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TheVMinator
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vMotion Compatibility

If I have two servers of different manufacturers in the same DRS cluster (i.e. Dell and HP), but both with Intel E5600 series processors, are there issues with vmotion compatibility?

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rcporto
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See what VMware says:

Sometimes, processor vendors have introduced significant architectural changes within the same processor family (such as 64-bit extensions and SSE3). VMware identifies these exceptions if it cannot guarantee successful migration with vMotion.

Source: Processor Compatibility Requirements

How do I handle Intel Xeon E3 and E5 Processors or Intel Xeon X-series, E-series, L-series Processor...

When enabling EVC for a cluster with Intel processors of the Xeon E3 or Xeon E5 family that have different revision numbers (v2, v3, v4), an EVC baseline is required. This is due to new instruction sets being available in the different revisions.  Although the processors will be the same EVC baseline, this is required for the processors to all present the same instruction sets to the virtual machines.

As with Xeon process with different revisions, when enabling EVC for a cluster with Intel processors of the same Xeon family (e.g. E56xx, X56xx, L56xx), an EVC baseline is required. This is due to new instruction sets being available in the different revisions.  Although the processors will be the same EVC baseline, this is required for the processors to all present the same instruction sets to the virtual machines.

Source: VMware KB: EVC and CPU Compatibility FAQ

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Richardson Porto
Senior Infrastructure Specialist
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/richardsonporto

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rcporto
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You should verify if the CPU are exact the same model, if not you still have the chance to configure EVC, see: VMware KB: Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) processor support

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Richardson Porto
Senior Infrastructure Specialist
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/richardsonporto
TheVMinator
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OK thanks.  So as long as I get servers with the same CPU model, I can make vmotion work even with different manufacturers?  I was thinking the CPUs had to be just in the same family.  For example, can I an Intel E5620 and an E5640 without EVC?

Thanks!

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rcporto
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See what VMware says:

Sometimes, processor vendors have introduced significant architectural changes within the same processor family (such as 64-bit extensions and SSE3). VMware identifies these exceptions if it cannot guarantee successful migration with vMotion.

Source: Processor Compatibility Requirements

How do I handle Intel Xeon E3 and E5 Processors or Intel Xeon X-series, E-series, L-series Processor...

When enabling EVC for a cluster with Intel processors of the Xeon E3 or Xeon E5 family that have different revision numbers (v2, v3, v4), an EVC baseline is required. This is due to new instruction sets being available in the different revisions.  Although the processors will be the same EVC baseline, this is required for the processors to all present the same instruction sets to the virtual machines.

As with Xeon process with different revisions, when enabling EVC for a cluster with Intel processors of the same Xeon family (e.g. E56xx, X56xx, L56xx), an EVC baseline is required. This is due to new instruction sets being available in the different revisions.  Although the processors will be the same EVC baseline, this is required for the processors to all present the same instruction sets to the virtual machines.

Source: VMware KB: EVC and CPU Compatibility FAQ

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Richardson Porto
Senior Infrastructure Specialist
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/richardsonporto
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TheVMinator
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ok thanks - what I mean actually - is - I have a dell server in the same drs cluster with a certain intel processor model.  I have an IBM server with the exact same intel processor model.  Any issues in making vmotion work if the cpus are identical?

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rcporto
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Since processors are identical, there is no problem even if the server hardware are from different vendors.

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Richardson Porto
Senior Infrastructure Specialist
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/richardsonporto