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2020

ESXi VMKUSB NIC Fling adds support for 2.5GBASE-T Adapters

The USB Native Driver Fling, a popular ESXi driver by Songtao Zheng and William Lam that adds support for USB-based Network Adapters, has been updated to version 1.6. The new version has added support for RTL8156 based 2.5GBASE-T network adapters.

Multi-Gigabit network adapters with 5GBASE-T are available for a while, but those 5GbE adapters cost about $100 USD. The new driver allows the usage of 2.5GbE adapters that are available for as low as $25 USD. The driver was released yesterday, and luckily I already own a bunch of 2.5GbE adapters, so I could give it a test drive immediately.

CableCreation USB 3.0 to 2.5 Gigabit LAN Adapter (CD0673)

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vSphere with Kubernetes - Which Supervisor Cluster Settings can be edited?

When you want to deploy Kubernetes on vSphere 7 it is crucial to plan the configuration thoroughly prior to enabling Workload Management. Many of the configuration parameters entered during the Workload Management wizard can not be changed after the deployment.

The following table show which settings can be changed after the initial deployment:

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vSphere with Kubernetes Supports Multiple Tier-0 Gateways

During my first vSphere with Kubernetes tests, I had an issue where I was not able to activate Workload Management (Kubernetes) because it discovered multiple Tier-0 gateways. The configuration I used was vSphere 7.0 GA and an NSX-T 3.0 backed N-VDS. I had a previously configured Edge Cluster / Tier-0 Gateway for existing workloads and configured a new Edge Cluster / Tier-0 for Kubernetes.

In the Workload Management Wizard, no Cluster was compatible so I was forced to use the previously configured Tier-0 with some routing workarounds. The error message in wcpsvc.log stated "[...]has more than one tier0 gateway[...]".

Today I tried to find a solution and noticed that there was an update to the official Kubernetes Guide:

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ESXi on Zotac ZBOX edge (M Series - 10th Gen Intel CPU)

The ESXi Homelab community is constantly growing. When you want to run ESXi in home labs you typically want to have a system that is small, silent, and transportable. To keep costs at a minimum, the power consumption is also a very important factor. The portfolio of Small Form Factor (SFF) Systems, also known as Barebone, Nettop, SoC, or Mini-PC, is enormous. Intel's NUC series is currently the most used system in the homelab market, but I'm always keeping my eyes on its competitors.

Today I'm going to test the Zotac ZBOX edge, which is the newest model in their M series. The Zotac M Series is comparable to Intel's NUC when it comes to form factor, features, and performance. As always, I'm trying to point out where the similarities and differences to the NUC series are.

The Zotac ZBOX edge is currently available with an Intel 10th Gen i3 or i5 CPU, but I assume that there will be a 3rd model with an i7 CPU.

  • ZBOX edge MI623 (Intel Core i3-10110U - 2 Core, up to 4.1 GHz)
  • ZBOX edge MI643 (Intel Core i5-10210U - 4 Core, up to 4.2 GHz)
  • ZBOX edge MI663 (Intel Core i7-10710U - 6 Core, up to 4.7 GHz) *unconfirmed

Will ESXi run on the Zotac ZBOX edge?
Yes. ESXi 5.x and 6.x will run on the ZBOX edge, but the network adapter does not work with ESXi 7.0. Unfortunately, Zotac has equipped them with two Realtek RTL8111 NICs, which are not working in ESXi 7.0. There is no driver available and the community driver used in ESXi 5.x/6.x does not work in 7.0.

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VMware vSphere with Kubernetes Guide Part 7 - Octant and Lens

This is the last part of my "VMware vSphere with Kubernetes" Guide. In this article, I'm going to give you two tools that will help you to get a better understanding of Kubernetes features. Both tools, Octant and Lens, are free and Open Source. The main difference is that Octant is browser-based and Lens is an Application.

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VMware vSphere with Kubernetes Guide Part 6 - Tanzu Kubernetes Cluster

This is Part 6 of my "VMware vSphere with Kubernetes" Guide. In this article, I'm going to deploy a Tanzu Kubernetes Cluster (TKC). A TKC is a fully-featured version of the open-source Kubernetes container platform. You can provision and operate Tanzu Kubernetes clusters on top of the Supervisor Cluster.

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VMware vSphere with Kubernetes Guide Part 5 - Create and Deploy Private Images

This is Part 5 of my "VMware vSphere with Kubernetes" Guide. In this article, I'm going to create a custom Docker image, push it to the embedded Harbor Registry, and deploy it to the Supervisor Cluster.

This is a part of a series. If you do not have a Kubernetes activated vSphere Cluster, refer to Part 1 to get started with the deployment.

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VMware vSphere with Kubernetes Guide Part 4 - Working with kubectl

This is Part 4 of my "VMware vSphere with Kubernetes" Guide. In the last article, I've explained how to install and configure the Kubernetes CLI Tool kubectl and how to deploy the first pod. In this article, I'm taking a deeper look at kubectl.

This is a part of a series. If you do not have a Kubernetes activated vSphere Cluster, refer to Part 1 to get started with the deployment.

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