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.

VMware Cohesity vExpert Gift VMware EXPLORE 2022 Barcelona

During VMware Explore 2022 Barcelona, I’ve been given a gift as a vExpert.

We could start start popcorn party with NX6412 …

A huge shout out to the vExpert program and to Cohesity for supporting with such an amazing gift – a small but powerful quad-CPU Intel NUC. It’s fanless so it will be quiet too. Thank You

NX6412 Specification:

  • CPU: Intel Elkhart Lake J6412 Processor
  • Memory: Dual Channel SO-DIMM DDR4 up to 32GB – 64GB could run – I will have to confirm it lately ….
  • Display via: Intel Integrated Graphics display via 2xHDMI2.0
  • I/O Ports: 2xLAN, 2xUSB3.2, 2xUSB2.0, Type-C, SIM
  • Ethernet: 10/100/1000Mbps
  • Storage: 1x M.2 2242/2280 SSD, SATA optional
  • Power: 12V DC-in
​Hardware: MaxTang N6412,  32gig memory, 512gig SSD, Quad Core Dual Gigabit Ethernet, Dual HDMI2

Based on small form factors, the compact design at 127mm x 127mm x 37mm makes it great for space-saving.

Intel Elkhart Lake J6412 Processor

Powered by Intel Elkhart Lake Celeron J6412 processor, the NX6412 provides you excellent performance with long life expectancies. The processor has 4cores 4threads, 1.5MB L2 Cache, up to 2.60GHz with a 10W TDP rate. It has a 1.7x improvement in single-thread performance and 1.5x improvement in multi-thread performance generation over generation, 2x performance improvement in graphics over the previous generation

CODE2769US Intel NUC Home Lab with Smart Sensors & Tanzu

Links & information

ESXi Arm Edition fix /bin/netdbg does not work

I tested ESXi Arm Edition, I found bug /bin/netdbg does not work – Could be fixed with :

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
[root@localhost:~] netdbg
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/bin/netdbg", line 32, in <module>
    RootCommandGroup()
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'locale'

[root@localhost:~] export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

[root@localhost:~] netdbg
Usage: netdbg [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Command line interface to access settings on ESX datapath

Options:
  --help  Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  vswitch

Question is support for:

netdbg vswitch mac-table …
netdbg vswitch mac-learning …

I suppose, that Native MAC Learning is NOT important on ARM, but could be usefull in futute for SmartNICS. Testing is here:

[root@localhost:~] netdbg vswitch instance list
DvsPortset-0 (vDS-LAB)           50 1b 4b 22 14 35 b5 ed-ec 99 d0 13 d2 ca 70 48
Total Ports:2560 Available:2552
  Client                         PortID          DVPortID                             MAC                  Uplink
  Management                     67108867                                             00:00:00:00:00:00    n/a
  vmnic128                       2214592516      26                                   00:00:00:00:00:00
  Shadow of vmnic128             67108869                                             00:50:56:xx:xx:17    n/a
  vmk0                           67108870        14                                   dc:a6:32:xx:xx:4f    vmnic128
  vmk1                           67108871        33                                   00:50:56:xx:xx:df    vmnic128
  vmk2                           67108872        58                                   00:50:56:xx:xx:fc    vmnic128
  ubuntu-01.eth0                 67108874        266                                  00:0c:29:xx:xx:ed    vmnic128

[root@localhost:~] netdbg vswitch mac-learning port get -p 266 -dvs _vmnet_ESXLAB1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/bin/netdbg", line 32, in <module>
    RootCommandGroup()
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/click/core.py", line 722, in __call__
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/click/core.py", line 697, in main
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1071, in invoke
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1071, in invoke
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1071, in invoke
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1071, in invoke
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/click/core.py", line 898, in invoke
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/click/core.py", line 535, in invoke
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/click/decorators.py", line 17, in new_func
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/netdbg/vswitch/mac_learning.py", line 49, in MACLearningPortGetCommand
  File "/lib/python3.5/site-packages/net/lib/libvswitch.py", line 5188, in GetPortMACLearning
    raise DVPortFailure('Get MAC learning config', dvs_alias, dvport, status)
net.lib.exceptions.DVPortFailure: _vmnet_ESXLAB1:266:195887107::fail to Get MAC learning config failed

And similar error for:
[root@localhost:~] netdbg vswitch mac-table port get -p 266 -dvs _vmnet_ESXLAB1
-- cut
  File "/lib/python3.5/site-packages/net/lib/libvswitch.py", line 5452, in GetPortMACTable
    raise DVPortFailure('Get MAC table', dvs_alias, dvport, result[0])
net.lib.exceptions.DVPortFailure: _vmnet_ESXLAB1:266:195887107::fail to Get MAC table failed

vSphere Clustering Service (vCLS) Workaround for ESXi-Arm in vSphere 7.0 Update 1

The vSphere Clustering Service (vCLS) is a new capability that is introduced in the vSphere 7 Update 1 release. The issue is that the vCLS VMs are x86 and can not be deployed to an ESXi-Arm Cluster as the CPU architecture is not supported. But We could disable it according documentation:

Putting a Cluster in Retreat Mode

This task explains how to put a cluster in retreat mode.

Procedure

  • Login to the vSphere Client.
  • Navigate to the cluster on which vCLS must be disabled.
  • Copy the cluster domain ID from the URL of the browser. It should be similar to domain-c(number).
  • Navigate to the vCenter Server Configure tab.
  • Under Advanced Settings, click the Edit Settings button.
  • Add new key “config.vcls.clusters.domain-c841.enabled” use the domain ID copied in previous step.
  • For the cluster with the domain ID, set the Value to False.
Check new key “config.vcls.clusters.domain-c841.enabled” – Flase
  • Click Save.

ESXi on ARM

ESXi on ARM was released. Is it possible download from Flings ESXi Arm Edition.

Instalation Fling on Raspberry Pi 4

Preparation

Raspberry PI EEPROM update

Dowload Raspberry Pi OS from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ and update EEPRON

sudo rpi-eeprom-update -a

Create and setup UEFI on SD card

md SDcard
7z.exe x firmware-master.zip firmware-master\boot\*
xcopy firmware-master\boot\* SDcard\*  /E /H /C /I /Y

del SDcard\kernel*.img

7z.exe x RPi4_UEFI_Firmware_v1.20.zip -oSDcard\* -y
  • For Raspberry PI 4GB only: Append the config.txt file on the SD Card and append gpu_mem=16:
  • Copy directory SDcard to root directory on SD card
  • Boot Raspberry Pi from SD card

UEFI firmware configuration

  • Disable 3GiB memory limit
    • Device Manager / Raspberry Pi Config / Advanced Config / Limit RAM to 3 GB
    • The Raspberry Pi 4 UEFI is configured with a default limit of 3GiB of memory for OS compatibility purposes. It is neccesary to disable it.
  • Console Preference Selection
    • Device Manager / Raspberry Pi Config / Device Manager / Console Prefence Selection / Display Configuration
      • Virtual 800×600 – enable it
      • Virtual 1024×768 – enable it

Install ESXi-Arm

  • Basic instalation ESXi
    • Enable ssh
    • Setup ntp – IMPORTANT make sure that host has clock synchronized
  • Add ESXi ARM host to vCenter
  • Enabling vMotion
  • Create a VM – example Ubuntu for ARM

Known issues

  • JUMBO frame MTU – The ESX driver for Pi4’s NIC on the SoC (genet) currently does not support jumbo frames.
  • Native MAC Learning is not supported ???
  • /bin/netdbg does not work – Could be fixed with
    • https://flings.vmware.com/esxi-arm-edition/bugs/1113 
[root@localhost:~] netdbg
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/bin/netdbg", line 32, in <module>
    RootCommandGroup()
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
  File "/build/mts/release/bora-16966451/bora/build/esxarm64/release/vmvisor/sys
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'locale'

[root@localhost:~] export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
[root@localhost:~] netdbg
Usage: netdbg [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Command line interface to access settings on ESX datapath

Options:
  --help  Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  vswitch