VMware Cloud Community
jpoling
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

EVC Questions

I have multiple new physical hosts that I need to add to our environment.  The new hosts are Nahelem family CPUs.  My cluster has old hosts that are Tigerton CPUs.  I thought that I could enable EVC on the existing cluster and then add the new hosts without issue.  As I see now, that will not work because all the hosts in the cluster were the same CPU type when I enabled EVC on the cluster.

So, my question is how to proceed? I really need to be able to move VMs to the new hardware without a disruption.  Do I need to create a new cluster with an old host and a new host, enable EVC, and then migrate VMs?

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
TedH256
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

so then lowest common denominator is EVC mode:

Intel® Xeon®
Core™2
EVC Mode

If you create a cluster with one of these hosts in it, and set EVC to this level, then the other host will be able to join that cluster.

But - if neither host has VMs, then I guess you have nothing to worry about anyway. Add both hosts with no EVC on the cluster, then enable this level of EVC on the cluster.

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
10 Replies
weinstein5
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

I do not think you can enable EVC on an existing cluster - you will have to create a new cluster enabling EVC and then add the hosts - because the masking required will be added when you add the hosts -

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful
kopper27
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

the highest level EVC can be configured in an existing cluster

for example I have Intel Xeon X5660 so according to this table

I can enable all the EVC Modes but not the "Sandy Bridge" I think is a new one

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100321...

In my case I can enable the highest which is Intel® Xeon® 32nm Core™ i7 EVC Mode

and of course if my new host are compatible with this EVC  Mode you cna add them to your old cluster.

jpoling
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

I created a new cluster and enabled EVC.  In Intel i7 EVC mode, I cannot add my Dell R900. It returns an error that the host's hardware is not compatible. If I use Intel Core 2 mode, I cannot add the IBM x3690.  It returns an error stating that "the host cannot be admitted to the cluster's current Enhanced vMotion compatibility mode."

So, is my only option to create a brand new cluster with the new IBM x3690's and do offline migrations to the new cluster?

Thanks for any insight.

Jeff

Reply
0 Kudos
kopper27
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

you want VMs in both servers old ones and new ones?

did you try setting a EVC in the old cluster and add one of the servers?

would you mind posting the Type of CPU and GHz?

thanks

Reply
0 Kudos
TedH256
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

if VMs are currently running on both hosts, and those hosts don't have the same instruction sets (same CPU type) then you will probably have to do offline migrations.

If you want to introduce a new host that does not have any vms currently running on it, then you can set the EVC level of the existing host to the level of the current CPU on the host, and as long as the new host is NEWER than the existing host, you should be able to slid it into the cluster with that EVC level.

It would help to look at the chart that another reply included, and then give us the actual CPU series (for ex: 55xx Series) of both hosts.

Reply
0 Kudos
marvinms
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Do you have all VMs powered off when you conigure EVC on the cluster?

Reply
0 Kudos
jpoling
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

I run into the problem creating a new cluster and adding one old and one new server.  There are no running VMs on either host.

Here are the CPU types.   They are both Intel:

Dell R900

X7350

IBM X3690

X6550

Reply
0 Kudos
TedH256
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

so then lowest common denominator is EVC mode:

Intel® Xeon®
Core™2
EVC Mode

If you create a cluster with one of these hosts in it, and set EVC to this level, then the other host will be able to join that cluster.

But - if neither host has VMs, then I guess you have nothing to worry about anyway. Add both hosts with no EVC on the cluster, then enable this level of EVC on the cluster.

Reply
0 Kudos
kopper27
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

in that case you have to used the one in the picture

when I meant the highest level I meant the highest level that is compatible for both server

EVC.JPG

Reply
0 Kudos
jpoling
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

I was able to get this working by creating a new cluster, adding a Dell R900 and an IBM 3690, then enabling EVC in Core 2 mode.  Migrations work within the cluster as well as from my old cluster to the new one.  Thanks for all the assistance on this.

Jeff

Reply
0 Kudos