Dell R710 not EVC compatible...?

[ikt]

Hi,

I have a Dell PE R710 host with dual Intel Xeon E5520 quad core CPUs.  I hoped to use EVC mode to enable vMotion between this and two Dell PE 2950 hosts also with dual Intel Xeon E5420 quad core CPUs.  The EVC mode selected is Intel Xeon Core 2

To my surprise I see that EVC mode cannot be enabled because the cluster contains a host (my R710) that lack EVC capable hardware.  This server is two years newer than my PE2950s so I really don't understand this.

Is there a BIOS or hypervisor setting which needs to be set to allow EVC with my R710?  Thanks for comments

regards Tor

[MauroBonder]

to enable evc check -- > http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1013111

to determine wich evc mode you need -- http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100321...

[ikt]

Hi, and thanks for the comments.

I had already consulted the CPU / EVC baseline matrix so I really expected this to work...

The actual error message when moving the maintenance mode host into the HA cluster is:

The host's CPU hardware does not support Enhanced vMotion Compatibility, which is enabled for this cluster.

My Dell Poweredge R710 has dual Intel Xeon E5520 Quad core (Nehalem) CPUs.  I have read about an issue requiring upgrades to ESX and VCenter Server with this CPU, but we already have the latest VCenter and ESXi patches as of May 5th 2011.

In the EVC baselines on Intel CPU matrix, it is clearly stated that the 55xx CPU is compatible in both Xeon Core 2 baselines.

Can it be a BIOS setting which jeopardize the compatibility?

regards Tor

[ikt]

Hi again

No comments on this?

Despite that CPUs are compatible according to the vMotion CPU compatibility matrix I get this error.  Anyone having a clue on where I should start checking?

regards Tor

[a_p_]

I didn't setup a DELL host yet, however from the specs it should work with EVC. Please double check the BIOS settings required for EVC are configured correctly. These are Intel VT-x and Execute Protection (XD), which both need to be enabled. If you need to change one of these settings, make sure you power cycle the host after the change, a simple reboot may not be not sufficient.

André

[AndreTheGiant]

On Dell server the Intel VT is disable by default.

Check in BIOS setting to enable Virtualization.

Also NX bit is needed to use EVC, but no option exist in BIOS.

So be really sure to have latest BIOS version, enable Virtualization and make a COLD reboot.

Andre

[SyApps]

Is the 5420 and 5520 for your CPUs just at typo? It sounds by your reasoning that you already understand that your CPUs must be the same make and model in order for VMotion to work, so I'm guessing it is. I'm wondering if the there's a compatibility issue with the chipset or something else that's throwing the whole thing off. Your title asks if the Dell R710 is not EVC compatible. I know it is, so I'm pointing a finger at the fact that you don't have identical hardware in your cluster. Can you bring your R710 offline and try to pass a VM between your two identical ESX servers?

Good luck either way. We had some hardware compatibility issues in the past, which is why we gave up trying to making things work and just bought a whole new fleet of DL360 G3's to make things square across the board. That was some time ago, as you could probably assume by the generation. I feel as though it did save us a lot of headaches though. And man did all those identical servers look cool in the rack!