1. VCF 9.0 Homelab Physical Setup and almost complete BOM under 1000€

calendar Dec 23, 2025 · Homelab VCF 9.0 BOM NFS  ·
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Overview

Diagram

Network Design Diagram Strivevirtually.net Updated 27/1/2026

Office Desk

  • 2 wooden trestles (given)
  • microfiber cloth (in between)
  • tick black glass table (5€ at "leboncoin" - Neighborhood Marketplaces eBay like)

Posture

An old picture that i made following along since 1998 that someone uploaded on wikipedia as it is long standing informations.

Computer Workstation Variables

I find the most helpful variable is, the 90° at the elbow with keyboard/desk angle, to have wrists straight.
Vinsetto Manager Chair Elbow Keyboard Table at 74cm

Bill Of Materials recommandations

The goals of this BOM is achieve at minimal cost:

Subtotal for a single ESXi Host and we need 2 Hosts for VCF 9.0 on NFS:
433€

Total
999€

What's missing in this BOM

  • DDR4 RAM due to prices volatility until production resume forecasted for after 2nd quarter next year in 2026 (or around July), so looking forward to seeing 32GB DDR4 at its lowest 40€ and not its highest 400€ like now in December 2025.
  • M.2 SSD NVMe any decent PCIe 4.0 SSD for NVMe Memory Tiering, (note if you plan to use Chinese SSD brands then choose Fanxiang because it is the only Chinese SSD brand recognized by ESXi 9.0 installer from my experience)
  • Computer Case: i reccommend without the lateral glass instead with holes to help vent fresh/hot air, likewise i recommend 140mm fans as they have low RPM and thus quieter, 120mm fans are ok, but definitely avoid old case with 80mm Fan.
  • NFS Host/NAS Appliance:
    • 4TB NVMe or more is better especially if you intent to add more component like VRLI or VRNI (note: a bifurcation card like above with 4 SSD in RAID would be ideal, and choose a motherboard that support bifurcation)
    • 10G nic at full speed preferably
    • 2.5G usb-c nic rj45 to upload VCF 9.0 offline depot, reasoning the "why?", because it takes less than 10min at full speed (4min upload and 4min finishing bits validation)
    • 2.5G SFP+ module to copper rj45
  • 2 USB 3.0 key for ESXi install and boot

Bonus Point

VCF 9.0 on NFS: 1 SSD per ESXi host + Bifurcation by splitting PCIe 4.0 16x in 4 disks running each at full speed 4x4x4x4x = 4 differents labs of VCF 9.0 on NFS with 2 host and just a bunch of SSDs.
Or 1 lab VCF on NFS + 1 lab VCF on VSAN.
Why would ESXi host would need only 1 SSD? Because NVMe Tiering + OSDATA + VMFS local datastore are already done via the kickstart unattended install.
Thus having a set USB keys for each of the 4 differents VCF labs and simply changing the BIOS boot order would make it a perfect Lab station!

Reuse existing hardware

  • Dual 10G SFP+ nic PCIe 2.0 8x: note to be aware that plugging in the second 16x slot, that is wired at 4x, make the speed much slower
  • Modding GPU bracket + Riser 1x to 16x
    Useful if you already have a passive GPU and already have the motherboard but the 1x slot isn't opened.
    Not perfect because VGA could not be used.
  • 2 Host with different motherboad Manufacturer and Model
    Customize SMBIOS with generated string based on Manufacturer and Model of one the 2 Hosts (already done via the kickstart unattended install)
  • KVM usb 2.0 and VGA, only keyboard and mouse used for entering UEFI BIOS to change boot order between
    • local windows disk (for cleaning steps)
    • USB ESXi Part 1 (for starting the lab from scratch)
      Trendnet TK-209K and switch ONT-S508CL-8S
  • Display 2 BenQ 23" enough for 1080p, the second screen has 2 hdmi plugged one for the NFS box and one for the first host
  • 2 Sets of keyboard mouse, one set plugged on the kvm for the hosts, one set the NFS box

Update 3/1/2026: Installing singles 10G SFP nic 4x to replace dual 10G SFP 8x

Note: An extra SATA power is needed for the M.2 cards.

1. VCF 9.0 Homelab Physical Setup and almost complete BOM under 1000€
2. VCF 9.0 Homelab Infrasturcture Services Setup
3. VCF 9.0 Homelab Repeatable Wipe and Reload from Buildup to Validations
4. VCF 9.0 Homelab Deploy on NFSv3 with Workarounds
5. VCF 9.0 Homelab Offline Depot with generated download token for certified VCP-VCF VMUG Advantage members