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ESXi on Intel NUC 12 Extreme (Dragon Canyon)

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As teased back in January, Intel has been working on a new Intel NUC ...

Today, Intel has officially launched one of their new 12th generation Intel NUCs called the Intel NUC 12 Extreme formally code named Dragon Canyon. Some may also notice that the Intel NUC 12 Extreme looks very similiar to last years Intel NUC 11 Extreme (Beast Canyon), but there are definitely a number of differences both internally and externally.

Here is your first look at the new Intel NUC 12 Extreme and what it means for those interested in using it for a VMware Homelab.

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First look at the Supermicro E100-12T

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I first came to learn about Supermicro's E100-9W platform last year, which I had first written about here. The E100-9W is a fanless kit that is part of Supermicro's Embedded IoT family and targets similiar use cases to the Intel NUC such as Industrial Automation, Retail, Smart Medical Systems, Kiosks and Digital Signage. Although the E100-9W was just released in 2020, it was actually using a much older Intel 8th Generation CPU due to some constraints with Intel's embedded CPU roadmap.

Supermicro did mention last year that a Tiger Lake-based model was in the works and last week, I just got my hands on a pre-production unit for their 2nd generation of this platform called the E100-12T.

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Considerations for future vSphere Homelabs due to upcoming removal of SD card/USB support for ESXi

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In case you have not heard the news, VMware had recently published a new knowledge base article (KB 85685) outlining details for the future removal of SD card/USB as a standalone boot device for ESXi.

If you have not read the KB, please take a few minutes and carefully read the article, especially as you think about future hardware upgrades and purchases.

There has certainly been no shortage of discussions and debates since the publishing of the VMware KB. One topic that I know many of you have been wondering and asking about is what is the impact to vSphere Homelabs? This was something that had already crossed my mind after I first read the KB and I was thinking about this a bit more this week and specifically some of the potential options that are available to customers right now but also some of the considerations you may want to account for in with future homelab upgrades.

Disclaimer: These are my own personal opinions and do not reflect any official guidance or recommendations from VMware.

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