In this blog, I will be talking about how you can optimize RAM utilization in your HomeLab. The main objective of this tutorial is that you can achieve higher levels of consolidation while running your labs. Transparent Page Sharing (TPS) is a method by which duplicate copies of memory pages are consolidated. In other words, the concept of TPS is somewhat similar to deduplication. This helps the ESXi server to free up repeated memory blocks of a virtual machine allowing for increased levels of consolidation. ...

In this bog, I will be validating if the “ESXi QuickBoot” feature works in Nested mode i.e. running ESXi in a VM. First you must know exactly how QuickBoot works and all the requirements it has. To do this I will use the VMWare portal documentation as a reference: Quick Boot is a vSphere feature that speeds up the upgrade process of an ESXi server. A regular reboot involves a full power cycle that requires firmware and device initialization. Quick Boot optimizes the reboot path to avoid this, saving considerable time from the upgrade process. ...

This is one of my favorite feature in vSphere 7 Update 2. VMware now provides the capability to use a new native key provider for encryption. Allowing us to use vSAN encryption, VM encryption and vTPM natively without the requirement to deploy an external Key provider. In the past this capability can only be provided by using a 3rd party solution like Hytrust KeyControl. In this post I will explain how easy is to configure and deploy this awesome new feature. ...

In vSphere 7 update 1 VMware added a new capability for Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) technology consisting of three VMs called agents. The agent VMs form the quorum state of the cluster and have the ability to self-healing. So if you turn off or delete the VMs called vCLS the vCenter server will turn the VMs back on or re-create the VMs again. For HomeLab purposes this new feature consumes CPU resource, Memory and disk space which although minimal is not worth having a configuration that adds nothing to a test and development environment. ...