Question Regarding EVC Mode

[ubhatti1985]

Hi Guys,

Hope everyone are well. I have a question we have number of cluster with EVC Mode enabled except one where in past someone added few different model servers and now we can't enable the EVC Mode on the cluster.

We have the following server models in the cluster.

Dell PE R710 ( Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5660  @ 2.80GHz )

&

Dell PE R720 ( Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2640 0 @ 2.50GHz )

I can't set it to any EVC Mode level as with all levels one or the other are not compatible.

Currently we have EVC Mode disabled and in past they have set a Affinity rule so a list of VMs don't run on two hosts with (Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2640 0 @ 2.50GHz).

My question is if we are not using the EVC mode then there shouldn't be any issue in vmotion between all hosts?

I have tested few of the VMs and they can migrate btw the hosts. I am planning to take this Affinity rule out but want your advice on this to see if I am missing some thing.

Vcenter is 5.0.0 913577

ESXi 5.0.0 u3

Thanks for your help and support.

Regards
Umar

[rcporto]

Maybe you have success to migrate virtual machines powered on X5660 to E5-2640, but if you power on a virtual machine on E5-2640 and try migrate to X5660 maybe you will not have success, since the virtual machine may will use features that is not available on X5660. The EVC mode that you need to enable is the Westmere.

For detailed steps to enable EVC, see: Enable EVC on an Existing Cluster

[ubhatti1985]

Hi Richardson,

Thanks for your reply. I am not sure why but when I am trying to enable the EVC mode to even Westmere my cluster is showing the hosts with X5600 CPU not compatible or if I choose any other mode hosts with E5-2640 not compatible.

This is what I have done up to now I have removed two VMs form the Affinity rule and move them from X5600 hosts to E5-2640 and it went ok. I rebooted the VMs and tried them moving them back to x5600 hosts and it went ok.

if it works for two VMs I can imagine it should work for the other VMs as well?

Regards

Umar

[a_p_]

... even Westmere my cluster is showing the hosts with X5600 CPU not compatible ...

Only a guess. This could be related to the hosts' BIOS settings (e.g. NX not being enabled).

... I rebooted the VMs and tried them moving them back to x5600 hosts and it went ok. ...

Did you only reboot the VM, or did you power cycle (power off/power on) the VM. Available CPU features are mapped to a VM at power on.

André