ESXI 5 on non AMD-V hosts?

[xianmacx]

Good Evening,

I am setting up a home lab for vSphere 5 and have a question.  I have 2 older HP DL385 G1 servers with 2 Dual core AMD Opteron 2.2 GHZ procs.  These processors don't have AMD-v.  I can't seem to find a clear answer if this will limit my functionality any.  Will these system allow esxi 5 to even be installed?  I know it will not perform quite as well, but since it is just a lab I am not concerned.  Will I be able to run 64bit guest OS's?  I also read somewhere that normal vmotion won't work.  Since both systems will have identical procs, I am not sure why.  Hopefully just some bad info out there

I appreciate the responses,

Ian 

[Virtualinfra]

Check if your proccessor will support vSphere 5 with the below HCL link.

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

vMotion will work, as both the processor are identical.

64bit guest OS is supported.

"Award point for the helpfull and correct answers"

[golddiggie]

A quick search on the VMware HCL shows that generation DL385 isn't supported for ESXi 5. IF you have ESX/ESXi 4.x installed on them, chances are you're already at the ceiling for the version you'll be able to install. The G5 (and newer) release of that server is supported for vSphere/ESXi 5...

[xianmacx]

Thanks for the responses guys.

So I just got done installing ESXI 5 on this Host.  Install went fine, it did warn me about the CPU not supporting hardware virtualization, but everything still installed fine.  I then spun up a 64bit 2008 Server with no issues.  System is booting fine.

So it looks like 2 of the 3 issues have been answered.  Last is vMotion.  I am now more confident that it will work but wont be able to test until my switch arrives.

Thanks,

Ian

[Virtualinfra]

Thats great.. vMotion will work with out any problem as both the CPU are same

"Award point for the helpfull and correct answers"