2013: Another year of blogging and tooling

The end of 2013 is near! Time to look back on this year's achievements, blog posts, HowTos and tools ... Here is my annual review, my list of highlights - in case you missed any of them ;-)

New ESXi software packages

• In January I published a package for ESXi 5.x that adds the new namespace shell to the esxcli command line tool and enables you to run any shell command remotely (through esxcli).
• As an outcome of my FAQ post on CPU microcode updates and ESXi I published a VIB file that includes current microcode updates for Intel and AMD processors.
• My sata-xahci package adds support for unsupported SATA AHCI controllers to ESXi 5.x.

Tools updates

• The ESXi5 Community Packaging Tools got significant usability and GUI enhancements with version 2.2.
• A major update of my ESXi-Customizer-PS script (version 2.0) includes a new option to update an existing 3rd party ESXi Offline bundle to the latest ESXi patch level.

Most read blog posts

• Continued my series of "How to update stand-alone ESXi" posts with the release of ESXi 5.1 U1 and 5.5.
• How to add unsupported NIC drivers (of ESXi 5.0) to ESXi 5.5
• How to make your unsupported SATA controller work with ESXi 5.x
• FAQ: Using SSDs with ESXi and Does ESXi support TRIM?
• How to vMotion from Intel to AMD - and why not to do it

Last but not least I want to draw your attention to the V-Front Online Depot that I recently launched, a central repository for the ESXi software packages (and related tools) that were created by myself and other Community members.

My first goal for next year will be to make it more known to the Community and invite others who have also created non-commercial ESXi software packages to publish them there.

But now it's time for a break ... I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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This post first appeared on the VMware Front Experience Blog and was written by Andreas Peetz. Follow him on Twitter to keep up to date with what he posts.

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