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  • 1.  Going from old hardware to new hardware - different CPU generations

    Posted Aug 10, 2021 06:31 PM

    Currently running old Gen8 HP servers and moving to new Gen10 HP servers. Obviously very different CPUs and motherboards. Planning on migrating the VMs cold, no live vMotion or live migration. Just going to clone them (while powered off) to the new storage/hosts. Anything I need to be aware of as far as CPU/server compatibility with this type of process?

    Would it be recommended to upgrade the VM hardware version after moving to the new hardware?



  • 2.  RE: Going from old hardware to new hardware - different CPU generations

    Posted Aug 10, 2021 07:07 PM

    Hello.
    Although you do not indicate the source version and what is the target version in this migration. If you manage to put a vcenter server to manage the old and new ESXi, you could perform cold vmotion (with VM off).


    To upgrade the Hardware version, you must verify if the VM operating system will support it. It is always necessary to backup the VM when making these changes.

    I recommend you to wait a couple of weeks that everything is running smoothly, and then update the VMware tools and the Hardware version in the VMs. This way you don't mix the ESXi changes (hardware and version) with the VM changes.

     

     



  • 3.  RE: Going from old hardware to new hardware - different CPU generations

    Posted Aug 10, 2021 07:32 PM

    Sorry about the missing info. Going from ESXi 6.5 (latest updates) to 7.x

    The new hardware won't be sharing storage with the old hardware so we'll be doing to migration across the LAN. Plan is to setup a new vCenter, new data center and move one legacy host to the new data center.



  • 4.  RE: Going from old hardware to new hardware - different CPU generations

    Posted Aug 10, 2021 08:54 PM

    Hello.
    I recommend you to use the custom HPE image version 7.0 U1.

    https://www.hpe.com/us/en/servers/hpe-esxi.html

    Now version 7.0 U2 is presenting serious problems which are expected to be fixed in a future update 3.

    In version 7 the partitioning has been modified, old hardware support has been removed and more internal changes have been made.

    If you plan to use as boot SSD card or USB Key is not recommended for now the version 7.0, more information in the ink

    https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/SD-Boot-issue-Solution-in-7-x/m-p/2857849/emcs_t/S2h8ZW1haWx8Ym9hcmRfc3Vic2NyaXB0aW9ufEtSNkU0WTlJMVM2TUJCfDI4NTc4NDl8U1VCU0NSSVBUSU9OU3xoSw#M277022

     

     



  • 5.  RE: Going from old hardware to new hardware - different CPU generations

    Posted Aug 11, 2021 05:04 PM

    Super Info here. Quite agree.

    One doubt, how about https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/78389. Is U1 includes vmkapi from your experience/information.



  • 6.  RE: Going from old hardware to new hardware - different CPU generations

    Posted Aug 11, 2021 05:32 PM

    Hello.

    Updates from versions 6.5 and 6.7 to version 7.0, is currently not as transparent and easy as it was before.

    In the KB 78389 that you effectively indicate some of the problems and your possible solutions in the update essenaries. But unfortunately there are more problems.

    I have always recommended when there is a leap of Tegnology in the version (which is the case of version 7.0), perform a new installation from scratch and not go through updates.