moved vm from esx 5.1 to 5.5 unable to have more then 8 cpu cores

[TPT]

Hi all

I had a VM on esx 5.1 that had 8 vcpu cores.

I moved it to a new host with esx 5.5. The new host has 16 physical cores so I want my VM to have access to all of them.

I fixed the license so now my VM should be getting all 16 of them. I can successfully create a new VM that has access to all the processor cores and power it on.

But when I tried to change my VM settings I am still  getting the same number of cores: 8. 

I don't have vCenter. The move was accomplished by copying the vmx and vmdk file over to the new host and right clicking on the .vmx and selecting "add to inventory".

has anyone seen this before?

Thanks

[vNEX]

Hi TPT,

which license of an ESXi server are you using?

For FREE Hypervisor you can have max. 8 vCPU per VM.

Regards,

P.

[TPT]

Hi vNEX

I have the Enterprise Plus.

Product: VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus Licensed for 2 physical CPUs (unlimited cores per CPU)

Product Features:

    Unlimited virtual SMP

suppose to let me have unlimited vcpus.

[vNEX]

OK, just for check:

- which hardware version you have on this VM?

- which operating system is installed inside?

- which OS is selected under General Options for that VM?

Thanks

P.

[TPT]

1. hardware version is 7, i do not want to upgrade to 10 because I don't have a vcenter. Can I upgrade to only say 8 or 9?

2. OS is SUSE 11 SP1, 64 bit.

3. unknown, I did not create this VM.

[vNEX · Accepted solution]

OK

so upgrade your hardware at lest to version 9 (vmx-09).

If you create snapshot before upgrade you can revert all changes if you want so I would try to go for HW version 10.

When you edit your VM what is selected for OS under Options tab ->General Options?

Regards,

P.

[TPT]

The OS listed is SUSE10 64bit, i will now change that to 11 since this obviously do not match what is really on there.

[vNEX]

OK what's the result?

[TPT]

changed it to suse 11, but i still can get at most 8 cpu cores. 

[TPT]

i am trying to find out how to upgrade the VM to hardware version 9, right now it defaults to 10.

[TPT]

i need to make another copy of the vm, will take at least 30 minutes. just as an fyi.

[vNEX]

do you have your host properly licensed/ ie. properly assigned license?

What you see in host Configuration tab -> Software under Licensed Features?

[TPT]

pretty sure i got the right license for it.

If i create brand new VM, i can use all the cores no problems. It is this migrated one that I am having problems with.

Product: VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus Licensed for 2 physical CPUs (unlimited cores per CPU)

Expires: Never

Product Features:

    Unlimited virtual SMP

    vCenter agent for VMware host

    Reliable Memory

    vShield Endpoint

    vSphere Replication

    SR-IOV

    vSphere API

    Storage APIs

    VMsafe

    vSphere HA

    Hot-Pluggable virtual HW

    vSphere vMotion

    vSphere FT

    vSphere Data Protection

    vShield Zones

    vSphere DRS

    vSphere Storage vMotion

    MPIO / Third-Party Multi-Pathing

    vSphere Distributed Switch

    vSphere Host Profiles

    Remote virtual Serial Port Concentrator

    vSphere Storage I/O Control

    Direct Path vMotion

    vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration

    Shared Smart Card Reader

    vSphere Storage DRS

    vSphere Profile-Driven Storage

    vSphere vMotion Metro

    vSphere Auto Deploy

    vSphere View Accelerator

    vSphere App HA

    vSphere Flash Read Cache

[f10]

Did you try changing the number of vCPUs by connecting to the ESXi host directly?

[TPT]

you mean like via the vsphere client? That's what I am using.

[vNEX]

so what happens when you make a clon of the VM?

or you can maybe try to V2V conversion of that VM with Standalone Converter:

Download VMware vCenter Converter Standalone for P2V Conversion

[f10]

Ok. How about changing the number of vCPUs from the VM confihuration file i.e. *.vmx file?

[TPT]

the same thing. the purpose of making a copy is so the original user can carry on using it while i test on the copy.

[TPT]

I just get an error msg about the wrong number of core/cpu configured

[vNEX]

Can you post exact error message and contents of VMware.log please.

Thanks