After I recently reported in detail about Proxmox and its possibilities, today I’m going in the exact opposite direction. No open source, no fully free functions and a company behind the developer that doesn’t actually want us as customers, if you believe the online consensus. If that puts you off, you can take another look here:
Lab Rax and Proxmox Cluster – 3D-printed 10″ rack made from Centauri Carbon
Or open it on the second monitor and take a look from time to time to cool your nerves while you continue reading here. What follows here is aimed more at home lab enthusiasts with some experience, although I want to keep everything as comprehensible and, above all, replicable as possible. However, I won’t be explaining basic concepts or terms. And now it’s time to be strong:

I prefer the solutions from VMware and especially ESXi over Proxmox. Whether it’s the UI design, the clarity of the interface or the robustness of certain services, I haven’t really warmed to the open source hypervisor yet. In my job as a system administrator, I also work exclusively with vCenter, and contrary to the many statements to the contrary about extreme price increases, I can’t report anything of the sort. The price for the licenses purchased this year was far from the feared multiplication and in a range for which I would never overturn the entire server structure for another solution. But these are my very personal experiences and view of things, which in no way makes other solutions such as Proxmox, Hyper-V or XPC-ng any worse. Something about finding the right lid for the pot or something like that.

After the acquisition of VMware by Broadcom, there was no free hypervisor available for a long time, if you wanted to use ESXi and other software or download it at all, you needed an active contract. This changed a while ago and at the time of publication, ESXi 8.0 Update 3e can be downloaded, provided you have created a free account. In this article, Broadcom shows what exactly needs to be done.
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But the whole thing has to run on something, and the choice is limited by certain criteria. There are workarounds, but it is also not recommended to use ESXi with hybrid processors for Homelab operation. This means that most of the current Intel CPUs with their combination of E and P cores are excluded, whereas AMD is in a better position. With the Ethernet controller or NIC, it is the other way around again, here a supported Intel chipset is expected. Linked above are the test reports on three systems that are compatible on paper, on which the installation should be possible without adjustments. But I have not tried it out!
Geekom A8 Mini-PC in test – A Ryzen 8945HS at the physical limit
However, the vast majority of mini PCs rely on RealTek network cards. So does the Geekom A8 in the 8745HS version, which I’m using here. Thanks to the work of William Lam, a developer at Broadcom, we have the USB Network Native Driver, which allows us to use a USB network adapter.

Most chipsets are supported, but it is always a bit difficult to find out which one is installed. I took a chance for you and ordered the cheapest 2.5 gigabit adapter available at the time. Lo and behold, a fully supported RTL8156B is working inside.
The Amazon link is an affiliate offer where I receive a commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you.
If you see a visually similar adapter, there is a high probability that it is technically identical and also works. With the model linked here, however, it worked perfectly for me, as already mentioned, you are welcome to link other tested models in the comments and I will add them here.

Once you have the host of your choice and adapter ready, log in to the Broadcom portal and click on this link for an overview of free downloads. I have used the following files and based my instructions on them, but I cannot guarantee whether everything will work with updates released after the publication of this article. Again, please try it out and report in the comments.
- VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso
Only required if your system/mini PC has an Intel network card. If you are using a USB adapter, you do not need this file for the time being.
Download: https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productdownloads?subfamily=VMware vSphere Hypervisor&freeDownloads=true
SHA256: 9782c96ffd01cc56da17ec31573da69f4cba2f9402e67c8b55d05d9472c7376a - ESXi803-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-76444229-component-24179899.zip
Required if you are using a USB adapter.
Download: https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productfiles?subFamily=Flings&displayGroup=USB Network Native Driver for ESXi&release=ESXi 8.0 Update 3&os=&servicePk=540079&language=EN&freeDownloads=true
SHA256: 5b1c48a2c5ce1391cb2dea7eb7194579e126ff7354e2252288ab3a938a99a6e8 - VMware-ESXi-8.0U3e-24674464-depot.zip
Required if you are using a USB adapter. Cannot be downloaded directly.
Info: https: //techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/8-0/release-notes/esxi-update-and-patch-release-notes/vsphere-esxi-80u3e-release-notes.html
SHA256: cd3301c8cba325787942cf1619a7ef8ab529818091645f66ab63997776a5dde4
And here we already stumble across the next drop line, which is as annoying as it is unnecessary. Broadcom only provides “depot” files if you have a current update and maintenance contract. However, you will certainly find alternative sites and mirrors if you search for “VMware-ESXi-8.0U3e-24674464-depot.zip download”. In some cases, the script used on the next page can also provide the missing file, but the link is not permanently valid. When downloading from other sources, however, it is important that you check the file for the correct checksum afterwards. For example, with 7-Zip, right-click on the .zip > Show more options > 7-Zip > CRC SHA > SHA-256 and then compare the checksum. As described above, the result for the VMware-ESXi-8.0U3e-24674464-depot.zip should be cd3301c8cba325787942cf1619a7ef8ab529818091645f66ab63997776a5dde4.


































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