Home Lab

During recent testing that I was completing within my home lab, I was repeatedly creating and decommissioning VMware vSAN configurations within a single cluster. The first time I completed this process, I was decommissioning a VMware vSAN OSA configuration prior to creating a new VMware vSAN ESA configuration on the cluster. When I went through the process and reached the portion to specify the disks, I found that the disks were unavailable for claiming.

For quite a while now, I’ve been utilizing a Cisco Nexus 3064PQ 10G/40G network switch to support my home lab. While the switch is a fantastic, feature-rich device, it also was designed for use in a data center environment. Thus, the switch generates a lot of heat, utilizes a lot of power, and has cooling fans that sound like turbo jets when running at full speed. Luckily, the only time that the fans run at full speed is during a reboot of the switch, but even at their lowest speed, they are quite noticeable.

While recently building out my new home lab server, I had the opportunity to install several Intel Optane 905p U.2 NVMe drives. Because my motherboard did not natively support U.2 devices, I acquired multiple 10Gtek U.2 to PCIe adapters to connect 6 U.2 drives to the system. These adapters come in either PCIe 3.0 x16, PCIe 3.0 x8, or PCIe 3.0 x4, depending on the number of U.2 devices the adapter supports.

Recently, I participated in a VMware vExpert program in partnership with Intel Corporation and coordinated by Matt Mancini and Simon Todd, where Intel offered to provide VMware vExperts with Intel Optane NVMe devices for use in our home labs. While I wasn’t initially selected to receive the hardware, there was a second chance opportunity to apply again after working on extending the reach of my social media presence. In addition to receiving Intel Optane NVMe devices during the second chance opportunity, Matt Mancini graciously donated several home lab devices as prizes for the top three individuals who grew their social media presence the most.