Processor compatibility for vMotion

[beastvold]

We have just upgraded to vSphere 6 Essentials Plus so we can take advantage of vMotion. We are building an almost exact replica of our existing Dell PowerEdge T420 server, so that we can have high availability for our VMs, moving them from one physical server to the other, as needed. In looking through the DRS cluster documentation, it says that processors "must come from the same vendor class (Intel versus AMD) and the same processor family to be compatible for migration with vMotion. (vSphere 5.5 Documentation Center)"

Our current server has an Intel Xeon E5-2440 v2 processor (8 cores, 20 MB cache, 1.9 GHz). The vendor we are purchasing our new server build from has the same processor model number (Intel Xeon E5-2440), but with 6 cores, 15 MB cache, 2.4 GHz. They would have to special order the exact same processor we currently have. Will we run into any issues if the rest of the hardware is the same, but the processors are slightly different? Same vendor, same family, even same model number - just with less cores, less cache, more GHz. Is there anything I should consider before moving forward?

Thanks!

Ben

[rcporto]

Your processors are from different generations, the E5-2440 is a Sandy Bridge and the E5-2440 v2 is a Ivy Bridge, take a look here: http://ark.intel.com/compare/64612,75263

And since they are from different generation, you will need to enable EVC in your cluster to be able to vMotion virtual machine between these hosts, take a look here for additional information about EVC: VMware KB:    Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) processor support

[beastvold]

Thank you! Your response is extremely helpful. I'll do a little more investigation, but it looks like it would make things easier to get the v2 Ivy Bridge processor.