Since a couple of versions, vSphere comes with an erase function in the GUI. This function deletes all partitions to reuse disks with vSAN for example. However, data is not overwritten and can be restored.
How To Secure Erase ESXi Disks (HPE or Generic Hardware)
Posted by fgrehl
on November 12, 2018
2 comments
VMware ESXi 6.7 Installation on Intel NUC8i7HNK and NUC8i7HVK
Posted by fgrehl
on November 2, 2018
2 comments
When you try to install VMware ESXi 6.7 on the smaller version of the 8th Gen Hades Canyon Intel NUC (NUC8i7HNK), the installer fails to boot with the following error message:
Shutting down firmware services...
Using 'simple offset' UEFI RTS mapping policy
The problem only happens with the NUC8i7HNK, not its larger brother NUC8i7HVK.
It took a couple month and a lot of people were trying to get it up and running (eg. on Reddit) but the problem was finally fixed by Intel within BIOS Version 51.
- NUC8i7HNK - Core i7‑8705G - Works with BIOS Version 51
- NUC8i7HVK - Core i7‑8809G - Works out of the box
7th Gen NUC Remote Management with KVM using vPro AMT
Posted by fgrehl
on May 23, 2018
10 comments
Intel's latest 7th Gen Dawson Canyon NUCs are equipped with AMT vPro Technology. Intel AMT (Active Management Technology) allows remote management including a KVM Console. vPro is available in NUCs with i7 and i5 CPUs. NUCs with i3 CPUs do not have vPro Technology.
7th Gen NUCs with vPro Technology:
- NUC7i7DNHE
- NUC7i7DNKE
- NUC7i5DNHE
- NUC7i5DNKE
Activation and access to the Remote Console/KVM are a little bit hidden. This post explains how to enable and use the remote management. Read more »
ESXi on 7th Gen Intel NUC (Kaby Lake - Dawson Canyon)
Posted by fgrehl
on May 16, 2018
22 comments
Intel launched a commercial version of their 7th Gen NUCs. The new Dawson Canyon named NUCs are available with vPro technology which allows you to manage NUCs remotely. NUCs are not officially supported by VMware but they are very widespread in many homelabs or test environments. They are small, silent, transportable and have a very low power consumption, making it a great server for your homelab. Generation 7 Dawson Canyon NUCs are available with i3, i5 and i7 CPUs but only i5 and i7 are equipped with IIntel's vPro Technology. The i3 comes without vPro and has an identical CPU than the Baby Canyon. The i7 has a powerful 4 Core Kaby Lake-R CPU which give a great performance boost.
vCenter Service Appliance 6.7 Tips and Tricks
Posted by fgrehl
on May 4, 2018
5 comments
VMware is moving their vCenter Server from Windows to the Linux based Photon OS. The following tips and tricks might come handy when working with the vCenter Service Appliance 6.7:
- Enable SSH
- File Transfer with SCP/SFTP
- Public Key Authentication
- Disable or Increase Shell Session Timeout
- Password expiration
- Reset vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 root password
- Create a Backup Job
- Certificate Warning
Free ESXi 6.7 - How to Download and get License Keys
Posted by fgrehl
on May 3, 2018
No comments
vSphere 6.7 has been released and as known from previous versions, VMware provides a free version of their Hypervisor ESXi for everyone again. The license key can be created for free at VMware's website. It has no expiration date. The binaries you will receive as "Free Hypervisor" are 100% identical to the paid version but with some software limitations.
Tech Specs and Limitations
- No commercial support (But great community support)
- Free ESXi cannot be added to a vCenter Server
- Some API functionality is missing
- No physical CPU limitation
- Number of logical CPUs per host: 480
- Maximum vCPUs per virtual machine: 8
Other limitations like the 32GB Memory or 2 CPU Socket limit are no longer in place.
VMware ESXi 6.7 - IO Devices not certified for upgrade
Posted by fgrehl
on May 2, 2018
No comments
Beside Server Hardware, also double check if your IO Devices (eg. NIC, HBA,..) are supported when updating ESXi hosts from VMware vSphere 6.5 to 6.7. The following devices were supported in vSphere 6.5 but are according to VMware's HCL not (yet) supported in vSphere 6.7.
- Not supported does not say that it does not work.
- The list has been created with the help of my IO-Devices HCL in JSON Format.
- Did I miss something? Please comment.
VMware ESXi 6.7 - Hardware not yet certified for upgrade
Posted by fgrehl
on May 1, 2018
2 comments
Double check your vendor support when updating ESXi hosts from to vSphere 6.7. Some systems have not been certified by their vendor yet. The following servers were supported in vSphere 6.5 but are according to VMware's HCL not yet supported in vSphere 6.7.
Your server is listed and you want to upgrade?
- Usually, the list gets smaller a couple of weeks after a new vSphere version has been released. I will update this post when I notice changes.
- Not supported does not say that it does not work.
- Servers get certified by their vendor, not VMware. If you want a server to get certified, ask your vendor.
- Vendor support matrices sometimes differ from VMware HCL. Please ask your vendor or VMware whether you are allowed to upgrade.
- The list has been created with the help of my HCL in JSON Format.
- Follow the comments to get notified of updates.
- Did I miss something? Please comment.
VMware vSphere 6.7 Configuration Maximums Changes
Posted by fgrehl
on April 30, 2018
No comments
VMware vSphere 6.7 offers increased scalability. You can see a comparison against all previous versions at my ESX and vCenter Configuration Maximums page. Changes in VMware vSphere 6.7 are:
Virtual Machine Maximums
| vSphere 6.7 | vSphere 6.5 | vSphere 6.0 | |
| NVDIMM controllers | 1 | N/A | N/A |
| Non-volatile Memory | 1 TB | N/A | N/A |
| Virtual SCSI targets per virtual SCSI adapter | 64 | 15 | 15 |
| Virtual SCSI targets per Virtual Machine | 256 | 64 | 64 |
| Virtual RDMA Adapters per Virtual Machine | 1 | N/A | N/A |
ESXi Host Maximums
| vSphere 6.7 | vSphere 6.5 | vSphere 6.0 | |
| Maximum Non-volatile memory per host | 1 TB | N/A | N/A |
| Logical CPUs per host | 768 | 576 | 480 |
| Maximum RAM per host | 16 TB | 12 TB | 12 TB |
| Number of total paths on a server | 4096 | 2048 | 1024 |
| LUNs per server | 1024 | 512 | 256 |
| Volumes per host | 1024 | 512 | 256 |
Fault Tolerance Maximums
| vSphere 6.7 | vSphere 6.5 | vSphere 6.0 | |
| Virtual CPUs per virtual machine | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Virtual Memory per virtual machine | 128 GB | 64 GB | 64 GB |
vCenter Server Maximums
| vSphere 6.7 | vSphere 6.5 | vSphere 6.0 | |
| Hosts in linked vCenter Servers | 5000 | 4000 | 4000 |
| Powered on virtual machines in linked vCenter | 50000 | 30000 | 30000 |
| Registered virtual machines in linked vCenter | 70000 | 50000 | 50000 |
Homelab - Will ESXi 6.7 run on Intel NUC?
Posted by fgrehl
on April 27, 2018
19 comments
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7 is here and while you might want to wait before you upgrade your production, it's time to explore the new features in your Homelab. I've received a few questions on whether it is safe to upgrade.
Short answer
ESXi 6.7 will run on 5th, 6th and 6th Gen NUCs just as ESXi 6.5
Long answer...
