VMKLinux drivers

[dabeast]

Hi all,

I've been out of the homelab game for a few years now and wanted to pick it back up. I was using ESXI before the VMKLinux drivers where deprecated. I have a couple of machines with Intel 82576 and 82575 quad nics. They both seem deprecated and unsupported in ESXI 8.0.

• Is there a way to get VMKLinux drivers working again?
  • Or move back to an older, supported version?
  • If moving back to older version, my guess would be that it would not get security updates?
• Should I drop ESXI and move to something else? (Suggestions? I liked ESXI because it's a bare-metal hypervisor)
  • I know Proxmox exists, but the UI seems to be less intuitive.

Thanks for the help!

 

[i386]

If moving back to older version, my guess would be that it would not get security updates?

That depends on the used version. Esxi 6.7 is supported until 2023-11-15, esxi 7 until 2027-04-02 (Product Lifecycle Matrix , filter for esxi in the product column)

Should I drop ESXI and move to something else?

Like usual: it depends on your goals for the homelab.

If you want to learn virtualization for work, esxi will probably still be #1 for the next few years or if you need a "stable" homelab (is it still a homelab when it has to be asbolutely stable? ). This might require "new"/expensive hardware...
For a homelab where things are allowed to break: try whatever platform you want, esxi, kvm, bhyve etc.

And for a "bloody" homelab you could try to run your applications in containers

 

[Dev_Mgr]

ESXi 6.7 went end of general support last month. The 2023-11-15 is for general guidance. This is mostly just relevant if you want to open a support case with VMware.

The end of general support means that no more security updates, fixes and the likes are to be expected.

I'd suggest to just stick with 6.7 and use vmklinux drivers, or purchase some inexpensive newer (but used) NICs and go to 7.0, or maybe 8.0 if your CPUs are supported.