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VMware ESXi 3.5 - 8.0 Hypervisor Size Comparison

VMware's bare-metal hypervisor ESXi is in the market for 15 years now. During that time it has been continuously refined and new features like the Container Runtime in vSphere 7.0 have been added. In vSphere 8.0, a completely new ARM-based architecture has been introduced. In this article, I am going to have a look at how much the hypervisor footprint has been changed from ESXi 3.5 to ESXi 8.0.

  • ESXi 3.5 - 46,01 MB
  • ESXi 4.0 - 59,99 MB
  • ESXi 4.1 - 85,19 MB
  • ESXi 5.0 - 132,75 MB
  • ESXi 5.1 - 125,85 MB
  • ESXi 5.5 - 151,98 MB
  • ESXi 6.0 - 154,90 MB
  • ESXi 6.5 - 135,39 MB
  • ESXi 6.7 - 129,51 MB
  • ESXi 7.0 - 149,40 MB
  • ESXi 8.0 - 226,62 MB

Read More »VMware ESXi 3.5 - 8.0 Hypervisor Size Comparison

vSphere 8.0 Performance Counter Description

This is a list of all performance metrics that are available in vSphere vCenter Server 8.0. Performance counters can be viewed for Virtual Machines, Hosts, Clusters, Resource Pools, and other objects by opening Monitor > Performance > Advanced in the vSphere Client.

These performance counters can also be used for performance analysis with PowerCLI, Python or Perl.

PowerShell/PowerCLI

PS> Get-Stat -entity (Get-VM <VMNAME>) -realtime -stat "cpu.usage.average"

Python
vm_perf_example.py

Perl
esxcfg-perf.pl

 

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vCenter Server 8.0 Tips and Tricks

This article covers Tips and Tricks for the vCenter Server Appliance In vSphere 8.0. While not all tips are recommended to be used without assistance in production environments, they might come in handy when you need them. Whether you are new to vCenter Server or an experienced user, these tips will help you get the most out of it.

  • Clear HSTS Settings in Chrome
  • Remove Browser Certificate Warnings (VMCA Root Certificate)
  • Enable SSH
  • File Transfer with SCP/SFTP
  • Public Key Authentication
  • Disable or Increase Shell Session Timeout
  • Password Expiration
  • Reset vCenter Server Appliance 8.0 root password
  • Reset vCenter Server SSO password (administrator@vsphere.local)
  • Create a Backup Job
  • Install Additional Software
  • VMware Datacenter CLI (DCLI)
  • Run Docker Containers
  • Connect to the Embedded vPostgres Database
  • Wait after a reboot - Common Startup Errors

Read More »vCenter Server 8.0 Tips and Tricks

How to Install PowerCLI 13 with Python 3.7 on Windows (Required for ImageBuilder)

With the release of PowerCLI 13, VMware has introduced some major enhancements. One of the most exciting features is that PowerCLI is now fully Multi-platform, which means that all functions are available for all PowerShell Core supported operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. If you are planning to use the ImageBuilder module, you will need to have Python 3.7 installed on your machine.

If you want to use ImageBuilder-based commands in PowerCLI 13, you might see the following error:

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot: Could not initialize the VMware.ImageBuilder PowerCLI module. Make sure that Python 3.7 is installed and that you have set the path to the Python executable by using Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -PythonPath. See the PowerCLI Compatibility Matrixes for information on the Python requirements.

This article explains how to install and configure PowerCLI 13 with Python 3.7 to be ready to use ImageBuilder.

Read More »How to Install PowerCLI 13 with Python 3.7 on Windows (Required for ImageBuilder)

ESXi on 12th Gen Intel NUC Pro (Wall Street Canyon)

Intel's Alder Lake-based 12th Gen "Wall Street Canyon" NUC Professional series is currently been shipped out. This article takes a deep look at their capabilities to run VMware ESXi. While VMware does not officially support NUCs, they are ubiquitous in many home labs and test environments. They are small, silent, transportable, and have very low power consumption, making them a great server for running your inexpensive home lab. The Wall Street Canyon is available with i3, i5, and i7 CPUs. The i5 and i7 versions are also available with vPro Support.

  • NUC12WSHv7 / NUC12WSKv7 (Intel Core i7-1270P vPro - 4 x up to 4.80 GHz / 8 x up to 3.50 GHz)
  • NUC12WSHv5 / NUC12WSKv5 (Intel Core i5-1250P vPro - 4 x up to 4.40 GHz / 8 x up to 3.30 GHz)
  • NUC12WSHi7 / NUC12WSKi7 (Intel Core i7-1260P - 4 x up to 4.70 GHz / 8 x up to 3.40 GHz)
  • NUC12WSHi5 / NUC12WSKi5 (Intel Core i5-1240P - 4 x up to 4.40 GHz / 8 x up to 3.30 GHz)
  • NUC12WSHi3 / NUC12WSKi3 (Intel Core i3-1220P - 2 x up to 4.40 GHz / 8 x up to 3.30 GHz)

The Wall Street Canyon is Intel's professional line from their 12th NUC Generation and the successor to the 11th Gen Tiger Canyon. This system is intended for professional use cases and has significant enhancements for your homelab running ESXi. Like the previous generation, it has an expansion bay that allows you to install a second network adapter.

Read More »ESXi on 12th Gen Intel NUC Pro (Wall Street Canyon)

ESXi 7 and 8 Installation fails with "Fatal CPU mismatch on feature"

When you try to install ESXi 7.0 or 8.0 on a system with a 12th Gen Intel CPU, the installation fails with a purple diagnostics screen:

HW feature incompatibility detected; cannot start

Fatal CPU mismatch on feature "Hyperthreads per core"
Fatal CPU mismatch on feature "Cores per package"
Fatal CPU mismatch on feature "Cores per die"

This problem is caused by the new architecture of Intel CPUs which are equipped with different types of cores - Performance-cores and Efficient-cores. With vSphere 7.0 Update 2, the kernel parameter cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic has been implemented to address the issue. This article explains the manual and automated methods to properly implement the kernel option.

Read More »ESXi 7 and 8 Installation fails with "Fatal CPU mismatch on feature"

VMware ESXi 8.0 - Hardware not yet certified for upgrade

VMware vSphere 8.0 IA (Initial Availability) is in the market for a couple of weeks now and it is expected to transition into GA (General Availability) soon. It's time to verify that your hardware is supported if you plan on upgrading your ESXi hosts to vSphere 8.0. Some systems have not been certified by their vendor yet. The following servers were supported in vSphere 7.0 U3 but are according to VMware's HCL not yet supported in vSphere 8.0.

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. In doubt, ask your vendor or VMware if 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. I will comment on changes when the list gets smaller.
  • Did I miss something? Please comment.
  • To keep the list convenient, only the following vendors are included: Cisco, DELL, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi, IBM, Lenovo, Inspur, Huawei and Supermicro

Read More »VMware ESXi 8.0 - Hardware not yet certified for upgrade

Free ESXi 8.0 - How to Download and get License Keys

vSphere 8.0 has been released and as known from previous versions, VMware provides a free version of their Hypervisor ESXi. The license key can be created for free at VMware's website. It has no expiration date and 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
  • Free ESXi cannot be added to a vCenter Server
  • Some API functionality is missing (API is read-only)
  • No physical CPU limitation
  • Number of logical CPUs per host: 480
  • Maximum vCPUs per virtual machine: 8
  • The Key is restricted to 100 Physical Servers deployments.

Read More »Free ESXi 8.0 - How to Download and get License Keys

VMware Products without vSphere 8.0 Support

VMware vSphere 8 was released a month ago. Prior to upgrading your Production or Test environment, make sure that the software you are using on top of vCenter/ESXi is supported. To check if a product version is supported, refer to VMware Interoperability Matrix.

When checking the Interop Matrix, make sure that there is both, a minimum and a maximum version that is supported. For example, ESXi 6.5 support has been dropped in vSphere 8 which means that all ESXi Hosts need to be upgraded to at least ESXi 6.7 prior to updating vCenter Server. The upgrade path for all individual products can be verified with the Upgrade Path tool.

I'm going to monitor the progress regularly to keep the list updated. For further information check

 

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