Prepping for additional server and EVC

[zenking]

We have 4 hosts running esxi 5.5u3 connected to a shared SAN and a vcenter appliance vm. All hosts are Dell R710 servers with E5620 processors (Westmere generation). We're taking the plunge and adding an R730 server with an E5-2660v3 (Haswell) and hoping to avoid having to down all the guests to enable EVC. From what I've read, it looks like I could enable our current cluster with the Westmere baseline when I'm ready, then add the new server into that cluster. No downtime, no muss, no fuss. Is that correct?

I realize that limits us to features on the older processor so we won't be able to take advantage of the Haswell features, but we're more interested in continuity right now. In the summer, we'll be able to add more R730s, at which time I would move all VMs off of the older hosts and raise the EVC baseline to Haswell.

Please, someone let me know if this plan sounds correct, or if I've been getting into the catnip too much.

Thanks.

[zenking]

One other question. One doc says Haswell is not compatible with 5.5:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100321...

While another page says it is:

VMware Compatibility Guide: cpu

Can anyone verify it will work in 5.5? I wasn't planning to upgrade to 6 for a few more months.

Thanks.

[SavkoorSuhas · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Since all the hosts in the cluster are running Westmere currently, you can go ahead and enabled EVC with Westmere baseline on the fly.

And since a new Haswell host (No virtual machines on it, yet!) is being added to this already EVC enabled cluster, there should be no issues. You can go ahead and add the Haswell host on the fly.

Only if you had VMs running on the Haswell hosts, then you would have the requirement of powering OFF the virtual machines on the haswell hosts.

As of now, no downtime. Enable Westmere > Add new Haswell host > Good to go!

Suhas

[zenking]

Sweet! Thanks, Suhas.