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peteflying
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EVC with a vcenter inside

Hi!

i would like to enable evc but i cant because my vcenter is powered on the host.

i try to follow this document: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147821?lang=en_US

but i have one problem.. when i migrate the esxi in the new cluster i cant access the datastore.(step18)

My setup:

- 2 external PSC with LB

- 1 VC inside ESX1

- 4 esxi

- 1 cluster with 3 esxi host and the three wm below but EVC cannot be activated.

- 1 cluster with evc activated and one esxi with no vm

- the three vm (pSCx2 + 1VC) are on a vsan datastore

what is your advice ?

thx a lot

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peteflying
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First , thanks a lot to share with me your experience !

My case seems to be different because my 4 hosts are the same model...

I need to shutdown the vcenter in order to activate evc and if i do this.... i wont be able to active evc....

So i will try tomorow the following things:

- create the second cluster as you said

- activate EVC

- move one esxi in the new cluster

- shutdown VC and PSC

- export in ovf the PSC and the VC

- deploy the three ovf in the esxi which is in the 'evc' cluster

- start VC and PSC

- activate EVC in the first original Cluster.

- shutdown psc and vc

- export in ovf the PSC and the VC

- deploy on the original esxi

- boot

- verify that evc is activated n both cluster

- migrate the esxi into the first cluster

- delete cluster

If some one see something better...

i would like to follow the KB and detach the VC and register into the new 'evc' cluster but i did not manage to access the datastore so unable to do this..

Anyway thanks again u all !!

Pete

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daphnissov
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You'll have to move that vCenter off to that lone host if you want to enable EVC. There's really not another option as all VMs must be powered down in order to reduce the EVC level in a cluster.

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peteflying
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thx a lot for the time you have taken to answer me!

In order to move off the vcenter and the two external PSC, i need to move them to a storage shared and accessible by the two cluster right ?

if so,i need to use a storage like iscsi or NFS ?

the sequence will be:

1. create a new cluster with evc activated (done)

2. move the vcenter and the two external PSC to iSCSI storage

3. shutdown and detach the three vm from the esxi

4. attach ans start the three vm from an esxi in the new cluster

I understand that i need to have all the vm off in order to activate evc but i can't move the vcenter to the other cluster coz i cant see my datastore. This is why a iscsi or nfs could help?

Sorry i start on vmware and i have a lot of knowledge to learn....

BR

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daphnissov
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If the source and destination ESXi hosts are managed by the same vCenter, you do not need shared storage in order to migrate them to the destination.

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delorenze
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Hi,

Did you have EVC turned on at one point and have to turn it off to add an additional host or was this implemented without EVC mode from the start?

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peteflying
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hi!

it was implemented without from the start...

i thought that vsan was limited to a cluster. if not it is perhaps my setup which is wrong so...

continue to find Smiley Happy

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delorenze
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The reason I asked this, I just went through the same situation where we had 4 nodes and upgraded to 5th node. In order to add it to the existing cluster EVC mode had to be turned off. I spent several hours with both Dell EMC and VMWare trying to turn EVC mode back on as well as following the same article you mentioned in your initial post and of course hitting the same roadblock. The way I got it enabled on both my sites was as follows:

1. Create an additional cluster with EVC mode enabled.

2. Moved the new 5th host which also was a newer model than the others.

3. Once I did this EVC mode was able to be turned on.

4. Moved the 5th node back into the original cluster.

My takeaway was that the nodes had to have the same instruction set in order to turn EVC mode on initially and since the odd man out was now in an EVC cluster vCenter could see and no longer had any "hidden" processor instructions.

NOTE: this required zero down time for us and I did not have to turn off a single VM.

I hope this helps! I spent many frustrated hours on calls and walking through KB articles for nothing!

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peteflying
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First , thanks a lot to share with me your experience !

My case seems to be different because my 4 hosts are the same model...

I need to shutdown the vcenter in order to activate evc and if i do this.... i wont be able to active evc....

So i will try tomorow the following things:

- create the second cluster as you said

- activate EVC

- move one esxi in the new cluster

- shutdown VC and PSC

- export in ovf the PSC and the VC

- deploy the three ovf in the esxi which is in the 'evc' cluster

- start VC and PSC

- activate EVC in the first original Cluster.

- shutdown psc and vc

- export in ovf the PSC and the VC

- deploy on the original esxi

- boot

- verify that evc is activated n both cluster

- migrate the esxi into the first cluster

- delete cluster

If some one see something better...

i would like to follow the KB and detach the VC and register into the new 'evc' cluster but i did not manage to access the datastore so unable to do this..

Anyway thanks again u all !!

Pete

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peteflying
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tested . and it is ok with ovf

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