Building the VMware vSphere 8 and Veeam VBR v12 on Intel NUC 12


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Model: NUC12WSHi5
Processor type: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1240P
Memory: G.Skill RipJaws DDR4 SO-DIMM Series 64GB
Storage: SAMSUNG 980 SSD 1TB PCle 3.0x4, NVMe M.2 2280
Network: Intel Ethernet Controller I225 Series
VMware vSphere Edition: ESXi-8.0b-21203435-standard (VMware, Inc.)
Veeam Backup and Replication Edition: 12.0.0.1420

Preparation

Download VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0b-21203435.x86_64.iso
Download VMware-VCSA-all-8.0.0-21457384.iso
Download Veeam Backup and Replication v12 iso
VMware vSphere 8 Enterprise Plus license
VMware vCenter 8 Standard Edition license
Veeam Data Platform Advanced license

Remark: When you try to install ESXi 7.0 or 8.0 on a system with 12th Gen Intel 1240 CPU, the installation fails with the following PSOD. You need to follow the following steps to install the ESXi 8.0.

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

Installation

  1. Create a bootable USB drive with ESXi 8.0 installer, e.g. Rufus
  2. Insert the bootable USB drive into the Intel NUC 12 Pro and power it on
  3. Press "SHIFT+O" and append the following kernel option
  4. Add “cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic=FALSE” and the press enter to continue the boot process
  5. Continue the installation of vSphere 8.0
  6. Once the installation is completed, please do not reboot now
  7. Switch into the ESXi shell by press “ALT+F1″ and login with root and blank password
  8. vi /vmfs/volumes/BOOTBANK1/boot.cfg
  9. Add “cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic=FALSE” behind "autoParition=FALSE" and then save the changes
  10. Reboot the ESXi host
  11. To make the kernel option permanent, switch into the ESXi shell by press “ALT+F1” after reboot the ESXi host
  12. Go to Troubleshooting Options, “Enable ESXi Shell
  13. Now run the following ESXCLI command to configure the kernel option:
  14. esxcli system settings kernel set -s cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic -v FALSE
  15. esxcli system settings kernel list -o cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic
  16. Finally, disable the ESXi Shell
  17. Reboot the ESXi host again

The you can deploy vCenter Server with VCSA 8.0 iso into the ESXi 8.0.

Add the ESXi 8.0 into vCenter 8.0 Server.

Finally you can deploy the Veeam Backup and Replication v12.


16 comments

Userlevel 7
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Read this on your blog nice job Victor. 👍

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Morning! Question on this, does ESXi use the efficiency cores? As I know that’s always been a problem historically.

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Good write up Victor! 

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That is a nice low power lab solution. My Home Assistant setup runs on a NUC and it has been fantastic. 

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Morning! Question on this, does ESXi use the efficiency cores? As I know that’s always been a problem historically.

@MicoolPaul You are right, there are exist the PSOD issue if the efficient cores are enabled. This environment is for my home lab only.

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Interesting idea….I’ve been looking for something lightweight to host VBR, but I think this might be too lightweight.

Userlevel 7
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Interesting idea….I’ve been looking for something lightweight to host VBR, but I think this might be too lightweight.

@dloseke If it is used home lab, the resources are fine for me.

Userlevel 7
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Interesting idea….I’ve been looking for something lightweight to host VBR, but I think this might be too lightweight.

@dlosekeIf it is used home lab, the resources are fine for me.

 

No, I’m thinking production for a BaaS.  I need to figure out some sort of lightweight machine that has some local storage so that I can backup locally to a small SOBR repo that includes Wasabi and ties into our Service Provider Console.  

Userlevel 7
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Interesting idea….I’ve been looking for something lightweight to host VBR, but I think this might be too lightweight.

@dlosekeIf it is used home lab, the resources are fine for me.

 

No, I’m thinking production for a BaaS.  I need to figure out some sort of lightweight machine that has some local storage so that I can backup locally to a small SOBR repo that includes Wasabi and ties into our Service Provider Console.  

My company is planning to become Veeam Cloud & Service Provider, and looking for the hardware for production environment. 

Userlevel 7
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Interesting idea….I’ve been looking for something lightweight to host VBR, but I think this might be too lightweight.

@dlosekeIf it is used home lab, the resources are fine for me.

 

No, I’m thinking production for a BaaS.  I need to figure out some sort of lightweight machine that has some local storage so that I can backup locally to a small SOBR repo that includes Wasabi and ties into our Service Provider Console.  

My company is planning to become Veeam Cloud & Service Provider, and looking for the hardware for production environment. 

 

I’m looking at using something like small Dell desktops or maybe low-end precision rack workstations, similar to what Datto appliances use.  The main issue is that I want to have at least a RAID1 mirror of the repository for redundancy if possible, so SSD’s are probably out to get any good usable size out of the repo, but I don’t have a lot of space for a lot of disks as well.  I did use a Dell T340 for a client a while back, but that was still a bit larger physically that I would have liked.

Userlevel 1

I try to do the same operation on my NUC12WSHi5, but after installing ESXI8.0, it prompts that the network card cannot be found, and it keeps prompting that it is not connected after the network cable is plugged in. What should I do? thank you!

Userlevel 7
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I try to do the same operation on my NUC12WSHi5, but after installing ESXI8.0, it prompts that the network card cannot be found, and it keeps prompting that it is not connected after the network cable is plugged in. What should I do? thank you!

You might need to get the NIC driver fling and install that to see the network card.

Userlevel 1

I try to do the same operation on my NUC12WSHi5, but after installing ESXI8.0, it prompts that the network card cannot be found, and it keeps prompting that it is not connected after the network cable is plugged in. What should I do? thank you!

You might need to get the NIC driver fling and install that to see the network card.

How to do it? can you give me more detail? I don't know much about this

Userlevel 7
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I try to do the same operation on my NUC12WSHi5, but after installing ESXI8.0, it prompts that the network card cannot be found, and it keeps prompting that it is not connected after the network cable is plugged in. What should I do? thank you!

You might need to get the NIC driver fling and install that to see the network card.

How to do it? can you give me more detail? I don't know much about this

Just google VMware NIC Fling and you download and install it from the CLI of your host. 

Userlevel 7
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I try to do the same operation on my NUC12WSHi5, but after installing ESXI8.0, it prompts that the network card cannot be found, and it keeps prompting that it is not connected after the network cable is plugged in. What should I do? thank you!

@dinge You install ESXi 8.0 Update 1 or 8.0b into NUC12WSHi5?

Userlevel 1

I try to do the same operation on my NUC12WSHi5, but after installing ESXI8.0, it prompts that the network card cannot be found, and it keeps prompting that it is not connected after the network cable is plugged in. What should I do? thank you!

@dingeYou install ESXi 8.0 Update 1 or 8.0b into NUC12WSHi5?

VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0b-21203435.x86_64.iso i use the same ISO package as you.

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