Production-tested VMware ESXi procedures for sovereign on-premise infrastructure. Released to the community by TOWIN-IA — Zamora, Spain.
23 guías técnicas operadas en producción durante 2025–2026 sobre un cluster heterogéneo de hosts GPU corriendo VMware ESXi. Cubren GPU passthrough (NVIDIA y AMD), operaciones VMware, recovery, migración hacia Proxmox VE y referencia general.
Publicado para la comunidad técnica por TOWIN-IA (TYBSI SL · Zamora, España) tras la migración de nuestra infraestructura primaria a Proxmox VE 9.1.1, con presencia VMware reducida operando en paralelo.
La virtualización GPU para compute sobre hipervisor sigue siendo un dominio con poca documentación pública de calidad. Los problemas que resolvimos en nuestro entorno —desde regulación térmica de NVIDIA bajo passthrough hasta recuperación de discos NVMe bloqueados por OSDATA— son los mismos que encuentran otros operadores. Liberar nuestro archivo es la forma más eficiente de devolver valor a la comunidad que nos enseñó.
| Período | Estado |
|---|---|
| 2025–2026 | VMware ESXi 8.0 + vCenter 7.0 sobre 8 hosts heterogéneos |
| Abril 2026 | Migración primaria a Proxmox VE 9.1.1 (5 hosts) |
| Actual | Proxmox como stack principal · ESXi reducido en paralelo |
- ✅ NVIDIA GPU passthrough en ESXi (RTX PRO 6000, RTX 4000, RTX 5060, RTX 2000)
- ✅ AMD ROCm install + thermal management (W7800, RDNA 3)
- ✅ Instalación vCenter 7.0
- ✅ Patching crítico de ESXi con verificación GPU
- ✅ Operaciones de datastore, NTP, autostart, SSH KeepAlive
- ✅ Recovery de discos NVMe bloqueados (locked OSDATA)
- ✅ Bug report ROCm 6.4 + ESXi passthrough (gfx1100)
- ✅ Wake-on-LAN para clusters multi-host
- ✅ Migración P2V con VMware Converter
- ✅ Patrón de transición VM stateful entre hosts
- ✅ Migración completa ESXi → Proxmox VE (narrativa real)
- ✅ Synology OpenVPN multi-NIC (asymmetric routing fix)
- ✅ Windows 11 TPM/Secure Boot bypass para lab VMs
- ✅ Hardware notes para hosts GPU
- ✅ Glosario completo (100+ términos)
23 technical guides operated in production during 2025–2026 on a heterogeneous GPU host cluster running VMware ESXi. Topics include GPU passthrough (NVIDIA and AMD), VMware operations, recovery, migration to Proxmox VE and general reference material.
Released to the technical community by TOWIN-IA (TYBSI SL · Zamora, Spain) after our primary infrastructure migrated to Proxmox VE 9.1.1, with a reduced VMware footprint continuing in parallel.
GPU virtualization for compute under hypervisors remains a domain with limited public quality documentation. The problems we solved in our environment — from NVIDIA fan regulation under passthrough to recovery of NVMe disks locked by OSDATA — are the same problems other operators face. Releasing our archive is the most efficient way we found to return value to the community that taught us.
| Period | Status |
|---|---|
| 2025–2026 | VMware ESXi 8.0 + vCenter 7.0 on 8 heterogeneous hosts |
| April 2026 | Primary migration to Proxmox VE 9.1.1 (5 hosts) |
| Current | Proxmox as main stack · reduced ESXi continues in parallel |
- ✅ NVIDIA GPU passthrough on ESXi (RTX PRO 6000, RTX 4000, RTX 5060, RTX 2000)
- ✅ AMD ROCm install + thermal management (W7800, RDNA 3)
- ✅ vCenter Server 7.0 installation
- ✅ Critical ESXi patching with GPU verification
- ✅ Datastore operations, NTP, autostart, SSH KeepAlive
- ✅ Recovery of NVMe disks locked by OSDATA
- ✅ ROCm 6.4 + ESXi passthrough bug report (gfx1100)
- ✅ Wake-on-LAN for multi-host clusters
- ✅ P2V migration with VMware Converter
- ✅ Stateful VM transition pattern between hosts
- ✅ Complete ESXi → Proxmox VE migration (real narrative)
- ✅ Synology OpenVPN multi-NIC (asymmetric routing fix)
- ✅ Windows 11 TPM/Secure Boot bypass for lab VMs
- ✅ Hardware notes for GPU hosts
- ✅ Complete glossary (100+ terms)
| Guide | Description |
|---|---|
| AMD W7000 Multi-GPU on ESXi | Complete configuration for AMD W7800/W7900 in PCI passthrough |
| AMD Thermal Management | Empirical finding: AMD fans regulate natively on ESXi (unlike NVIDIA) |
| NVIDIA Fan Control NVML Daemon | Python daemon + systemd service for NVIDIA fan regulation |
| NVIDIA GPU Passthrough on ESXi | Required VM parameters, MMIO sizing, checklist |
| AMD ROCm Install on Ubuntu 22.04 | Step-by-step ROCm 7.2 installation procedure |
| Guide | Description |
|---|---|
| vCenter Server 7.0 Installation | Two-stage GUI walkthrough + JSON CLI alternative |
| Lifecycle Manager Patching | Critical procedure for patching ESXi with GPU verification |
| ESXi Datastore Operations | NFS, naming convention, inventory, VM recovery |
| VMware Tools + RDP on Ubuntu | open-vm-tools and xrdp setup for Linux guests |
| ESXi Operations Cookbook | SSH KeepAlive, hardware audit, daily commands |
| ESXi VM Autostart | Power event recovery configuration |
| ESXi NTP CLI Override | Bypassing the recurring UI bug with esxcli |
| Guide | Description |
|---|---|
| ESXi NVMe Disk Recovery | When ESXi installs OSDATA on the wrong disk and locks it |
| ROCm ESXi Passthrough Bug Report | Documented bug: ROCm 6.4 + W7800 + ESXi crash |
| Wake-on-LAN Cluster Setup | Remote power-on for multi-host infrastructure |
| Windows 11 TPM/SecureBoot Bypass | For lab VMs and legacy recovery scenarios |
| Guide | Description |
|---|---|
| Stateful VM Transition Pattern | NAS-mediated synchronization for cross-host service moves |
| P2V VMware Converter Migration | Physical to virtual migration with VMware Converter 6.4 |
| ESXi to Proxmox VE Migration | Real-world migration narrative + lessons learned |
| Guide | Description |
|---|---|
| Synology OpenVPN Multi-NIC | Fixing asymmetric routing on multi-NIC NAS hosting OpenVPN |
| Guide | Description |
|---|---|
| Architecture Overview | Operational context behind these 23 guides |
| Hardware Notes for GPU Hosts | Procurement and configuration lessons |
| Glossary | 100+ terms used across the repository |
🇪🇸 Si nunca has trabajado con clusters GPU virtualizados:
- Lee Architecture Overview — contexto general
- Lee Hardware Notes — qué hardware funciona y por qué
- Decide tu hipervisor: ESXi (las 23 guías) o Proxmox (próximamente otro repo)
- Para problemas concretos, salta directo a la guía correspondiente
🇬🇧 If you have never worked with virtualized GPU clusters:
- Read Architecture Overview — general context
- Read Hardware Notes — what hardware works and why
- Decide your hypervisor: ESXi (these 23 guides) or Proxmox (separate repo coming)
- For specific problems, jump directly to the relevant guide
We welcome contributions. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
Especially valuable:
- Procedure corrections based on your environment
- Coverage of platforms we did not (Hyper-V, KVM standalone, Nutanix)
- Bug reports on procedures that did not work for you
- Translations to other languages
Many acronyms and product-specific terms are defined in the Glossary. When in doubt, check there before opening an issue.
Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.
You are free to use these guides commercially, modify them, redistribute them and incorporate them into your own documentation. Attribution is appreciated but not required.
No warranty. These procedures were operated in our specific environment. Always test in a development environment before applying to production.
TOWIN-IA is the sovereign AI infrastructure project of TYBSI SL, based in Zamora, Spain. We build on-premise AI compute capacity for European clients under European jurisdiction, with European-origin models running on hardware we control.
Our infrastructure is operated under principles of digital sovereignty: hardware in our datacenter, models from European vendors (Mistral, OLMo), data that never leaves our racks, full compliance with EU regulations (GDPR, NIS2, AI Act).
This repository is one expression of our commitment to giving back to the technical community that makes our work possible.
🌐 towinia.es · ✉️ onpremise@towinia.es
| Version | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| v1.0 | April 2026 | Initial public release · 23 guides |
To the operators, developers, and technical communities who make on-premise infrastructure possible:
- The AMD ROCm team for an open-source GPU compute platform
- The Proxmox Server Solutions team (Austria) for sovereign virtualization
- The VMware Communities forum operators
- The r/homelab and r/VFIO communities
- The students from IES Lliçà, CECAC Santa Coloma, and Salesianos Cádiz who built and operated this infrastructure with us
Built with rigor in Zamora, Spain. Released to the community.