Intel does not preconfigure SMBios information for their NUCs. When you install VMware ESXi, Manufacturer and Model information in the Summary tab are missing. Intel provides a tool for system integrators that allows customizing the BIOS.
Read More »Intel NUC - Blank Manufacturer and Model in ESXi Summary Tab
Intel's 7th Gen NUC is currently rolled out and after a resolved issue with the NIC driver, it's time to take a look at their capabilities as homeserver running VMware ESXi. 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. I've posted a preview of the new models about 2 months ago. Gen7 NUCs are available with i3, i5 and i7 CPU.
Read More »ESXi on 7th Gen Intel NUC (Kaby Lake - Baby Canyon)
VMware has released vSphere 6.0 Update 3. That update only contains minor changes, no noteworthy new features have been added. Together with 6.0 U3, the following product updates were released today:
If you want to get notified about updates and new products, subscribe to my vTracker RSS Feed.Read More »What's inside VMware vSphere 6.0 Update 3
Beside Server Hardware, also double check if your IO Devices (eg. NIC, HBA,..) are supported when updating ESXi hosts from VMware vSphere 6.0 to 6.5. The following devices were supported in vSphere 6.0 but are according to VMwares HCL not (yet) supported in vSphere 6.5.
Read More »VMware ESXi 6.5 - IO Devices not certified for upgrade
The following tips and tricks might come handy when working with the vCenter Service Appliance 6.5:
When running vSphere 6.5 deployments in default (recommended) mode, VMware Certificate Authority is its own root certificate authority. Everything fine and secure with this configuration, but your browser displays a warning because the root certificate is not trusted.
I made a little script (VBS) that pulls the CA certificate from a vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller and adds it to the local trusted root certificates store. When the root CA is trusted, browser warnings are gone.
Read More »Script to add vSphere 6.5 VMCA Root Certificate to Trusted Certs Store
I've received reports that the ESXi 6.5 and ESXi 6.0 installer fails to load on the latest 7th Gen NUCs:
The main issue is that the I219-V NIC is not recognized, so the installer fails with the well known "No Network Adapters" error message. Today I managed to get my hands on a NUC7i3BNH to narrow down the issue. By now I've not managed to get the embedded Network Adapter to work. A workaround with a USB-based NIC is possible.
[Update 2017-02-25 - A fix is available]
Read More »Heads Up - ESXi not working on 7th Gen (Kaby Lake) Intel NUC7
In vSphere 6.5 the smallest supported memory configuration for the vCenter Server Appliance has been raised from 8GB to 10GB. The smallest "Tiny" deployment size allows up to 10 ESXi Hosts and 100 Virtual Machines. Resources in Homelabs are limited and you might want to lower the memory consumption of the vCenter Servcer Appliance. This article explains how to lower the resource consumption to be able to lower the memory to about 6GB without noticable impacts.
VMware has published a patch for ESXi 6.5 and the corresponding vCenter Server version. This patch [..l}] and is the first 6.5 release to support VMware NSX.
Product: VMware ESXi 6.5
Release date: February 2, 2017
Patch: ESXi650-201701001
Build: 4887370
Links: KB2147869 | DownloadRead More »ESXi 6.5 Feburary 2017 Patch with NSX Support (Build 4887370)
The 7th Generation of my favorite Homelab systems are ready to be launched and the shipping is expected to start in Q1 2017. Intel NUCs are small, silent, transportable and have a very low power consumption, making it a perfect system for labs or as a home server. Intel has put its latest Kaby Lake mobile CPU into the mini system.
Intel NUCs were never officially supported by VMware but they have a great community support. Their 4th, 5th and 6th Generations are proven in many home labs or even for demonstrating Virtual SAN deployments.
Kaby Lake CPU