How to enable vSphere memory/cpu hotplug

[chrisdp]

Hello,

I have recently installed the trial version of vSphere and upgraded my ESX host to 4.0 I have seen some demos on enabling the memory/cpu hotplug option under the Edit Settings-->options tab but the choice to do so does not appear for me. I have looked both when the VM is powered off and powered on and it's not there. I have even gone so far as to select the "Upgrade Virtual Hardware" option but again no luck. What am I missing or is this only a feature of the fully licensed viersion? I have included a screenshot so you can see that I am clearly missing the choice for "Memory/CPU Hotplug" yet my virtual machine version is 7 and all other settings appear to be there. Any help would be appreciated

Thanks in advance

Chris

[Troy_Clavell]

you don't enable the feature, it's there depending on your product suite, http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010579. But depending on the OS, it may or may not work. See below

http://www.boche.net/blog/index.php/2009/05/10/vsphere-memorycpu-hotplug-hot-add/

[AndreTheGiant]

You need ALL this point:

• the license in ESX for hot-add (at least advanced version): http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/buy/editions_comparison.html

• a supported OS (cause guest OS must recognize the operation)

• enable the relative flag in the VM options

Andre

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[depping]

You will need the correct vSphere license and an OS that supports hot plugging.

Duncan

VMware Communities User Moderator | VCP | VCDX

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[chrisdp]

Thanks all for your helpful suggestions but what seems strange to me is that I downloaded the trial version offered on vmware's site and using the evaluation license. Looking at the product version comparison chart I would think that the 60 eval would include all options so you can see what you are getting or is that not accurate. I do have the option to create distributed virtual switches which appears to only be available in the Enterprise plus version...does anyone know what the 60 eval license includes or where I can determine the specific license type it currently runs? Again thanks in advance

[EDV-COMPAS]

the eval version is enterprise plus!

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[chrisdp]

Thank you for the quick response...but then this leads me back to my original question...why do I not have the option ti utilize hot add of memory and CPU...According to the license page provided in this thread I should have this ability using teh EVAL license and the VM I am trying to enable this feature on is a windows 2003 Std x32 VM. Anybody know why I would have this functionality or even the option in the OPTIONS tab of the VM? I am using an eval license for both vshpere and ESX 4.0 host that the VM resides.

Thanks

[EDV-COMPAS · Accepted solution]

Win 2003 std doesn't support memory or cpu hotplug!

You need enterprise edition for memory hotplug and 2008 datacenter for cpu hotplug support.

[AndreTheGiant]

http://www.boche.net/blog/index.php/2009/05/10/vsphere-memorycpu-hotplug-hot-add/

Andre

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[AntonVZhbankov]

Windows 2003 Enterprise only (and above) support memory hotplug, and Windows 2008 64 bit enterprise supports CPU hot-plug.

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[asp24]

If you shut down the (windows) VM and change the "guest operating system" to one of the Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition's (or Datacenter), you will see the option to enable this feature. So the option is not there if a guest operating system not supporting this is selected. (enterprise edition only enables memory hotplug I think)

[ufo8mydog]

Does anyone know if any Linux distribution supports hot add, or if there are any plans in motion to support this functionality?

I had a quick look on the test cluster at the Redhat/Centos VMs but the option to do so is greyed out.

[AntonVZhbankov]

Not yet. VMware do not like to uncover plans, so maybe RHEL or SLES will support VM memory Hot-Add in 4.0u1, maybe not.

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[SuperSpike]

Is there a list of all OSes that currently support hot plug memory and hot plug CPU? Particularly for Linux? Some sites indicate Ubuntu only, whiile others say any kernel that is 2.6.14 or greater?

I have a CentOS 5.2 64-bit VM with a 2.6.18 kernel and while I was able to enable hot plug CPU on the VMX by first selecting Ubuntu for the OS, vSphere realizes that this isn't the OS the VM is actually running once VMware Tools gets loaded and does not allow the hot plug CPU operation to continue.

[elitt2]

Where is the list of supported guest OS for the Hot Add Memory feature? 

Per the "What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0" page found here http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_40_new_feat.html (under the scalability section) I should be able to find the list of OS'es that support this feature in this document http://www.vmware.com/pdf/GuestOS_guide.pdf but there is no list, in fact you can't even find the words "Hot Add". 

Where is this list? 

[Matt_B1]

I would like to see this list for the Linux guests also.

[Valcra]

Hi,

thnx for the post.

I have one query.

is there any way to change the option(enable the option) without power down the VM?

[RvdNieuwendijk]

No, that is not possible. To enable vSphere memory/cpu hotplug you have to power off the vm.

[Valcra]

thnx for ur kind reply.