Enhanced vMotion compatibility

[3dsachin]

Hi Everyone

We have just setup a 4 node 6.7U1 ESXi cluster which is managed by VCSA 6.7. Now, to support DCDR I am setting up another 4 Node cluster which is also going to be managed from the same vCenter server.My query is;

A) Each ESXi node is a DELL PE R740 with Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 5115 CPU @ 2.40GHz. If we enable EVC mode what is the suitable mode?

B) Both the clusters have network connectivity between each other and also have their own computer resources (Storage etc). I would like both clusters to be independent and interdependent (DCDR). I've read somewhere that it is possible to vMotion VM's between the two clusters if EVC is enabled. Is this correct?

[NathanosBlightc]

In every state of EVC configuration, the newer compatible version (EVC mode) is the suitable choose. (lower in the list)

For your CPU Series (Intel Xeon Gold 51xx) the Skylake is the best option that is introduced in vSphere 6.7

In response to your second question, Yes, it's possible to migrate VMs between multiple vSphere clusters or even across vCenter server instances.

( For more information about it: Migration with vMotion in Environments Without Shared Storage )

[3dsachin]

Thanks Amin. One of the cluster I am planning to enable EVC is already in production. Do I need to put the host in maintenance mode before enabling EVC?

[NathanosBlightc]

Yes exactly you should do it. But I think there is trick maybe you can try it:

If you are ensure Skylake is the compatible mode, Create a new Cluster with EVC enabled and set to the skylake, then put your ESXi host on it. Although if you had also an existing cluster with some hosts, removing from the old cluster needs to put them in maintenance mode or shutdown or migrate their VMs anyway.

[3dsachin]

Thanks Amin

In my lab environment, my host machine has Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620v2 @ 3.7GHz. I could add one host but while adding second host it gave protocol error.

Is there a log file I can refer to?

[NathanosBlightc]

your welcome

can you tell me what is the exact error?

Extract a bundle log of vCenter Server and search for EVC and HA related problems

however please check the following logs in ESXi shell (because of connection to vCenter) maybe find a related error:

/var/log/vpxa.log

/var/log/hostd.log