Online migration between 2 clusters under a single Vcenter Datacenter Object

[jim33boy]

Hello,

Scenario is a single Vcenter Datacenter object containing 2 separate clusters with no shared storage between the clusters. A legacy source cluster with hosts that will be retired and a new destination cluster to replace the old cluster of hosts. Because these are 2 completely separate clusters, I am not sure if EVC is required. I understand the requirement for EVC where a cluster is inclusive of hosts with different processor families but not sure for my scenario.

The source cluster hosts are equipped with Intel Xeon E5 v2 Ivy Bridge processors.
The destination cluster hosts are equipped with 3rd generation Intel Xeon Ice Lake processors.

According to the VMware Compatibility guide, this newer cluster host processors support EVC for the Ivy Bridge family.

Enhanced vMotion Capability Modes:
Intel® Merom Generation
Intel® Penryn Generation
Intel® Nehalem Generation
Intel® Westmere Generation
Intel® Sandy-Bridge Generation
Intel® Ivy-Bridge Generation
Intel® Haswell Generation

Assuming all cluster hosts are on the same Vmotion IP segment, I have these questions.
1. Is EVC required on the destination cluster in this case where the source cluster is completely separated?
2. If not, is this as simple as running a vmotion and choosing to move both compute and storage?
3. Any licensing requirements beyond Vsphere standard required for migration between clusters with both clusters existing under a single Vcenter Datacenter object?

Thank you

[a_p_]

EVC is not required for vMotion, it just helps if working with different hardware (CPUs).

In your case, you don't have to worry. The migration that you plan should work without issues. 
There's no risk anyway, as the migration wizard will only allow possible migrations.

regarding licensing, this will even work with an Essentials Plus license.

André

[jim33boy]

Thank you Andre,

Just want to clarify, as you replied with this.
"EVC is not required for vMotion, it just helps if working with different hardware (CPUs)."

My understanding is that EVC is required for online migration(vmotion) between different CPU families/generations.
In my situation, my source and destination are indeed using different CPU hardware, Ivy bridge vs Ice Lake. Do I understand correctly that EVC is not required and if yes, is this because the hosts are in different clusters?

Thank you for the license clarification,

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

With EVC you can set a baseline, which defines the CPU features that are presented to a VM at power on. This is useful (makes sense) for e.g. clusters with different hardware (CPUs), so that VMs which are powered on on a newer host can be migrated to older host(s).
In your case, the newer host supports all the CPU features of the older host, so that a live migration is possible.

Again, EVC is not a requirement for vMotion. The requirement is just that the target host supports the CPU features which were presented to the VM at power on.

André

[jim33boy]

I am clear now, because the destination processors follow the source processors in generation, EVC is not necessary.

Thank you