Suspended VMs and HW changes

[AlexD1M]

Hi,

I remember that when I swapped my platform(from a E6550+P45 to Q8300 and then to Q9450), I received some messages regarding the CPU features and issues that might appear. I don't remember it exacly. Luckly, nothing strange happened. Probably because the CPUs had a very similar architecture, all of them being Core 2 Duo/Quad.

Why do I mention this?

In the near future I want to swap the platform, either with an AMD Phenom II, or with a Xeon(1366 or 1155/1156).

I want to know if I risk BSODs, freezes, restarts with those suspended VMs if I change the platform.

PS: No, I can't shut the VMs down, I need to save some things before doing that, and I don't have the needed time in this period.

[WoodyZ]

AFAIC... With the Desktop Products Virtual Machines should always be shutdown, not suspended and in some cases the VMware Desktop Product closed when making backups of the VM's, coping/moving them, etc.

Yes there are risks involved when suspending a VM and then copying/moving it to a platform that has enough differences between CPUs that it could be problematic.

[a_p_]

I agree with WoodyZ, you better take the time to shutdown the VMs. I'm close to 100% sure the VM's won't startup on another platform and you would have to delete the .vmss (VM Suspend State) file which is like pulling the power plug.

If you need to save time you could consider to take snapshots of the VMs and copy their base vmdk's to the destination system in advance (unless you are going swap the disk anyway).

André

[AlexD1M]

OK, I'll go for an Intel Xeon, either dual 1366, either single 1155. Do I have any chances to skip over the shutdown of the VMs?

[a_p_]

I doubt it. Even a slight difference in processor options could prevent the VM from resuming. Once you have the new host in place, you could try this with a test VM, but I think the chances are low.

André

[AlexD1M]

This means that even the older snapshots are lost...

This is wrong, it's exacly the opposite of the concept of Virtualization.

There has to be a way to emulate specific hardware.

[a_p_]

I think you are mixing up snapshots and suspended VMs. I'm not talking about snapshots. Unless you configured the VMs with  non-persistent disks (which I assume you didn't), all data in the  snapshots will remain the same and no data will be lost when you shut down a VM.

André

[RDPetruska]

AlexD1M wrote:

This is wrong, it's exacly the opposite of the concept of Virtualization.

There has to be a way to emulate specific hardware.

No, that IS the concept of virtualization.  It is different from emulation.  Virtualization passes through as much of the physical hardware as technically possible to the guest processes.  Emulation is complete software creation of hardware.

[AlexD1M]

I see.

So, is there a simple solution for my problem?

[RDPetruska]

AlexD1M wrote:

I see.

So, is there a simple solution for my problem?

Certainly.  Power OFF your VMs before moving them to a different host computer!

[WoodyZ]

So, is there a simple solution for my problem?

To be honest, not sure what your problem is since you've already been told you should shutdown the VM's before copying/moving them and yet you still want an answer other then what has already been given by more then one person!

[AlexD1M]

I'm sorry, I didn't want to seem rude or unpolite.

It's just that I was expecting a more analitical answer, because all the replies confirmed what I already knew:

A slightly different CPU can cause unexpected behaviour to the VM.

I'll try to go in another direction. Let's say that changing the whole platform could cause problems.

How about changing only the motherboard and the RAM, and keeping the same CPU?

[so I could add more RAM, 4x4GB DDR3 instead of 4x2GB DDR2]

Would this cause any kind of problems to the suspended VMs?

The motherboards may differ slightly, but will have the same chipset.

[WoodyZ]

Without a reasonable explanation as to why you can't or don't want to shutdown the Virtual Machines then I'm not going to discuss this issue further and without a plausible explanation a more analytical answer just is not needed because it is a generally accepted rule that to minimize issues a Virtual Machine should be shutdown not suspended under the circumstances you've mentioned, it's just that simple.

If you what to take the risk otherwise then by all means just do it the way you want!  If you have no issue in the process then that's great!