Once upon a time there was an Intel NUC that dreamed of being more powerful. This little NUC wished to become part of a VMware ESXi vSan cluster. The little NUC knew it would require changing many aspects of his inner core, but he committed to the task and began scouring his virtual landscape for the parts that would make him more powerful. After many days of scouring the land the little NUC gathered his list of requirements.
Build of Materials:
Intel NUC 10 Performance Kit: NUC10i7FNH
Two 32GB sticks of DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM (Samsung 32GB 2Rx8 PC4-2666V-SE1-11)
1TB Western Digital RED SA500 SATA SSD
500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD
StarTech USB-C to Dual 1GB Ethernet Adapter with USB 3
Vmware Fling for USB Network Native Driver
The Little NUC took his list to the all powerful Oracle to plead his case for more power. The Oracle smiled down upon the little NUC, blessing his choices but reminding the Little NUC that even after these upgrades he could not be added to the VMware Hardware Compatibility List. The Little NUC shook with frustration. The Oracle furrowed his brow, waiting for the NUC to grow stoic and accept his fate then proclaimed: “You shall become more powerful Little NUC, but you must show great patience as these lands are stricken by a pandemic and these parts will not arrive quickly.” The Little NUC, giddy with the thought of more power, offered a nod of respect to the Oracle’s proclamation and set off to journey back home.
Two months later, the parts arrived and the Little NUC began his transformation.