Can't vmotion onto R710 in EVC cluster

[pointdexter]

Hey Guys,

Just got 2 R710's with E5540 procs. The problem is I can't vmotion anything on to in my evc cluster. All my other hosts are PE 2950's with e5410 procs. I get the dreaded "Host CPU is incompatible with the virtual machine's requirements at cpuid level 0x80000001 register 'edx' Mismatch detected for these features: * RDTSCP; refer to KB 1993"

Don't know what to do. Virtulization is enabled in the bios.

Tried to mask manually but when attempting to migrate it throws another error asking for more masks.

Has anyone seen this yet? I know the R710s are brand new but just thought I would ask. Will probably start a call next week sometime.

Thanks

[dominic7]

You need to power on the VMs in the EVC enabled cluster, then you can VMotion between the hosts that are in the EVC cluster.

[pointdexter]

Before posting I did power it up on the new host and tried to migrateto the older, powered up on the older host and tried to migrate to the new. Set all kinds of CPUID masks with no luck.

[kjb007]

Which host is in your EVC cluster? The new R710 or the older 2950? Are they both part of the EVC cluster? Keep in mind that if only the new server is in your cluster, you will have trouble vmotion'ing onto or off of that cluster, because EVC will limit your CPU to the available features in your cluster, to the lowest compatible features.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

[pointdexter]

I have a production cluster with 10 pe2950's with EVC enabled. I put 1 R710 into that cluster. My understanding of EVC is that it will not allow you to add a host to a cluster if the CPUs are not compitable so I guess I don't know why I am having so many problems.

Thanks

[kjb007]

You are correct. It should not have allowed you to move a host into that cluster without the features turned on for your processor. Have you double-checked to make sure that VT and Execute Disable are both enabled in your BIOS?

-KjB

VMware vExpert

[pointdexter]

Yes, VT and Execute Disable are enabled in the BIOS.

[AndreTheGiant]

Have you already reboot the ESX? (the ensure that VT is enabled)

[AndreTheGiant]

If the two ESXs have the same processor, have you try to not enable EVC and see if it work?

[pointdexter]

Yes, a reboot and a power off were performed.

Thanks

[kjb007]

Well, then I would suggest opening an SR with vmware. This may be a bug. I haven't received in R710 yet, so I can't confirm the behavior myself, but you should notify VMware of the issue, in case they've already seen this.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

[pointdexter]

I'm will try a fresh reinstall and will call support is this fails like I expect it to.

Thanks guys! I will update the post with whatever resolution I come up with.

[pointdexter]

Before I called support I decided to reinstall VirtualCenter Management Server. This fixed the issue. My upgrade must have had a glitch that the reinstall took care of.

Thanks

[frankagricola]

i had an simular issue, reinstalling vcenter might fix it but not neccesary to fix this issue.

I tried to hide the NX flag, configure EVC compatibility mode and special masking, none of them succesful.

Contacted vmware support and have been told that hiding the NX flag is not the correct approach, in fact all VM's shouldn't have this option enabled (or disabled if you do want to go for this after all)

Setting EVC compat mode to Intel Xeon Core2 (highest mode supported by intel 53xx processor family) is the way to go, but.........

The upgrade from ESX35 to Vsphere left some VM options in place causing vmotion not to work

So: shutting down the non vmotionable VM's, edit settings, options, CPUID mask, Advanced and select the option "Reset All to Default".

This removes the left over CPU masking options of ESX3, powered on the VM's, and voila, vmotion work again!

I suspect this is also done if you decide to go for the hard way, reinstalling vcenter..

[EDV-COMPAS]

same issue here ... resolved it by shutdown every vm, and reset the cpuid´s masks to default in every vm ...

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

[AndyShine]

The shutdown VM and 'Reset all to Default' method worked for me

Thanks!

[acspeed]

I had to shut down the guests and reset the cpu mask to default as well. I had to do it to the clone copy I use to make the guests as well.