Boot Esxi 7.0 on supermicro x10 NVME m.2

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LongTime1

New Member
Sep 3, 2021
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Hi, I was wondering if anyone here knows how to boot up Esxi 7.0 on a m.2 or even if it is possible? Because I want to use M.2's instead of regular SSD drives. My Supermicro motherboard does not support any M.2 onboard, that is why I bought a PCIE 4 to M.2 adapter to support my M.2.
 
Feb 19, 2021
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Of course you can however why would you boot off your fastest media? Remember you burn the boot device in esxi and are prevented from utilizing it as a datastore later. So the general use case is to boot off a satadom or USB and save the m.2 for datastore media.
 
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dswartz

Active Member
Jul 14, 2011
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Of course you can however why would you boot off your fastest media? Remember you burn the boot device in esxi and are prevented from utilizing it as a datastore later. So the general use case is to boot off a satadom or USB and save the m.2 for datastore media.
^ this
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
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I think usb devices can't be used to store vms, other block devices should work without problem.
 

Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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Ah.. have not used USB devices in years - vCenter logging killed them all. Cheap old Intel enterprise SSDs it is:)
 

dreamkass

Member
Aug 14, 2012
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I've recommended the use of local SSD for booting ESXi for years now, because of mainly K.I.S.S.

For Prod = Dual SSD on B.O.S.S (Boot Optimized Server Storage)
Recommend Size = 200GB+ or more = more chance of being "Future Proof"
All Self-Contained, easier troubleshooting for when murphy shows up and have to rely on local logs :)

For my Homelab, I've using SM x10 2U Servers with 1 x Older 240GB SSD 2.5 SATA, had a few laying around, mounted them on an empty PCI slot with Startech Adapter, was pretty cheap & works great!

Here are some official sources / blogs / documentation:

vSphere 7 – ESXi System Storage Changes – Blogs 2020

https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2020/05/vsphere-7-esxi-system-storage-changes.html
https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2020/07/vsphere-7-system-storage-when-upgrading.html

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ESXi System Storage Overview – vSphere 7.0 Official Documentation
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-v...UID-474D003B-C6FB-465D-BC1B-5FD30F8E2209.html

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