CPU Compatibility between 4 dual core AMD Processors & 2 Quad core AMD Processors

[ebudweiser8]

I am running ESX 3.5/VC 2.5 with 5 ESX servers. I am adding two more ESX servers but the processors are 2 Quad core processors intead of the other 5 ESX server that are 4 Dual core processors. First is this possible & what CPU Masking settings to I need to set to make these work together?

[Troy_Clavell]

without knowing what model CPU(s) you are referring to, it may be hard to get you a definitive answer. Here is a .pdf that HP put together regarding CPU vmotion compatibility If you are running 3.5u2 you can also utilize EVC

[ebudweiser8]

Two of my ESX servers are DL385 G1 AMD Opteron 280 Dual 2.4 GHz

Three of my ESX servers are DL385 G2 AMD Opteron 2218 Dual 2.6 GHz

New ESX servers are BL365c G5 AMD Opteron 2356 Quad 2.3 GHz

According to the document none of my ESX groups are compatible but the first two groups I am able to migrate after setting the CPU masking differently. Is this possible for my blades too?

[knudt]

It's absolutely possible to set the bit masking to allow your blades to VMotion with your older machines. Do note that this is neither supported nor recommended by VMware.

EVC is an option, but it will not work with you G1s.

[ebudweiser8]

I had to upgrade my VC and ESX servers to have the EVC option available. Now that I have upgraded both, the EVC shows my Blade Servers incompatible. Are the Blade servers compatible with EVC?

[knudt]

You may be running into one or both of the following:

1. You must enable the AMD-V and NX features in the BIOS of all hosts in the cluster.

2. All VMs must be powered off before you can enable EVC.

VMProfessional documents a way to enable EVC with no downtime, but there are catches.

[ebudweiser8]

I had to also enable No Execute Memory Protection in the system BIOS. Once I had this and the AMD-V enabled, I was able to create my EVC cluster and migrate VMs to all my hosts.

[ebudweiser8]

Problem Solved

[knudt]

Awesome. I'm glad to see it's working for you.

FWIW, No Execute Memory Protection == NX, it's just really badly named in HP BIOS.