WilliamLam.com

Search Results for: intel NUC

Modding an NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada (20GB VRAM) into Minisforum MS-A2

by // 5 Comments

The Minisforum MS-A2 has been my go to platform for running an optimized and fully functional VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 lab environment. From vSAN ESA to NSX VPC to vSphere Kubernetes Service to VCF Automation to Data Services Manager, it runs it all!

Over the past couple of weeks, I had also been experimenting with running VMware Private AI Services (PAIS) using the MS-A2. For those with an eye for detail, may have noticed that the NVIDIA GPU requirement was actually being satisfied by an ASUS NUC 14 Performance, which includes an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (8GB VRAM). The ASUS NUC was purely for validation and prototyping purposes to ensure that I could actually run PAIS before investing in a more capable and certainly more expensive NVIDIA GPU 🤑

One of the lesser known capabilities of the MS-A2 is the ability to add a half-height PCIe device and from the very beginning when I had first heard about the MS-A2, my plan and hope was to be able to add an NVIDIA GPU to the system!

[Read more...]

Ultimate Lab Resource for VCF 9.0

by // 12 Comments

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! ?

[Read more...]

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) on Minisforum MS-A2

by // 27 Comments

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 ?

UPDATE (05/01/26) - To view CPU temperature within vSphere UI, be sure to install the AMD Zen4/Zen5 IPMI Thermal Driver for ESX Fling

UPDATE (04/29/26) - Please make sure to apply the entropy source change or you may observe higher than normal CPU utilization

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!)

[Read more...]