VMware EVC/Hardware Version Issues
Findings:
Just as a back story, we run our VMware environment on CISCO UCS blade hardware. Our VMware hosts and vCenter are all running on version 6.5. We were recently tasked with a hardware refresh of our CISCO UCS environment. Our old B200 M3 hosts were running Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 processors, and were being replaced with brand new B200 M5 hosts running on Intel Xeon Gold 6126 processors. After we had ESXi installed and configured on all of the new hosts it was time for the fun to begin and move all of our VM’s over to these new hosts. We previously did not have EVC enabled clusters or even know much about EVC as our Intel processors were all in the same Sandy Bridge Intel family. At first (with no prior knowledge of EVC) we tried to add these new hosts to our existing clusters with no EVC enabled options. As soon as the host was in the cluster DRS automatically moved some VM’s to the new hosts with no problem. Our plan then was to finish moving the rest of the VM’s from our old hosts to the new hosts in their existing non EVC cluster…FAIL!!!
Just as a back story, we run our VMware environment on CISCO UCS blade hardware. Our VMware hosts and vCenter are all running on version 6.5. We were recently tasked with a hardware refresh of our CISCO UCS environment. Our old B200 M3 hosts were running Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 processors, and were being replaced with brand new B200 M5 hosts running on Intel Xeon Gold 6126 processors. After we had ESXi installed and configured on all of the new hosts it was time for the fun to begin and move all of our VM’s over to these new hosts. We previously did not have EVC enabled clusters or even know much about EVC as our Intel processors were all in the same Sandy Bridge Intel family. At first (with no prior knowledge of EVC) we tried to add these new hosts to our existing clusters with no EVC enabled options. As soon as the host was in the cluster DRS automatically moved some VM’s to the new hosts with no problem. Our plan then was to finish moving the rest of the VM’s from our old hosts to the new hosts in their existing non EVC cluster…FAIL!!!
The Error:
This is when we started getting the errors on the vMotion compatibility check stating that EVC needed to be enabled. At this point we were very confused because some VM’s would move and some would not. It seems that all our VM’s that were running on hardware version 8 were our problematic VM’s.
Resolution:
After a lot of testing and searching the web we came to find out that the HW version impacts what EVC level can be used. When you upgrade to a later HW version you are essentially allowing it to make use of newer chip-sets. The HW version 8 that we were at was so out dated that it didn't have the information for the EVC level that we set at the cluster level. After upgrading the HW version, shuting down the VM (required to get new chip-set information), and powering it back up we could then move the VM freely in-between host on the EVC enabled cluster.
Table 2.1 and 2.2 in the
VMware KB listed below outlines AMD and Intel EVC baselines...hopefully this
will help you narrow down your compatibility level if you run into this issue.
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1003212
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