--- title: "Using Intel Optane NVMe in a VMware Homelab: Setup & Results" description: "I have been a VMware vExpert for many years and it has brought me many many benefits over the years." date: 2023-04-17T12:20:04+00:00 modified: 2026-06-01T21:06:47+00:00 author: James Kilby categories: - Homelab - Storage - vExpert - Networking - VMware - Artificial Intelligence - Docker - Hosting - Synology tags: - #Homelab - #Intel - #Optane - #Truenas - #TrueNAS Scale - #vExpert - #VMware url: https://jameskilby.co.uk/2023/04/intel-optane/ image: https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/intel_optane_ssd_900p_series_aic_-_right_angle_575px.png --- ![](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/intel_optane_ssd_900p_series_aic_-_right_angle_575px.png) [Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/homelab/) | [Storage](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/storage/) | [vExpert](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vexpert/) # Using Intel Optane NVMe in a VMware Homelab: Setup & Results By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) April 17, 2023 · Updated June 1, 2026 • 📖2 min read(316 words) 📅 **Published:** April 17, 2023• **Updated:** June 01, 2026 I have been a VMware vExpert for many years and it has brought me many benefits over the years. I don’t think it’s an understatement to say I probably wouldn’t have my current role within VMware without it. One of the best benefits has been access to a huge amount of licences for VMware software to use in my lab. Some third parties have also recognised the award and given licences for their software. Two that I have probably made the most use of are [Runecast](https://www.runecast.com) and [Devolutions](https://devolutions.net) Remote Desktop Manager. However recently a few bits of hardware have become available and one piece in particular piqued my interest, in particular some Optane drives thanks to the very generous folks at Intel. I was lucky enough to get some together with [Gareth Edwards](http://www.virtualisedfruit.co.uk) we decided to put something together to show how good the Optane drives are and have a friendly bit of competition. ![IMG 2109](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IMG_2109-1024x683.jpeg) Gareth is going to keep most of the drives to start with doing some vSAN testing and I have added two to my TrueNAS server. This has both iSCSI and NFS connections back to my ESXi hosts. To be honest it would be tricky to get more than that in my storage box (in the PCI format) We’re planning on doing some back to back tests to showcase the performance difference. I am going to do this by benchmarking from VMware the following drive pairs running in my Truenas “SAN” I will also configure the Optane’s as “SLOG” attached to my main SSD storage pool. See my [TrueNAS ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2023/05/homelab-storage-refresh-part-1/)post for more details of the setup Drive| Model | Size| Manufacturers Read IOPS| Manufacturer Write IOPS| Max Read Sequential MB/s| Max Write Sequential MB/s ---|---|---|---|---|---|--- Consumer SSD | Samsung EVO 860 2TB | 2TB | 97,000 | 88,000 | 550 | 520 Enterprise SSD | Samsung PM863 | 960GB | 99,000 | 18,000 | 520 | 475 Intel Optane | SSD DC P4800X | 750GB | 550,000 | 550,000 | 2500 | 2200 ## 📚 Related Posts * [Lab Update – Part 2 Storage Truenas Scale](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/01/lab-update-part-2-storage/) * [New Homelab Nodes: SuperMicro BigTwin for VMware & Nutanix](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2024/07/new-nodes/) * [Lab Update – Desired Workloads](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/01/lab-update-part-5-desired-workloads/) ## Similar Posts * [ ![MikroTik CRS504 Review: 100Gb/s Networking in My Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2157_hi_res-768x346.png) 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By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) January 11, 2022 · Updated June 1, 2026 The HP Z840 has changed its role to a permanent storage box running Truenas Scale. * [ ![Nvidia Tesla P4 vGPU Setup in VMware Homelab: Full Guide](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IMG_1107-768x403-1.jpg) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2023/10/vgpu-setup-in-my-homelab/) [Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/homelab/) | [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) ### [Nvidia Tesla P4 vGPU Setup in VMware Homelab: Full Guide](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2023/10/vgpu-setup-in-my-homelab/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) October 23, 2023 · Updated June 1, 2026 Card Stats Install steps VM Provisioning Folding@Home A little while ago I decided to play with vGPU in my homelab. * [ ![How I Migrated from Pocket to Hoarder with AI Integration](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-29-at-23.30.47-768x411.png) 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My Data](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/11/homelab-bad-days-almost/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) November 21, 2022 · Updated June 1, 2026 I recently spent 3 weeks in Ireland with my wife Wendy and our son Nate.