I've got 2 Dell Inc. Precision WorkStation 490 with Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 5160 @ 3.00GHz CPUs for my home lab (note for my home lab and for testing only!!!), the CPUs are not compatible with 6.5, only with 6.0 and below. I just wondered if there was a way to install ESX 6.5 anyway even though it's not part of the supported compatibly list for my home lab?
I know it will not supported and some 'stuff' might not work.....but wondered if I can install it any way?? I've tried via VUM and booting from iso and it fails, anyway to 'trick' the installation of 6.5 just for testing in my home lab?
From the list put up by Martin
Intel Xeon 51xx series - Woodcrest
Intel Xeon 30xx series - Conroe
Intel core 2 duo 6xxx series - Conroe
Intel Xeon 32xx series - Kentsfield
Intel core 2 quad 6xxx series - Kentsfield
Intel Xeon 53xx series - Clovertown
Intel Xeon 72xx/73xx series - Tigerton
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/22796/Woodcrest?q=Woodcrest
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/2680/Conroe?q=Conroe
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/23489/Kentsfield#@Kentsfield
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/23349/Clovertown#@Clovertown
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/25005/Tigerton#@Tigerton
The commonality that I see these CPUs are all before the Nehalem microarchitecture. None of these CPUs would have a feature called Extended Page Table (EPT).
I haven't seen any VMware document that explicitly states EPT or Secondary Level Address Translation (SLAT) is required for ESXi 6.5. But if ESXi 6.5 dropped software-based shadow paging and requires EPT, there would be no way to get around it. On the Workstation Pro 14.x/Fusion 10.x side, EPT is already a required feature from Intel CPUs to run.
Without EPT, you can only run 32-bit guests in a nested virtualisation environment. For example, you can create a VM that is running ESXi 6.0 but you can only run 32-bit VMs inside that ESXi 6.0 VM. And without EPT, I can imagine that it will also be very slow.
You could try creating a VM and attempt to install ESXi 6.5 in it, but it may not get tricked at all considering the absence of EPT and earlier failure to install bare metal ESXi 6.5; and that you are running ESXi 6.0 and trying to install an ESXi 6.5 VM (not the other way around).
You won't be able to install ESXi 6.5 on such hardware 😕
Based on VMware vSphere 6.5 Release Notes
Comparing the processors supported by vSphere 6.0, vSphere 6.5 no longer supports the following processors:
During an installation or upgrade, the installer checks the compatibility of the host CPU with vSphere 6.5. If your host hardware is not compatible, a purple screen appears with an incompatibility information message, and the vSphere 6.5 installation process stops.
Thanks Martin. Yes I know about the HCL etc that just wondered if there was a way to by pass it for my Home Lab.
From the list put up by Martin
Intel Xeon 51xx series - Woodcrest
Intel Xeon 30xx series - Conroe
Intel core 2 duo 6xxx series - Conroe
Intel Xeon 32xx series - Kentsfield
Intel core 2 quad 6xxx series - Kentsfield
Intel Xeon 53xx series - Clovertown
Intel Xeon 72xx/73xx series - Tigerton
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/22796/Woodcrest?q=Woodcrest
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/2680/Conroe?q=Conroe
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/23489/Kentsfield#@Kentsfield
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/23349/Clovertown#@Clovertown
https://ark.intel.com/products/codename/25005/Tigerton#@Tigerton
The commonality that I see these CPUs are all before the Nehalem microarchitecture. None of these CPUs would have a feature called Extended Page Table (EPT).
I haven't seen any VMware document that explicitly states EPT or Secondary Level Address Translation (SLAT) is required for ESXi 6.5. But if ESXi 6.5 dropped software-based shadow paging and requires EPT, there would be no way to get around it. On the Workstation Pro 14.x/Fusion 10.x side, EPT is already a required feature from Intel CPUs to run.
Without EPT, you can only run 32-bit guests in a nested virtualisation environment. For example, you can create a VM that is running ESXi 6.0 but you can only run 32-bit VMs inside that ESXi 6.0 VM. And without EPT, I can imagine that it will also be very slow.
You could try creating a VM and attempt to install ESXi 6.5 in it, but it may not get tricked at all considering the absence of EPT and earlier failure to install bare metal ESXi 6.5; and that you are running ESXi 6.0 and trying to install an ESXi 6.5 VM (not the other way around).