Sub 20 watt ESXi "server"

[vxspiritxv]

So I didn't figure out everything on my own, so giving credit where due...
Dell WYSE info: https://blog.kroy.io/2019/12/08/the-wyse-5070-a-perfect-little-vyos-device/
ESXi Driver fix: https://www.sysadminstories.com/2018/08/adding-realtek-8111-driver-to-vsphere.html
Driver download: https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/wiki/index.php/Net55-r8168
ESXi Offline Bundle: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/downloads/details?downloadGroup=ESXI65U3A&productId=614

ESX 6.5 is the latest that will boot on this device, at least in UEFI mode, I didn't try BIOS mode. 6.7 and 7.0 will PSOD.

Modified instructions for building esx 6.5 iso:

Open powershell:
Install-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI
set-executionpolicy remotesigned
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot "ESXi650-201908001.zip", "net55-r8168-8.045a-napi-offline_bundle.zip"
Get-EsxImageProfile
New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile ESXi-6.5.0-20190804001-standard -name ESXi-6.5.0-20190804001-standard-RTL8168 -Vendor RTL
Set-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile ESXi-6.5.0-20190804001-standard-RTL8168 -AcceptanceLevel CommunitySupported
Get-EsxSoftwarePackage | Where {$_.Vendor -eq "Realtek"}
Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile ESXi-6.5.0-20190804001-standard-RTL8168 -SoftwarePackage net55-r8168
Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile ESXi-6.5.0-20190804001-standard-RTL8168 -ExportToIso -filepath ESXi-6.5.0-20190804001-standard-RTL8168.iso

My Kill-a-watt never hit 15 watt, but I haven't done more than just install one VM so far. It idles at 6.5watts.
AMD 5800U would make a killer low power server. Looking forward to getting something on that platform, eventually.

 

[CrimsonKnight13]

I'm currently running the "ESXi Fling on ARM" on my RPi4 8GB. Quite a fight making images work properly with the ESXi UEFI without some Linux distros having ISOs available.

 

[mwarps]

Woof, that's rough. I have a J4105 that I use as a PBX, and it's barely up to that task. Good luck with that.