VMware developers released the ESXi ARM fling, a version of ESXi that can run on devices based around ARM processors such as the Raspberry Pi 4b we are using, Nintendo Switch Consoles, and many other SBC’s. Setting up the Raspberry Pi to run ESXi is fairly quick, we covered the installation and setup of a VM in a previous article here.
VMware developers released the ESXi ARM fling, a version of ESXi that can run on devices based around ARM processors such as the Raspberry Pi 4b we are using, Nintendo Switch Consoles, and many other SBC’s. Setting up the Raspberry Pi to run ESXi is fairly quick, we covered the installation and setup of a VM in a previous article here.
To set up a Raspberry Pi already running the ESXi Arm fling you will need 2 additional storage devices as well as the SD card used for the UEFI and the USB storage device that ESXI is installed on. For this demo, we are using a Samsung T5 portable SSD and an ADATA SE800 portable SSD. For this demo check that ESXi is installed and running on your Pi, both storage drives are free from partitions, and the ESXi shell along with SSH is running on the rPi.
William Lam from the VMware Cloud dev team created the guide on VirtuallyGhetto that I will follow to set up our Raspberry Pi vSAN witness, check out his tutorial here.
Steps to allow vSAN to use the 2 storage devices:
If all the steps were completed correctly the Raspberry Pi should be set up as a vSAN Witness and your vSAN cluster should be up and running. There are many x86 computers that would serve the purpose of a vSAN witness node better and run into fewer compatibility issues than what we’ve done here. Using the Raspberry Pi is a fun project though for enthusiasts wanting to explore the upper limits of what the Raspberry Pi can achieve running the ESXi ARM fling.
William Lam from the VMware Cloud dev team created the guide on VirtuallyGhetto that I followed to set up our Raspberry Pi vSAN witness, check out his tutorial here.
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