dl360p gen8 - E5-2650 and E5-2650 v2 requires EVC for vmotion?

[daikyu]

hi vmware-pros

strange situation here, my cluster (latest 5.5) is configured without EVC because it simply works without masking features.

having a few dl380g7 and gen8 but now with the V2 cpus i get vmotion errors.

the question is:

do 2 different dl360p gen8, one with E5-2650 and one with E5-2650 V2 really need EVC enabled?

i tried EVC in a new cluster already, it makes the error go away but honestly i want to understand first "why and if i really need it"

i also tried updating the bios

many thanks in advance

peter

[vNEX]

Hello Peter,

unless they have a similar numbering both are from different family E-5 2650 is Sandy Bridge generation but 2650v2 is based on Ivy Bridge!

Ivy Bridge has some additional features including ENFSTRING, F16C, FSGSBASE, SMEP and CPUID Faulting.

In addition:

Not all members of a given processor generation can support the same maximum EVC baseline. Either because of BIOS configuration or branding decisions made by OEM or CPU vendors, some members of that generation may lack a feature required to participate at the maximum EVC baseline. For example, some Intel® Xeon i3/i5 Clarkdale processors (based on the Intel “Westmere” processor architecture) do not have AESNI capability, which is required for the Intel “Westmere” Generation EVC baseline. Therefore, these processors cannot support that EVC baseline and must use lower levels of EVC baselines. Another example is where AESNI has been disabled by BIOS in an Intel® Xeon 5600 processor (also based on the Intel “Westmere” processor architecture); as a result, this processor also cannot support the Intel® “Westmere” EVC baseline and must use lower levels of EVC baselines.

For more detailed info see these sources:

VMware KB: Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) processor support

[daikyu]

that makes it clear thank you!!!