Move hosts to new vCenter - same EVC enabled in both clusters - VMs shutdown required?

[JeffAL1]

Hi,

I want to migrate my v4.0 U1 ESX hosts from a v4.0 U1 vCenter server to a new v4.1 U1 vCenter server.  The clusters on both vCenter servers are set to use the same EVC mode (Intel Xeon 45nm Core 2).

I know that no VM downtime is usually required when moving a host from one vCenter to another vCenter.

But since EVC is enabled on both vCenters/clusters, will the VMs need to be off for the host migration?  Since both vCenters/clusters have the same EVC mode enabled, can the VMs remain on?

How does EVC mode affect host migrations?

Thanks,

Jeff

[Troy_Clavell]

In order to add Hosts into an EVC Cluster, the guests must be powered down.  I would say even if the guests have the CPUID bit changed to reflect the new EVC baseline,  you still won't be able to add the Hosts to a new vCenter Cluster while there are running guests.

[chriswahl]

I believe that when a host interacts with an EVC cluster, maintenance mode is involved. I can't remember if this is when joining or leaving an EVC cluster.

Either way, maintenance mode is going to require that the host be evacuated of VMs.

[ccatano2000]

Hi Troy,

Thanks for your help the other day,  that was awesome,

I had another issue I am facing and was wondering your input,  it kind of follows this same discussion path,  only the versions of ESX4i are the same...

I am preparing to migrate our 23 ESX4i hosts out of our virtual center here and move them into the new datacenter and cluster setup in our production datacenter in chicago....  All the hardware and configurations will remain the same,  we just want to add them to the new production Virtual Center ...

Here is what I am planning on doing,  has anybody had good experience with this that maybe sees a flaw...

I guess what I am wondering is if I migrate all the VM's off the host, put it into maintenance mode, remove it from the current vc infrastructure,  then add it to the new vc,  how do I get the VM's on there ???

So,  can I leave the VM's  on the host,  remove it from the current VC,  then add it to the new VC without interrupting the running virtual machines ?

In this case it would be quite simple.... is there any way to avoid powering down the guests ?

Please advise,

Thanks a bunch,

chris

[rmcinern]

Hi Chris,

You can try adding the host with running VMs to your new vCenter Server at the datacenter level first, then drag and drop it into the EVC enabled cluster.

It doesn't seem to allow you to directly add a host into the EVC cluster but this workaround should do the trick.

[ccatano2000]

Thanks it worked great,  no vm shutdowns or anything,  was able to change the NTP, DNS, and root password,  then add the hosts into the new VC and clusters and then re-enable HA...  Long day,  but went smooth.