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ESXi EVC Compatibility

N

nate1280

n00b
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
35
I have 2 servers, one is a Lenovo TS430 (044116U) E3-1240 w/ 20GB Ram, and the other is an X8SIL-F w/ X3440 and 12GB Ram.

Yesterday I upgraded vCenter, and the Lenovo host to 5.1, while the X8SIL host is still at 4.1. What I wanted to do was enable it so I could vMotion machines across to the Lenovo, then upgrade (or decommission haven't decided yet) the X8SIL machine, but I'm running into a problem.

I have both machines in a cluster, and when I try to enable EVC to the Intel "Nahalem" Generation, which as far as I'm aware both CPUs should support (X3440 is Nahalem, and E3-1240 is Sandy Bridge) it gives me an error about the Lenovo machine.

Code: 
The host's CPU hardware should support the cluster's current Enhanced vMotion
Compatibility mode, but some of the necessary CPU features are missing from the host.
Check the host's BIOS configuration to ensure that no necessary features are disabled (such
as XD, VT, AES or PCLMULQDQ for Intel, or NX for AMD). For more information, see KB
articles 1003212 and 1034926.

If I try to just do a vMotion of a running machine (RHEL 6 32-bit), I get a bit more detailed error as follows:

Code: 
The virtual machine requires hardware features that are unsupported or disabled on the target host:
* Carryless multiply (PCLMULQDQ) (see KB 1034926)

If possible, use a cluster with Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) enabled; see KB article 1003212.

CPUID details: incompatibility at level 0x1 register 'ecx'.
Host bits: 0000:0000:1001:1000:0010:0010:0000:0011
Required:  x0xx:xx0x:10x1:1xx0:xxxx:xx1x:xxxx:xx01

So I'm at a complete loss at the moment, I know I could just power VMs down and vMotion them across and power them back up, but that kinda defeats the purpose of trying out live vMotions.

One other thing I thought I would mention, the Lenovo has an 82579LM ethernet adapter in it, so I'm using Chilly's driver to be able to use it. It also has a supported 82574L.

Any thoughts/opinions?
 
x0xx:xx0x:10x1:1xx0:xxxx:xx1x:xxxx:xx01

Its in the 2nd to last bit.

Check this page out
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1706699

Which relates to this KB
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/mi...nguage=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1029785

and then their answer which is probably same as yours bios switch somewhere.. - We had same issue with IBM hardware. Finally discovered that IBM shipped newer servers with the Westmere's AES instructions enabled but shipped older servers with AES disabled (anything shipping with less than 1.10 UEFI). AES isn't something you can enable/disable from the BIOS so it's not apparent what the incompatibility is. Finally discovered that it seemed that something about the older blades made vCenter think they were more like Nahalem than Westmere. The reason is because the older ones don't have AES enabled (a Westmere feature).
 
Yep. We hit that with some UCS blades too. Wasn't exposed by the BIOS at first.
 
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