Upgrade ESX Host CPUs

[emorgoch]

Has anyone had any experience upgrading their ESX host from dual-core CPUs to quad-core?

Our current hosts are HP DL-380 G5s, with 2 x Xeon 5160 (3.0GHz dual-core), for 4 CPU cores. Is there anything that needs to be done at the software level as either pre or post upgrade operations for ESX 3.0.2, or would it jsut be a matter of dropping in the CPUs and turning the machines back on? And would any of Intel's quad-core CPUs be VMotion compatible so that we can minimize downtime?

Thanks

[Jae_Ellers]

I don't think ESX should care. I've gone from 2 -> 4 single core procs and had no problem, but never swapped out procs. These are based on Core2 technology, so the Magic 8-Ball says "odds are good"

HP would seem to agree:

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[jhanekom]

One bit of advice: ensure that your system BIOS is up to date before attempting to replace your CPUs.

To the best of my knowledge, ESX should take a 51xx to 53xx upgrade without issue (have not done it myself, however.)

[FERC_ESX1]

I've added CPUs with no problems before, there was no change that had to be made to the OS. As far as going from Dual Core to Quad Core, I asked HP about replacing the Dual Core CPUs in our 480c blades with Quad Cores and they said that it can't be done.

[emorgoch]

Thanks for the responses guys. Very helpful.