Adding new hosts to existing vSphere to phase out old hosts

[aj800]

We're doing a hardware refresh in our vSphere 6.5 environment.  We're currently using HP BL465c Gen8 blades in a C7000 Chassis and we're moving to DL360 Gen10 servers.  Is it possible to add these hosts (with the proper licensing) to the vCenter Server -> Datacenter -> Cluster the the other hosts are in (essentially doubling the hosts available in the cluster), then migrating the VMs to these hosts and powering down the Blades?  Is this viable, or an oversimplification?

Further, we'll be migrating to new a new storage system as well, so I'm not sure at this ppoint how that will play into the order of the vSphere integration.  Any suggestions or recommendations for how best to proceed doing this without having to set a whole new environment up separate from the existing one?  We'd like a seamless transition, so I was figuring we could just integrate the new hosts, at least, with the current shared storage (EVA - fiber).  There are roughly 20 VMs in our current vSphere and we're using a vDS, so it's not a huge transition, but still, we'd like to make it smooth and not need an additional vSphere license, if we can avoid it.  Thanks in advance.

[a_p_]

Assuming that you are running a vCenter Server edition (e.g. Standard) which supports additional host, you can add the new hosts. Unless you do have additional available licenses, you may run the new hosts in evaluation mode for up to 60 days, and assign the licenses once the old hosts have been removed, i.e. their licenses are available again.

However, due to the CPU family (AMD vs. Intel), you may want to create a new cluster for the new hosts. For the migration you will need to shut down the VMs anyway.

Regarding the storage migration, you may either present the EVA LUNs to the new hosts, or the new storage to the old hosts, to run the storage migration.

André

[aj800]

So here are the current specs vs. future specs and some follow up questions:

Current:

- 1 x vCenter Server VCSA 6.5 (w/VMware vCenter Server 6 Standard license)

- 5 x ESXi 6.5 Hosts (w/VMware vSphere 6 Enterprise Plus licenses) (2 CPUs ea.)

-- HPE BL465c Gen8 (w/AMD Opteron 6348 2.8GHz Piledriver Generation)

- Host Cluster

-- EVC Enabled

-- Mode: AMD Opteron Piledriver Generation

New Hosts added:

- 5 x ESXi 6.5 Hosts (w/expected VMware vSphere 6 Enterprise Plus licenses) (2 CPUs ea.) (will these take over the license of the previous hosts or must new license keys be needed?)

-- HPE DL360 Gen10 (w/Intel Xeon Gold 6143 2.8GHz Skylake-SP Generation(?) ) (2 CPU ea.)

- (New) Host Cluster ??

-- EVC Enabled ??

-- Mode: ??

I read a bit from here: How to make VMotion works among different CPU cores  but have a few questions since that thread was all Intel and not mixed AMD and Intel like ours...

Questions:

1) Can we add these new Intel-based hosts to the EVC enabled AMD cluster?

2) If not, do we create a new cluster?

2a) Do we enable EVC on the new cluster?

2b) What settings should the EVC be set to?  (It appears you can enable and set it between different generations of the same CPU brand/family ["lowest common denominator" between them] but not between different CPU brand/families...?)

3) Once the cluster configuration is complete, at what point do/can we vMotion the VMs to the new hosts/cluster?

3a) Must the VMs be powered off before they are migrated to the new hosts/cluster?

4) Once the ESXi 6.5 software is installed on the new hosts, and they are brought into a new or the existing cluster and are available to the VMs, can those new hosts use the licenses from the older hosts once those old hosts are removed from their existing cluster (are new licenses necessary or will the current licenses be available once the old hosts are removed)? (I just wanted to verify what you have asserted in your reply)

I just wanted to have some clarity and to get as close to a step-by-step guide as possible on doing this, with our specific configuration.  Thanks!

[daphnissov · Accepted solution]

1) Can we add these new Intel-based hosts to the EVC enabled AMD cluster?

No

2) If not, do we create a new cluster?

Yes

2a) Do we enable EVC on the new cluster?

Usually that's best.

2b) What settings should the EVC be set to?  (It appears you can enable and set it between different generations of the same CPU brand/family ["lowest common denominator" between them] but not between different CPU brand/families...?)

Unless you have overriding requirements, the highest level supported by all the CPUs in that cluster.

3) Once the cluster configuration is complete, at what point do/can we vMotion the VMs to the new hosts/cluster?

At no point can you vMotion VMs from an AMD-based cluster to an Intel-based cluster.

3a) Must the VMs be powered off before they are migrated to the new hosts/cluster?

Yes

4) Once the ESXi 6.5 software is installed on the new hosts, and they are brought into a new or the existing cluster and are available to the VMs, can those new hosts use the licenses from the older hosts once those old hosts are removed from their existing cluster (are new licenses necessary or will the current licenses be available once the old hosts are removed)? (I just wanted to verify what you have asserted in your reply)

Since the new hosts are going into a new cluster, you will have to let them run in evaluation mode for 60 days. You have 60 days to perform your VM migrations. After your old hosts are decommissioned, you will have to manually assign their licenses to the new hosts. This will not happen automatically, even if they were somehow able to go into a cluster with the old hosts.

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