Additional Info Tips/Tricks

  • Enable TRIM/UNMAP from Nested vSAN OSA/ESA to physical vSAN OSA
  • Unable to power on vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) VM in Nested ESXi with no host is compatible with the virtual machine
  • GPU Passthrough with Nested ESXi
  • Using vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) to remediate Nested ESXi host with CPU on the host is not supported
  • Nested ESXi 5.1 Supports VMXNET3 Network Adapter Type
  • How to Configure Nested ESXi 5 to Support EVC Clusters
  • How to Enable Nested vFT (virtual Fault Tolerance) in vSphere 5
  • How to Install VMware VSA in Nested ESXi 5 Host Using the GUI
  • Cool Undocumented Features in vCloud Director 1.5
  • The Missing Piece In Creating Your Own Ghetto vSEL Cloud
  • Nested Virtualization APIs For vSphere & vCloud Director 5.1
  • How To Enable Nested ESXi Using VXLAN In vSphere & vCloud Director 
  • Will Intel’s VMCS Shadowing Feature Benefit VMware’s Nested Virtualization?
  • How to run Nested RHEV Hypervisor on ESXi? 
  • How to quickly setup and test VMware VSAN (Virtual SAN) using Nested ESXi
  • How to run Nested ESXi on top of a VSAN datastore? 
  • VMware Tools for Nested ESXi 
  • Why is Promiscuous Mode & Forged Transmits required for Nested ESXi?
  • How to properly clone a Nested ESXi VM?
  • Running Nested Xen Hypervisor with VMware Tools on ESXi
  • OVF template for creating Nested ESXi 3 or 32 node VSAN Cluster
  • How to run Nested ESXi on the vCloud Hybrid Service?
  • Do I need additional licenses for Nested ESXi?
  • ESXi MacLearn dvFilter - Improve Network/CPU performance when using Promiscuous Mode for Nested ESXi
  • How to run Qemu & KVM on ESXi?
  • Does the ESXi Mac Learn dvFilter work with Nested ESXi on NSX VXLAN’s?
  • VMware has the best platform to run latest Windows 10 Desktop, Server & Hyper-V Tech Preview!
  • Running Nested ESXi / VSAN Home Lab on Ravello
  • Using PowerCLI to invoke Guest Operations API to a Nested ESXi VM
  • VM serial logging to the rescue for capturing Nested ESXi PSOD
  • Running Nested ESXi, NSX-V or NSX-T on top of NSX-T
  • Configure NSX-T Enhanced Data path / Network Stack (ENS) for Nested ESXi
  • Distributed Power Management (DPM) with Nested ESXi
  • Emulating a Virtual USB storage device using Nested ESXi

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Thank Author

Author

William is Distinguished Platform Engineering Architect in the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division at Broadcom. His primary focus is helping customers and partners build, run and operate a modern Private Cloud using the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.

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Recent

  • VMUG Connect 2025 - Minimal VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.x in a Box  05/15/2025
  • Programmatically accessing the Broadcom Compatibility Guide (BCG) 05/06/2025
  • Quick Tip - Validating Broadcom Download Token  05/01/2025
  • Supported chipsets for the USB Network Native Driver for ESXi Fling 04/23/2025
  • vCenter Identity Federation with Authelia 04/16/2025

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