Chipset Compatibilty for HP DL380 G5 and ESX 3.5

[Cowtown]

I hope I have this question posted in the correct location.

I am currently running 13 HP DL380 G5s that were purchased about two years ago to run VMware Infrastructure. We are using ESX 3.5 and in the process of upgrading the servers to Update 3. I am also planning to add 15 additional hosts to my environment but was advised that these new hosts cannot be placed into the same organizational clusters currently in place and using DRS.

Recently I attended a WMware Mini Forum where Intel made a presentation stating that with ESX 3.5 Update 2, the issue of adding andditional hosts with a different chipset into existing clusters was eliminated and that DRS should be able to VMotion virtual michines between hosts of different chipsets without any issues.

Can someone let me know where I can find additional documentation that supports Intel's statement.

Thank you,

Doug

[SuryaVMware]

Yes, that is correct, starting from ESX server 3.5 U2, the Enhanced vMotion Compatibility is supported.

And it is not the chipset that causes the issue. It's the CPU compatibility between the Dual core and the quad core CPUs with the respective SSE tags.

check the EVC in the following PDF.

www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vmotion_info_guide.pdf

Regards,

Surya

[Cowtown]

Thank you Surya.

All of my hosts are 2 socket Quad Core Intel CPU's.

Do I presume correctly then I should be okay providing the CPU's are Intel VT ready?

[SuryaVMware · Accepted solution]

You should be good. Just one another thing that you need to look for is if the existing CPUs are SSE4.x compatabile. If they are then it's a cake walk even with out EVC enabled.

If they are not then you got nothing to worry. Just enable EVC with VC 2.5 U2. You are all set in any case.

Hope this helps.

-Surya