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TOP differences between ESXi 6.7 and ESXi 7.0

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Let's have a look at some of the principal differences in storage, networking (drives), and other factors when trying to upgrade or install on unsupported hardware, the latest VMware ESXi 7.0 hypervisor. This post lists some TOP differences between ESXi 6.7 and ESXi 7.0.

First of all, VMware ESXi 7.0 has a completely new partition layout. As such, you can't revert back (via [Shift-R] to initiate the recovery mode and eventually recover the previous ESXi version. The ESXi 7.0 has only 4 different partitions compared to the previous release which has had 8.

Note: You can still revert back from ESXi 7.0b to 7.0GA as @Microlytix pointed this out on Twitter this morning. Thanks Michael!

Concerning CPU, VMware limits the number of cores per license to 32 (unlimited before) so if you buy a 1CPU license you will only be able to have CPU with 32 cores, otherwise, you'll need 2 licenses. If the CPU has more than 32 cores, additional (per-CPU) licenses are required. For example, for 48 core CPU, you'll need 2 licenses.

This affects not only paid VMware vSphere/ESXi as ESXi Free version according to the latest VMware vSphere 7 licensing PDF concerning VMware ESXi Hypervisor says that:

There are no restrictions on the number of physical CPUs per host and on the amount of RAM per server/host

However, I would not put my hand in the fire for that, and if someone who has a possibility to test with let's say 48 core CPU, I'd be grateful to hear back…

TOP differences between ESXi 6.7 and ESXi 7.0 – The details

Storage

Previously you could install ESXi on small, 1 GB USB sticks. However, ESXi 7.0 rises these requirements to more than 3GB of disk space (Exactly 3.72 GB to be correct). The recommended size is actually 32 Gb. What's interesting is the fact that while the size of the boot partition (100MB) does not change, the other partitions sizes change depending on which size of media is used for the installation.

The examples from VMware show media size from 4Gb to 128 and over and as you can see, if you have a, for example, an SSD drive with over 128Gb, the remaining space can be used for creating a local datastore.

Img. courtesy of VMware

Apart from HDD, SSD, and NVMe, you can also use boot from a SAN LUN.

The minimal requirements are:

  • 8GB for USB sticks or SD devices (4Gb if you're upgrading from ESXi 6.7).
  • 32GB for other boot devices like hard disks, or flash media like SSD or NVMe devices.
  • A boot device must not be shared between ESXi hosts.

Network drivers

VMware ESXi 7.0 phased out some drivers so during installation or upgrade you might have problems finding your network devices. There are some discussions and solutions for some popular ESXi hardware, such as Intel NUCs, where you'll have to download a VIB and install it or recreate your ESXi installation ISO.

But in this post, we won't go into details as we don't have that hardware in the lab. Better do your own research (DYOR) if you facing issues. I know that as a workaround (or addition) you can install a VIB for USB NICs provided as a VMware Fling, in case your hardware isn't fully supported or if you're facing issues with your network card.

Quote:

This Fling supports the most popular USB network adapter chipsets found in the market. The ASIX USB 2.0 gigabit network ASIX88178a, ASIX USB 3.0 gigabit network ASIX88179, Realtek USB 3.0 gigabit network RTL8152/RTL8153 and Aquantia AQC111U.

Many Linux drivers and packages did not make it to the ESXi 7.0 ISO.

On the image below you can see that ESXi 6.7 U3 has 144 packages and drivers in total while ESXi 7.0 has only 75! That's a lot less -:)

Outdated CPUs

During the upgrade to vSphere/ESXi 7 you might get this message:

ERROR
The CPU in this host is not supported by ESXi
7.0.0. Please refer to the VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG) for
the list of supported CPUs.

vSphere 7.0 no longer supports the following processors:

  • Intel Family 6, Model = 2C (Westmere-EP)
  • Intel Family 6, Model = 2F (Westmere-EX)

You can fix it with what's called a CPU “mask” where you actually hide the identity of CPU and pass through the identity of a supported CPU so ESXi can boot up and run. Note that this is not supported by VMware so if you do that you should only run lab environment or some monitoring workloads.

You'll need to append an ESXi boot option which will allow you to bypass the unsupported CPU during the installation/upgrade. Just use SHIFT+O and append the following line:

allowLegacyCPU=True

If you want, you can modify the original ESXi Installation ISO so you don't see the message at all:

On ISO image go to this section and look for:

\UPGRADE\PRECHECK.PY script that is responsible for verification of the CPU during installation/upgrade:

Checkline 1720  allowLegacyCPU = True

Remember that ESXi 7.0 requires the NX/XD bit to be enabled for the CPU in the BIOS and to support 64-bit virtual machines, support for hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD RVI) must be enabled on x64 CPUs. This is already known and I assume that folks that are datacenter admins already know this, but just in case, I prefer to say that again.

ESXi needs at least two CPU cores, which is quite minimal.

Upgrades and event. problems

As for upgrades, a part of an outdated CPU or network drivers due to the Linux vmkernel stack change. In fact,  since vSphere 5.5, VMware introduced the Native driver stack with the plan to move away from the VMKlinux driver stack. And you see, now we're getting closer.

Quote:

Using only Native drivers allows for overall VMkernel CPU utilization and memory usage savings, while providing support for new hardware device features like RDMA and support for 100GbE NICs.

Many people (including me in the past) are running ESXi on commodity hardware with Realtek 8168/8169 NICs. Those NICs no longer works.

Upgrade from ESXi 6.7 to 7.0 via Offline Zip File

Download the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) Offline Bundle and copy it to the datastore visible by the host. Then run the following command via Putty SSH window:

esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/[DATASTORE]/VMware-ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-depot.zip -p ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-standard

Upgrade from ESXi 6.7 to 7.0 via the Internet

Enter those commands, one after the other:

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0.0-15843807-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient

If you want to check which versions for ESXi 7.0 are contained within a remote depot, please use this command:

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep ESXi-7.0.0

You should see at least two different versions there. One with and one without. Pick the one you wish.

Final Words

Unless it is for lab environments, you should only use hardware certified for vSphere 7.0. If your hardware is not certified for vSphere 7.0 it's better to stay on 6.7 and patch as long as you can.

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About Vladan SEGET

This website is maintained by Vladan SEGET. Vladan is as an Independent consultant, professional blogger, vExpert x16, Veeam Vanguard x9, VCAP-DCA/DCD, ESX Virtualization site has started as a simple bookmarking site, but quickly found a large following of readers and subscribers.

Connect on: Facebook. Feel free to network via Twitter @vladan.

Comments

  2. Tom says

    Vladan, I’ve been following your blog for a long time and I appreciate your sharing of information. I’ve learned many tid-bits from reading. But….. I’m just getting tired of all the bling flying around the screen. I get it, you have to make money and it’s a great way to do so by advertising other sites on your site? But it’s to the point I don’t want to open your site because of all the pop-up windows. I’m trying to read this article because it’s very pertinent but I can’t follow because there so many distractions on the screen.

    • Vladan SEGET says

      Hi Tom, thanks for your feedback. I’m using some “in-post” ads, which are placed in the text. True. However, I’m not using any “pop-up” window ads…. which I don’t like either. Not sure what you mean here.
      The other option I’d have is to render part of the content “for subscribers only”, but trying not to as I’m not sure this method works on smaller media sites like mine.
      Either there is free content and ads or nothing. Note that this month I’m testing a new advertising network with a bit more ads placed in the text. But again, no pop-ups…. -:)

  3. Mike says

    Have to agree with Tom, the article is great but the ad placement is very busy, however, the biggest offenders are the ads in-line with the article text and the hover-over at the bottom of the screen. For the inline ads, there’s 7 in this one article, two identical ads on screen at the same time, appearing one paragraph apart. The one that’s most annoying is the text based one (Runecast is what I saw) where there is a line of asterisks but it really looks like part of the article. Crafty from an advertising perspective, obtrusive to the content from a reader perspective.

    I can see how the in-line ads are needed to display when the screen resolution is low, e.g. the side ads disappear as the browser is shrunk. I’m not a web wizard, but if there’s a way to use the sides when resolution allows and suppress the in-line that would be more ideal for a desktop experience. Then when a resolution threshold is reached, switch to in-line ads as the side banners will be gone and the side navigation will move to the hamburger menu.

    The pop-up that Tom mentioned could be the hover-over at the bottom of the screen that stays in place as you scroll through the page. It can be closed but is one more thing to do to make room for the content.

    Either way, the need for ads is understood but it’s sad when they directly detract from consuming the content and in this case it’s on a trusted source in the virtualization community. The other site like this that comes to mind is 4Sysops. Love their content, but the in-line ads are over the top and often an ad looks like a screenshot for the article. I’m sure it get clicks 🙂

    Great content, and wish you and the site the best.

    • Vladan SEGET says

      Hi Mike,

      Thanks for your feedback on the ads. The in-text ads are responsive so they adjust no matter of the resolution (mobile, tablet, desktop…). Text ads are just temporary, for specific needs. For specific campaigns.

      The bottom of the screen ad is a sticky ad that can be closed if necessary.

      Again, many larger sites went via paid content, but I’m unsure about that on my blog which does not have size of large media sites, so try to do my best, and still put much effort into the content and updates.

      The advertising options are evolving so I’m always looking to new solutions and the least burden for our readers. Experimenting with this is just a part of the game. Nothing is fixed, everything can be changed.

      New upcoming project is VCP7-DCV Study Guide which again, will be a huge time-consuming project.

  4. Michael Sandy says

    This is a really helpful site for someone such as myself…running a small business and wants to keep costs down by DIY.
    Therefore will tolerate the advertising
    Michael

  5. Robert Thompson says

    After installation where does one add the allowLegacyCPU=True line to allow for reboots without having to have a KVM connected to the host?

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