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VMware Confidential
Module 2 Lessons
Lesson 1 vCenter Server High Availability Lesson 2 vCenter Server Distributed Resource Scheduler
Source: www.dell.com; Similar matrices are available for HP and IBM servers
EVC ensures that all hosts in a cluster present the same CPU feature set to Virtual Machines, even if the actual CPUs on the hosts differ.
This prevents migrations with VMotion from failing due to incompatible CPUs.
NX/XD (No execute; memory protection from malware) AMD-V/VT-x (Virtualization support in hardware) SSE3 (CPU instructions to optimize streaming applications)
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EVC Benefits
Enables VMotion across CPU generations
New CPUs are automatically configured to be compatible with earlier versions. Makes it much easier to add new hardware to existing clusters.
Simple
No manual CPUID masking required
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App
OS Intel Core 2 VM
ESX
Intel Core 2 CPU
ESX
Intel Core 2 45nm CPU
ESX
Future Intel CPU
VM sees Intel Core 2 level CPU features and can migrate to any host in the EVC cluster
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App
OS Opteron Rev E VM
ESX
AMD Rev E CPU
ESX
AMD Barcelona CPU
ESX
Future AMD CPU
VM sees AMD Opteron Rev E CPU features, can migrate to any host in the EVC cluster.
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EVC Baselines
Baseline: a set of CPU features that is supported by every host in the cluster
Baseline is the least common denominator of all hosts, or less
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Compatible CPUs
Intel Core 2 Intel 45nm Core 2 Intel 45nm Core 2
AMD Second Generation Opteron AMD Second Generation Opteron (Rev. E/F) AMD Third Generation Opteron
Examples:
Intel Core 2
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ESX
Intel Core 2 45nm CPU
App OS Core 2 45 nm VM
ESX ESX
Intel Core 2 CPU
Intel Core 2 45nm CPU
ESX
Future Intel CPU
VM cannot migrate to an Intel Core 2 (Merom) based CPU It can migrate to an Intel Core 2 45nm (Penryn) based CPU outside the cluster
VI4 - Mod 2-4 - Slide 20
The E54xx CPUs are Harpertown processors from the Penryn series
For new servers that do not have ESX installed, use some of the freeware utilities such as CPU-Z.
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Clock speed. Thus, EVC does not cause any performance penalties
Worst case scenario from implementing EVC: a VM cannot take advantage of new CPU instructions, e.g. SSE 4.1
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EVC requires AMD second generation Opteron CPUs and newer, e.g.
Rev E/F: models 1yy, 2yy, 8yy, 12yy, 22yy, 82yy Greyhound: models 13yy, 23yy, 83yy
EVC requires a homogenous cluster; either all Intel or all AMD hosts. Applications on VMs must be well-behaved.
The applications must be written to use the CPUID machine instruction to discover CPU features.
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Using EVC
Once EVC is enabled for a cluster:
1.
All hosts already in, or entering the cluster, are automatically configured to match the EVC cluster baseline. VC will not allow hosts to enter the cluster which are not capable of exactly matching the cluster EVC requirements. VMotion will never fail due to CPU incompatibility since all hosts present identical features through EVC baselines .
2.
3.
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ESX
AMD CPU
ESX
Intel Pentium 4
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ESX
Intel Core 2 45nm CPU
Must migrate or power off VMs on the ESX that you wish to add to the cluster.
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ESX 3.0.x
Opteron Rev F CPU
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Troubleshooting EVC
VMware CPUID utility
Bootable CDROM
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Troubleshooting EVC
Error: Incompatible CPU: The following hosts have CPUs that do not support EVC. Remove these hosts from the cluster.
What troubleshooting steps would you take to solve this problem?
You have to unmask the CPU features of all the ESX servers. If any of the bits are masked, you cannot enabled EVC.
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