Daniel Micanek virtual Blog – Like normal Dan, but virtual.
Category: HomeLab
The “HomeLAB” blog category is focused on providing practical knowledge and experiences in using VMware technologies in a home lab setting. This category is ideal for tech enthusiasts, IT professionals, and students who want to experiment with the latest VMware products and features in their own home environment.
Use nConnect in ESXi 8.0 U1+ for several TCP connections per NFSv3 datastore: esxcli syntax, limits (4/8/256), runtime changes in 8.0 U2 and how to check.
Short answer: since ESXi 8.0 Update 1 the NFS client supports nConnect: several TCP connections per NFSv3 datastore. Mount with esxcli storage nfs add ... -c <connections> (default 1, up to 4 per datastore, or 8 with /NFS/MaxConnectionsPerDatastore, and 256 per host in total). Since 8.0 Update 2 you can change it on a mounted datastore with esxcli storage nfs param set -v <label> -c <n>. It’s NFSv3 only and CLI only.
With the release of VMware ESXi 8.0 Update 1, VMware quietly introduced nConnect support in the NFS client — a long-awaited enhancement for environments using NFSv3 datastores.
The nConnect feature allows administrators to establish multiple parallel TCP connections per NFS datastore, significantly improving throughput, resiliency, and traffic isolation.
This guide walks you through how to configure nConnect, supported versions, and key operational tips.
🆕 What’s New in ESXi 8.0U1
From ESXi 8.0U1 onwards, a new parameter -c (number of connections) is available in esxcli when mounting NFSv3 datastores.
⚠️ The total number of connections across all mounted NFSv3 datastores is capped at 256.
Runtime Scaling in ESXi 8.0U2
The nConnect feature got a useful upgrade in VMware ESXi 8.0 Update 2. You can now increase or decrease the number of TCP connections on an existing NFSv3 mount without unmounting the datastore:
This flexibility helps admins fine-tune NFS performance on the fly — for example, ramping up connections during heavy backup windows or scaling down during low I/O periods.
Note: In both 8.0U1 and 8.0U2, the default number of connections remains 1.
How to Check Active NFS Connections
To view the number of RPC clients currently used by mounted NFSv3 datastores, run:
vsish -e get /vmkModules/nfsclient/info
Sample output:
NFS Connections Info {
mountedVolumes:10
totalConnections 40
}
This command is particularly handy for performance troubleshooting and capacity planning.
🧪 Experimental: Host Profile Integration
Although official Host Profile support for nConnect is not yet released, VMware added an experimental field named “Number of TCP connections” in:
Host Profile → Storage Configuration → NFS
What it does: When you set a value here, ESXi will use that number of parallel TCP sessions when mounting the NFS datastore during profile remediation.
This is ideal for consistent deployment across multiple hosts in larger clusters.
Best Practices & Tips
Start with 4 connections and scale up as needed after performance testing.
Keep the 256 connection limit in mind when mounting multiple datastores.
Use consistent configuration across hosts to avoid mount mismatches.
Monitor performance metrics via VMware vSphere or CLI.
If you’re using Host Profiles, experiment carefully with the TCP connection parameter.
Summary
The nConnect feature in ESXi’s NFS client marks a major step forward in improving NFSv3 performance and scalability in enterprise environments.
Whether you’re running backup workloads, large VMs, or latency-sensitive applications, multiple TCP connections per NFS datastore can make a measurable difference.
If you’re upgrading to VMware ESXi 8.0U1 or later, nConnect is worth testing and adopting in your storage strategy.
vmss2core in 2026: where to download it, which .vmsn/.vmss/.vmem files it needs, -W/-W8/-N commands, WinDbg analysis and common errors.
Short answer: vmss2core converts a VM checkpoint (a snapshot with memory, .vmsn + .vmem, or a suspend file, .vmss + .vmem) into a memory dump for WinDbg or the Linux crash utility. Get the current build from VMware Workstation Pro or Fusion; the standalone Fling in Broadcom’s Free Downloads is older (build 8456865) and does not support Windows 11, Server 2019 or Server 2025. Run vmss2core.exe -W8 vm.vmsn vm.vmem for modern Windows, -N for Linux.
What the vmss2core tool does and which files it needs
vmss2core reads VMware checkpoint state and writes a core or memory dump that standard debuggers understand: memory.dmp for Windows (WinDbg) or vmss.core for Linux (crash, GDB). It is useful when a guest hangs and you cannot force a crash dump from inside the OS.
Method
Files to copy
Notes
Snapshot with memory
<name>-SnapshotN.vmsn + <name>-SnapshotN.vmem
VM keeps running. Pick the newest pair by timestamp.
Suspend
<name>.vmss + <name>.vmem
Hardware version 11 or newer, or VMs on vVols, write a separate .vmem. Hardware version 10 or lower keeps everything in the .vmss.
The .vmem file is the guest memory image. The .vmsn/.vmss file holds the device and CPU state. You always pass the state file first and the .vmem second.
vmss2core download: where to get it now
The old Flings site and vmwa.re/flings links are gone. Flings now live in the Free Downloads section of the Broadcom Support Portal, which needs a free Broadcom account (personal email addresses are accepted).
Source
Version
Use it for
Broadcom Support Portal > Free Downloads > Flings > VMSS2Core
Legacy standalone build 8456865 (Windows and Linux binaries)
Older guests only. Not for Windows 11, Server 2019 or Server 2025.
VMware Workstation Pro (Free Downloads)
Current, bundled
Any supported guest, including Windows 11 and Server 2025
VMware Fusion Pro (Free Downloads)
Current, bundled
Same, on macOS
Once Workstation or Fusion is installed, the binary is here:
Windows 64-bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmss2core.exe
Windows 32-bit: C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\
Linux: /usr/bin/ (Broadcom’s KB calls the Linux binary vmss2core-Linux64; same syntax)
Get the latest vmss2core.exe without installing Workstation
Download the VMware Workstation Pro installer from Free Downloads (Broadcom’s example: VMware-Workstation-Full-25H2u1-25219725.exe).
Open the installer with 7-Zip, then open Workstation.cab inside it.
Copy vmss2core.exe and _zlib1.dll to one folder, for example C:\Temp\vmss2core.
Rename _zlib1.dll to zlib1.dll. Without this you get “The code execution cannot proceed because zlib1.dll was not found.”
Get the snapshot or suspend files from ESXi
Reproduce the problem so the guest is in the state you want to capture. The guest kernel must be loaded; a VM stuck in BIOS/POST or before the OS boots gives no usable data.
In the vSphere Client, right-click the VM and take a snapshot with the VM’s memory included, or suspend it (Power > Suspend). From the ESXi Shell you can suspend with vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms and vim-cmd vmsvc/power.suspend <VMID>.
Browse the datastore to the VM folder (/vmfs/volumes/<datastore>/<vm_name>/) and download the .vmsn or .vmss file and the matching .vmem.
Copy them to the folder that contains vmss2core.
On vSAN the .vmem is an object; Broadcom KB 326327 describes reading its object ID and exposing it with objtool before copying. For Horizon desktops, put full clones in maintenance mode before suspending; for instant clones, use a memory snapshot instead. The Broadcom KBs are written for ESXi 8.x; memory snapshots and suspend work the same way in vSphere 9.
vmss2core for Windows: -W or -W8
Option
Guest OS (Broadcom KB 323788)
-W
Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2
-W8
Windows 8, 8.1, Windows 11, Windows Server 2012, 2016, 2019, 2025
KB 181598 phrases it slightly differently: -W8 for Windows 8 / Server 2012 and later, -W for older Windows. The two KBs disagree on Windows 10. Success produces memory.dmp in the current folder.
The result is vmss.core, a Red Hat crash-format core. The tool’s help says -N uses kernel structure offsets passed with -l, generated by getlinuxoffsets. Here is my own -N run from the original version of this post (vmss2core build 20800274, about 2,000 MB written, progress lines shortened):
vmss2core.exe -N VM-Snapshot1.vmsn VM-Snapshot1.vmem
vmss2core version 20800274 Copyright (C) 1998-2022 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.
Started core writing.
Writing note section header.
Writing 1 memory section headers.
Writing notes.
... 100 MBs written.
... 200 MBs written.
...
... 1900 MBs written.
... 2000 MBs written.
Finished writing core.
Analyze the VMware memory dump
Windows, WinDbg:windbg -y <SymbolPath> -z memory.dmp, or File > Open Crash Dump (Ctrl+D). Start with !analyze -v, then .bugcheck, lm and !process 0 0.
Linux, crash:crash vmlinux vmss.core. crash needs two arguments for a dump file: the uncompressed kernel (vmlinux with debug info matching the guest kernel) and the dump.
VM files are encrypted (Windows 11 / Server 2025 with vTPM). Suspend the VM, decrypt on ESXi with crypto-util (below), convert the decrypted files with the current vmss2core.
Error parsing Windows data.Cannot create memory.dmp
Windows kernel was not loaded yet (stuck in POST, no boot device, boot failure). Capture again after the OS is up.
0 KB dump, or a .core file instead of memory.dmp
VBS or Hyper-V is enabled in the guest. Check vhv.enable = "TRUE" in the .vmx; the KB says to set it to "FALSE". Also update old Windows builds.
Access is Denied
Use the latest vmss2core from Workstation Pro.
EFI VM freezes on a black screen, Cannot translate linear address
EFI SMM deadlock on hardware version below 14 (ESXi 7.0). Fixed in ESXi 8.0; workaround is hardware version 14 or later (KB 318382).
Do not remove the vTPM to get around encryption: Broadcom warns that this makes encrypted data unrecoverable and stops Windows 11 from booting.
vmss2core options reference
Output of vmss2core.exe without arguments on my machine (build 20800274, abridged):
Usage:
GENERAL: vmss2core [[options] | [-l linuxoffsets options]] \
<vmss file> [<vmem file>]
Without options one vmss.core<N> per vCPU with linear view of
memory is generated.
-q Quiet(er) operation.
-M Create core file with physical memory view (vmss.core).
-l str Offset stringset expressed as 0xHEXNUM,0xHEXNUM,... .
-N Red Hat crash core file for arbitrary Linux version
described by the "-l" option (vmss.core).
-N4 Red Hat crash core file for Linux 2.4 (vmss.core).
-N6 Red Hat crash core file for Linux 2.6 (vmss.core).
-O <x> Use <x> as the offset of the entrypoint.
-U <i> Create linear core file for vCPU <i> only.
-P Print list of processes in Linux VM.
-P<pid> Create core file for Linux process <pid> (core.<pid>).
-S Create core for 64-bit Solaris (vmcore.0, unix.0).
-S32 Create core for 32-bit Solaris (vmcore.0, unix.0).
-W Create WinDbg file (memory.dmp) with commonly used
build numbers ("2195" for Win32, "6000" for Win64).
-W<num> Create WinDbg file (memory.dmp), with <num> as the
build number (for example: "-W2600").
-WK Create a Windows kernel memory only dump file (memory.dmp).
-WDDB<num> or -W8DDB<num>
Create WinDbg file (memory.dmp), with <num> as the
debugger data block address in hex.
-WSCAN Scan all of memory for Windows debugger data blocks
(instead of just low 256 MB).
-W8 Generate a memory dump file from a suspended Windows 8 VM.
-X32 <mach_kernel> Create core for 32-bit Mac OS.
-X64 <mach_kernel> Create core for 64-bit Mac OS.
-F Create core for an EFI firmware exception.
Raspberry Pi 5 runs its external PCIe x1 link at Gen 2 by default. Enable Gen 3 with dtparam=pciex1_gen=3, verify with lspci LnkSta, know the risks.
Short answer: The external PCIe connector on the Raspberry Pi 5 runs PCIe Gen 2.0 x1 (5 GT/s) by default. To switch it to PCIe Gen 3.0 (8 GT/s), add dtparam=pciex1_gen=3 to /boot/firmware/config.txt, or use raspi-config → Advanced Options → PCIe Speed, then reboot. Raspberry Pi states that the Pi 5 is not certified for Gen 3.0, so the link may be unstable. Check the negotiated speed with sudo lspci -vv (the LnkSta line).
Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe lanes: what runs at which speed
The BCM2712 SoC on the Raspberry Pi 5 drives two PCIe links. One goes to RP1, Raspberry Pi’s own I/O controller. RP1 handles USB, Gigabit Ethernet, the MIPI camera/display transceivers and GPIO. The other goes to the new 16-pin, 0.5 mm pitch FPC connector on the left edge of the board, which is meant for fast peripherals such as NVMe drives on an M.2 HAT+.
Link
Lanes
Default
Gen 3.0 option
BCM2712 → RP1 (USB, Ethernet, MIPI, GPIO)
x4, PCIe 2.0 (16 Gb/s)
Gen 2.0
Not affected by pciex1_gen
External FPC connector (M.2 HAT+, NVMe, other PCIe devices)
x1
Gen 2.0, 5 GT/s (~500 MB/s peak)
dtparam=pciex1_gen=3, 8 GT/s, not certified
Only the external x1 link changes. Gen 3.0 roughly doubles its raw signalling rate, from 5 GT/s to 8 GT/s. That is why NVMe benchmarks on the Pi 5 improve noticeably when the drive and the adapter can handle it.
How to enable PCIe Gen 3 on the Raspberry Pi 5
Current Raspberry Pi OS keeps config.txt in the boot partition at /boot/firmware/config.txt. The original version of this post used /boot/config.txt, which was the path on older images. Edit whichever file your image actually boots from.
Option 1: config.txt
If the device is not a HAT+ board, turn on the connector first. HAT+ devices are detected automatically, so they don’t need this line. nvme is an alias for pciex1.
The Raspberry Pi kernel overlay README describes both parameters. pciex1 “enable[s] the external PCIe link” (default off), and pciex1_gen sets the GEN/speed of that link (default 2).
Option 2: raspi-config
Run sudo raspi-config.
Select Advanced Options → PCIe Speed.
Choose Yes to enable PCIe Gen 3 mode, then Finish.
Reboot with sudo reboot.
Check the PCIe link speed with lspci
After the reboot, look at the link capability and status of the PCIe devices. You need lspci from the pciutils package.
LnkSta shows what was actually negotiated. For the external connector and the device behind it, Speed 8GT/s with Width x1 means Gen 3.0 is active. 5GT/s means the link is still at Gen 2.0.
The output also lists the RP1 link. That one stays at Gen 2.0, which is expected.
Is PCIe Gen 3 on the Raspberry Pi 5 safe?
Raspberry Pi’s documentation says the Raspberry Pi 5 isn’t certified for Gen 3.0 speeds and that Gen 3.0 connections might be unstable. Whether it works depends on the ribbon cable, the adapter board and the device. If the drive doesn’t enumerate, disappears, or logs PCIe/NVMe errors in dmesg, go back to the default: remove the pciex1_gen=3 line (or set it to 2) and reboot. Don’t enable Gen 3 on a system you can’t afford to debug, especially if you boot from the NVMe drive.
Booting the Raspberry Pi 5 from NVMe
In most homelab builds, the reason to care about PCIe speed is an NVMe boot drive. Boot from PCIe is not enabled by default. Edit the bootloader configuration with sudo rpi-eeprom-config --edit and set:
BOOT_ORDER=0xf416
# only for a non-HAT+ adapter:
PCIE_PROBE=1
Save and reboot to write the EEPROM. The official M.2 HAT+ (2230/2242) and M.2 HAT+ Compact (2230) are specified as single-lane PCIe 2.0 adapters with up to 3 A for the M.2 device. Anything above Gen 2.0 on them falls under the same “not certified” caveat.
Tesla P40 specs (24 GB GDDR5, 250 W, 10.5-inch dual slot, compute 6.1), cooling and ESXi passthrough setup, llama.cpp benchmarks, and CUDA 13 limits.
Short answer: the NVIDIA Tesla P40 is a 2016 Pascal data-center GPU with 24 GB GDDR5, a 250 W power limit and a dual-slot, 10.5-inch PCIe Gen3 card with no fan of its own. It’s one of the cheapest ways to get 24 GB of VRAM for local LLMs in a homelab. It runs fine with ESXi PCIe passthrough and in my tests was 16–26× faster than the CPU in llama.cpp. The catch in 2026: CUDA 13 no longer targets Pascal, so you stay on CUDA 12.x.
Tesla P40 specifications
Architecture / GPU
Pascal, GP102
CUDA cores
3,840
Compute capability
6.1
Memory
24 GB GDDR5, 384-bit
Max power
250 W
Form factor
Dual-slot, 10.5-inch, full height, PCI Express Gen3 x16
Cooling
No fan: designed for server airflow
INT8 inference
47 TOPS
Source: NVIDIA Tesla P40 datasheet; compute capability as reported by CUDA in the benchmark output below.
Why I picked the P40
For Private AI in HomeLAB, I was searching for budget-friendly GPUs with a minimum of 24GB RAM. Recently, I came across the refurbished NVIDIA Tesla P40 on eBay, which boasts some intriguing specifications:
GPU Chip: GP102
Cores: 3840
TMUs: 240
ROPs: 96
Memory Size: 24 GB
Memory Type: GDDR5
Bus Width: 384 bit
Fitting and cooling the P40 in a homelab
Since the NVIDIA Tesla P40 comes in a full-profile form factor, we needed to acquire a PCIe riser card.
A PCIe riser card, commonly known as a “riser card,” is a hardware component essential in computer systems for facilitating the connection of expansion cards to the motherboard. Its primary role comes into play when space limitations or specific orientation requirements prevent the direct installation of expansion cards into the PCIe slots on the motherboard.
Furthermore, I needed to ensure adequate cooling, but this posed no issue. I utilized a 3D model created by MiHu_Works for a Tesla P100 blower fan adapter, which you can find at this link: Tesla P100 Blower Fan Adapter.
As for the fan, the Titan TFD-B7530M12C served the purpose effectively. You can find it on Amazon: Titan TFD-B7530M12C.
ESXi PCIe passthrough settings
Currently, I am using a single VM with PCIe pass-through. However, it was necessary to implement specific Advanced VM parameters:
Now, you might wonder about the performance. It’s outstanding, delivering speeds up to 16x-26x times faster than the CPU. To provide you with an idea of the performance, I conducted a llama-bench test:
Feel free to explore this setup for your Private AI in HomeLAB.
Is the Tesla P40 still worth it in 2026?
CUDA: CUDA Toolkit 13.0 removed offline compilation and library support for Maxwell, Pascal and Volta. You can keep building for the P40 with CUDA 12.x, but newer toolkits can’t target it (CUDA 13.1 release notes).
Still good for: running quantized models that need a lot of VRAM on a budget, where 24 GB matters more than raw speed.
Plan for: power (250 W) and your own airflow, because the card has no fan.
Convert a Dell H200A to an H200I so it fits the R610/R710 dedicated storage slot and frees a PCIe slot, e.g. for an NVIDIA Tesla P40.
For my project involving the AI tool llama.cpp, I needed to free up a PCI slot for an NVIDIA Tesla P40 GPU. I found an excellent guide and a useful video from ArtOfServer.
Based on this helpful video from ArtOfServer:
ArtOfServer wrote a small tutorial on how to modify an H200A (external) into an H200I (internal) to be used into the dedicated slot (e.g. instead of a Perc6i)
ArtOfServer wrote a small tutorial on how to modify an H200A (external) into an H200I (internal) to be used into the dedicated slot (e.g. instead of a Perc6i)
Install compiler and build tools (those can be removed later)
# apt install build-essential unzip
Compile and install lsirec and lsitool
# mkdir lsi
# cd lsi
# wget https://github.com/marcan/lsirec/archive/master.zip
# wget https://github.com/exactassembly/meta-xa-stm/raw/master/recipes-support/lsiutil/files/lsiutil-1.72.tar.gz
# tar -zxvvf lsiutil-1.72.tar.gz
# unzip master.zip
# cd lsirec-master
# make
# chmod +x sbrtool.py
# cp -p lsirec /usr/bin/
# cp -p sbrtool.py /usr/bin/
# cd ../lsiutil
# make -f Makefile_Linux
# lsirec 0000:05:00.0 unbind
Trying unlock in MPT mode...
Device in MPT mode
Kernel driver unbound from device
# lsirec 0000:05:00.0 halt
Device in MPT mode
Resetting adapter in HCB mode...
Trying unlock in MPT mode...
Device in MPT mode
IOC is RESET
Read sbr:
# lsirec 0000:05:00.0 readsbr h200.sbr
Device in MPT mode
Using I2C address 0x54
Using EEPROM type 1
Reading SBR...
SBR saved to h200.sbr
Transform binary sbr to text file:
# sbrtool.py parse h200.sbr h200.cfg
Modify PID in line 9 (e.g using vi or vim):
from this:
SubsysPID = 0x1f1c
to this:
SubsysPID = 0x1f1e
Important: if in the cfg file you find a line with:
SASAddr = 0xfffffffffffff
remove it!
Save and close file.
Build new sbr file:
# sbrtool.py build h200.cfg h200-int.sbr
Write it back to card:
# lsirec 0000:05:00.0 writesbr h200-int.sbr
Device in MPT mode
Using I2C address 0x54
Using EEPROM type 1
Writing SBR...
SBR written from h200-int.sbr
Reset the card an rescan the bus:
# lsirec 0000:05:00.0 reset
Device in MPT mode
Resetting adapter...
IOC is RESET
IOC is READY
# lsirec 0000:05:00.0 info
Trying unlock in MPT mode...
Device in MPT mode
Registers:
DOORBELL: 0x10000000
DIAG: 0x000000b0
DCR_I2C_SELECT: 0x80030a0c
DCR_SBR_SELECT: 0x2100001b
CHIP_I2C_PINS: 0x00000003
IOC is READY
# lsirec 0000:05:00.0 rescan
Device in MPT mode
Removing PCI device...
Rescanning PCI bus...
PCI bus rescan complete.
[~] /opt/intel/intelmas/intelmas show -intelssd 1
- 1 Intel(R) Optane(TM) SSD 905P Series PHMB839000LW280IGN -
Bootloader : EB3B0416
Capacity : 260.83 GB (280,065,171,456 bytes)
DevicePath : nvmeMgmt-nvmhba5
DeviceStatus : Healthy
Firmware : E201HPS2
FirmwareUpdateAvailable : The selected drive contains current firmware as of this tool release.
Index : 1
MaximumLBA : 547002287
ModelNumber : INTEL SSDPED1D280GAH
NamespaceId : 1
PercentOverProvisioned : 0.00
ProductFamily : Intel(R) Optane(TM) SSD 905P Series
SMARTEnabled : True
SectorDataSize : 512
SerialNumber : PHMB839000LW280IGN
S.M.A.R.T information
[~] /opt/intel/intelmas/intelmas show -nvmelog SmartHealthInfo -intelssd 1
- PHMB839000LW280IGN -
- NVMeLog SMART and Health Information -
Volatile memory backup device has failed : False
Temperature has exceeded a critical threshold : False
Temperature - Celsius : 30
Media is in a read-only mode : False
Power On Hours : 0x0100
Power Cycles : 0x03
Number of Error Info Log Entries : 0x0
Controller Busy Time : 0x0
Available Spare Space has fallen below the threshold : False
Percentage Used : 0
Critical Warnings : 0
Data Units Read : 0x02
Available Spare Threshold Percentage : 0
Data Units Written : 0x0
Unsafe Shutdowns : 0x0
Host Write Commands : 0x0
Device reliability has degraded : False
Available Spare Normalized percentage of the remaining spare capacity available : 100
Media Errors : 0x0
Host Read Commands : 0x017F
Show all the SMART properties for the Intel® SSD at index 1
[~] /opt/intel/intelmas/intelmas show -intelssd 1 -smart
- SMART Attributes PHMB839000LW280IGN -
- B8 -
Action : Pass
Description : End-to-End Error Detection Count
ID : B8
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
- C7 -
Action : Pass
Description : CRC Error Count
ID : C7
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
- E2 -
Action : Pass
Description : Timed Workload - Media Wear
ID : E2
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
- E3 -
Action : Pass
Description : Timed Workload - Host Read/Write Ratio
ID : E3
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
- E4 -
Action : Pass
Description : Timed Workload Timer
ID : E4
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
- EA -
Action : Pass
Description : Thermal Throttle Status
ID : EA
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
ThrottleStatus : 0 %
ThrottlingEventCount : 0
- F0 -
Action : Pass
Description : Retry Buffer Overflow Count
ID : F0
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
- F3 -
Action : Pass
Description : PLI Lock Loss Count
ID : F3
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
- F5 -
Action : Pass
Description : Host Bytes Written
ID : F5
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
Raw (Bytes) : 0
- F6 -
Action : Pass
Description : System Area Life Remaining
ID : F6
Normalized : 100
Raw : 0
Disk firmware update
[~] /opt/intel/intelmas/intelmas load -intelssd 1
WARNING! You have selected to update the drives firmware!
Proceed with the update? (Y|N): Y
Checking for firmware update...
- Intel(R) Optane(TM) SSD 905P Series PHMB839000LW280IGN -
Status : The selected drive contains current firmware as of this tool release.
The Maxtang NX6412 loses its vDS uplink after an ESXi reboot with USB NICs. The /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh script that fixes it.
How to fix network after adding to vDS. When you add NX6412 to vDS and reboot ESXi. I don’t have uplink for vDS. You could check it with:
# esxcfg-vswitch -l
DVS Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks
vDS 2560 6 512 9000 vusb0
--cut
DVPort ID In Use Client
468 0
469 0
470 0
471 0
We will have to note DVPort ID 468 – example. vDS is name of your vDS switch.
esxcfg-vswitch -P vusb0 -V 468 vDS
It is necessary add it to /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh before exit 0. You could have similar script from source Persisting USB NIC Bindings
vusb0_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb0 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print $NF}')
count=0
while [[ $count -lt 20 && "${vusb0_status}" != "Up" ]]
do
sleep 10
count=$(( $count + 1 ))
vusb0_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb0 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print $NF}')
done
esxcfg-vswitch -R
esxcfg-vswitch -P vusb0 -V 468 vDS
exit 0
Intel is winding down Optane. What it means if you use Optane SSDs in a homelab (e.g. TrueNAS ZIL/L2ARC) or Optane with ESXi.
I am using Intel SSD Optane 900P PCIe in my HomeLAB as ZIL L2ARC drives for TrueNAS, but in July of 2022 Intel announced their intention to wind down the Optane business. I will try summary information about Intel Optane from Simon Todd presentation.
My HomeLAB benchmark Optane 900P -TrueNAS ZIL L2ARC with HDD
Optane help a lot with IOPs for RAID with normal HDD. I reach 2,5GB/s peak write performance.
We call see great write performance for 40GB file size set about 1,7GB/s.
# perftests-nas ; cat iozone.txt
Run began: Sun Dec 18 08:02:39 2022
Record Size 128 kB
File size set to 41943040 kB
Command line used: /usr/local/bin/iozone -r 128 -s 41943040k -i 0 -i 1
Output is in kBytes/sec
Time Resolution = 0.000001 seconds.
Processor cache size set to 1024 kBytes.
Processor cache line size set to 32 bytes.
File stride size set to 17 * record size.
kB reclen write rewrite read reread
41943040 128 1734542 1364683 2413381 2371527
iozone test complete.
# dd if=/dev/zero of=foo bs=1G count=1
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
1073741824 bytes transferred in 1.517452 secs (707595169 bytes/sec) 707 MB/s
# dd if=/dev/zero of=foo bs=512 count=1000
1000+0 records in
1000+0 records out
512000 bytes transferred in 0.012079 secs (42386853 bytes/sec) 42 MB/s
As announced in Intel’s Q2 2022 earnings, after careful consideration, Intel plans to cease future development of our Optane products. We will continue development of Crow Pass on Sapphire Rapids as we engage with key customers to determine their plans to deploy this product. While we believe Optane is a superb technology, it has become impractical to deliver products at the necessary scale as a single-source supplier of Optane technology.
We are committed to supporting Optane customers and ecosystem partners through the transition of our existing memory and storage product lines through end-of-life. We continue to sell existing Optane products, and support and the 5-year warranty terms from date of sale remain unchanged.
Get to know intel® optane™ technology Source Simon Todd – vExpert – Intel Webinar Slides
What makes Optane SSD’s different?
NAND SSD
NAND garbage collection requires background writes. NAND SSD block erase process results in slower writes and inconsistent performance.
Intel® Optane™ technology
Intel® Optane™ technology does not use garbage collection Rapid, in-place writes enable consistently fast response times
Intel® Optane™ SSDs are different by design Source Simon Todd – vExpert – Intel Webinar SlidesConsistent performance, even under heavy write loads Source Simon Todd – vExpert – Intel Webinar Slides
Model
Dies per channel
Channels
Raw Capacity
Spare Area
Intel Optane SSD 900p 280GB
3
7
336 GB
56 GB
Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X 375GB
4
7
448 GB
73 GB
Intel Optane SSD 900p 480GB
5
7
560 GB
80 GB
Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X 750GB
8
7
896 GB
146 GB
The Optane SSD DC P4800X and the Optane SSD 900p both use the same 7-channel controller, which leads to some unusual drive capacities. The 900p comes with either 3 or 5 memory dies per channel while the P4800X has 4 or 8. All models reserve about 1/6th of the raw capacity for internal use Source
The Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X is slightly faster than the Optane SSD 900p throughout this test, but either is far faster than the flash-based SSDs. Source
TPM_VERSION WARNING: Support for TPM version 1.2 is discontinued. With Apply –no-hardware-warning option to ignore the warnings and proceed with the transaction.
esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/_ISO/ESXi-8.0.1-20842819-USBNIC.zip -p ESXi-8.0.1-20842819-USBNIC --no-hardware-warning
Update Result
Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
Reboot Required: true
Building a vSphere 8 lab on the Maxtang NX6412 NUC (vExpert gift): custom ESXi ISO with the USB Network Native Driver because there are no onboard NICs.
During VMware Explore 2022 Barcelona, I’ve been given a gift as a vExpert. You could read it in my previous article. NX6412 doesn’t support onboard NICs. We will need Custom ISO with USB Network Native Driver for ESXi. Because of problem using latest PowerCLI 13 release Nov 25, 2022 with export ISO. I decided to install Custom ISO ESXi 7u2e and than upgrade to ESXi 8.0 with depot zip.
Thank You Cohesity. Power consumpion is only 10 Watts …
How to prepare ESXi Custom ISO image 7U2e for NX6412 NUC?
Currently there is a limitation in ESXi where USB NIC bindings are picked up much later in the boot process and to ensure settings are preserved upon a reboot, the following needs to be added to /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh based on your configurations.
vusb0_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb0 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print $NF}')
count=0
while [[ $count -lt 20 && "${vusb0_status}" != "Up" ]]
do
sleep 10
count=$(( $count + 1 ))
vusb0_status=$(esxcli network nic get -n vusb0 | grep 'Link Status' | awk '{print $NF}')
done
esxcfg-vswitch -R
esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/_ISO/ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-USBNIC.zip -p ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-USBNIC
Hardware precheck of profile ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-USBNIC failed with warnings: <TPM_VERSION WARNING: TPM 1.2 device detected. Support for TPM version 1.2 is discontinued. Installation may proceed, but may cause the system to behave unexpectedly.>
You could fix TPM_VERSION WARNING: Support for TPM version 1.2 is discontinued. With Apply –no-hardware-warning option to ignore the warnings and proceed with the transaction.
