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LMT
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Enthusiast

Dell PowerEdge 2650B converted to VM and does not recognize one CPU

Have converted a Dell PowerEdge 2650B with Windows 2003 to a VM. The physical server is a multiprocessor system and the VM has been given one vCPU from the start. In the Device Manager of the VM it lists "ACPI Multuprocessor PC" under the "Computer" object. I have tried to reinstall the driver but I cannot find "ACPI Uniprocessor PC" in the list of installable devices. When converting Dell servers to VM's, should I use 2 VCPU's on the VM instead of one? What is the recommendation? Now the system time of the server is not correct anymore. It is running slower than usual and manual sync needs to be performed. Should I always use two CPU's or is there any way of reinstalling the driver so Windows recognize one CPU? Regards, Marten

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Dave_Mishchenko
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Here's the thread with the process to change the HAL back to uni processor. If the physical server didn't have high CPU requirements then just sticking with one vCPU is the best start. You can always change it down the road.

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=29415&tstart=0&start=0

Dave_Mishchenko
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It's also a good idea to go into device manager and remove all hidden hardware devices that are no longer a part of this VM.

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LMT
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Thank you. Im now trying this with clones of the VM.

Clone1: Set to 1 vCPU with ACPI PC drivers using halacpi.dll. Seems OK

Clone2: Set to 1 vCPU with ACPI Multiprocessor PC drivers using halmacpi.dll. Clock is slow

Clone3: 2 vCPU with ACPI Multiprocessor PC drivers using halmacpi.dll. Seems OK.

There is no way to get ACPI Uniprocessor PC driver so my question is:

Should I run with the setup for Clone1 or Clone3?

Regards,

Marten

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Dave_Mishchenko
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If you expect the VM will run OK CPU wise with just one vCPU then that's the best place to start as vSMP can introduce a bit of a performance hit on the server. If you find the VM needs the extra vCPU down the road you can always add it.

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LMT
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Is there any other issues except performance of the server, for example HA, DRS, vmotion that would encourage me to set VM to 1 vCPU?

Im leaning towards setting 2 vCPU's for the VM instead of reinstalling the driver from ACPI Multiprocessor to ACPI PC. Would be nice with a recommendation from VMware but I can't find one.

Thanks once again for all your help, points will come.

Marten

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Dave_Mishchenko
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I haven't seen anything for ESX 3.0 either and I haven't heard of any vSMP impact on vmotion, drs or ha. This is for ESX 2.x but may still be helpful to you.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsmp_best_practices.pdf

LMT
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

vmware support is stating that nothing needs to be changed to the processor driver or the number of vCPU's since it should run fine without change. Does not help me though since the VM's time is slow with 1 vCPU and the ACPI Multiprocessor.

I have to change something, but I don't know what option to run with in case we will see this over and over again when converting servers to VM's.

Thanks for any input.

Marten

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