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How to install PowerCLI 13.0 and use new Image Builder & Auto Deploy cmdlets on Apple Silicon?

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PowerCLI 13.0 was just released about a week ago and I have been using it like crazy, especially with the new Image Builder and Auto Deploy cmdlets, which have now been ported over to PowerShell Core and finally removing the Windows-only dependency for these specific cmdlets! 😀

I have both an x86 macOS system and the new Apple Silicon M1 (Arm) and of course, I wanted to have PowerCLI running on both systems! While the installation/upgrade of PowerCLI for x86 is trivial, it was definitely less so on the M1. Part of the challenge is also due to the new requirement with latest PowerCLI 13.0 release, which folks should be aware of as it does have additional implications in how you manage and deploy PowerCLI within your organizations.

PowerCLI 13.0 now has an external dependency on Python 3.7.x runtime, which is specific when needing to use the new Image Builder and Auto Deploy cmdlets. The official PowerCLI User Guide contains instructions on how to install the Python runtime and the required packages across the three OS platforms (Windows, macOS and Linux). While the external dependency of Python is new, the requirement for Python to use these cmdlets has always been there and earlier releases of PowerCLI, it was just packaged as part of PowerCLI.

I only bring up this detail because it ultimately helped me figure out how to get PowerCLI 13.0 working on the Apple M1, especially with the additional Python requirement which includes one specific shared library that is dependent on the x86 architecture.

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How to install Windows 11 Arm with a vTPM using ESXi-Arm v1.11 

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The ESXi-Arm team has just released v1.11 of the ESXi-Arm Fling and one of the most exciting new capability is that you can now run Windows 11 Arm using an ESXi VM! There is also a TON of new features, so definitely check out the official ESXi-Arm Blog post announcement for more details.

One of the requirements for running Windows 11 Arm is the need for a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). Luckily, the latest ESXi-Arm v1.11 also now supports adding a vTPM to a guest and a requirement for setting this is a Key Management Server (KMS). Currently, the ESXi-Arm Fling is based on vSphere 7.0 (GA) and you can either use an existing compatible KMS (which you can look through VMware KMS Compatibility List) or for lab/testing purposes, you can use my KMIP Docker Container, which was also updated recently to support both amd64 and arch64 architecture.

For those interested in quickly setting this up and using my KMIP Docker Container for the KMS component, below is a quick walkthrough on how to set this up.

Note: While vSphere 7.0 Update 2 introduced an embedded Native Key Provider (NKP) within vCenter Server, it can not be used with ESXi-Arm as both ESXi and vCenter must be running 7.0 Update 2 and the ESXi-Arm Fling is based on 7.0 GA.

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ESXi running in unexpected places ...

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I am still blown away by the diversity of hardware platforms and environments that our customers continue to run their mission critical workloads using ESXi, VMware's Enterprise Type-1 Hypervisor. VMware ESXi is literally deployed in every market segment and vertical that you can imagine and even ones that you may not think of across land ⛰️, air 🛫, sea 🛳️ and even space 🚀.

I still vividly remember back in 2012, when ESXi was able to run on an Apple Mac Mini and how that enabled a new class of use cases for accelerated development and testing of iOS and MacOS applications that was just never possible before. In fact, this also enabled our partners like MacStadium, one of the largest Virtualized MacOS infrastructure provider running on VMware to deliever this offering as-a-service. Most recently, I also learned the popular Github Actions, specifically when using MacOS virtual environments, that it was also leveraging VMware under the hood which is very cool if you ask me!?

Another memorable moment was in 2018, a huge 🎤👊 at our VMworld conference when Ray O'Farrell (former VMware CTO) picked up a tiny device, which we learned was a Raspberry Pi running ESXi and VMware finally introduced to the world our ESXi-Arm initiative.

The ESXi Hypervisor has certainly come a long way from the early days of the VMware Hardware Compatibility (HCL) and VMware continues to expand into new markets and form factors like Data Processing Units (DPUs) as part of the recently announced Project Monterey. Edge computing is another area that is growing extremely rapidly and this recent article featuring our CEO Raghu states that "Edge computing is growing faster than Cloud" which will certainly drive further innovations with our ESXi platform to meet the needs of our customers.

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