virtual machine has 16 virtual CPUs, but the host only supports 8

[Adekunle]

Hello,

There is a customer that bought vSphere 5 Standard License for 8 processors.

I was able to convert the physical server (of the following configuration) using the Evaluation Mode:

• 16 Physical CPUs
  

But the following error:

"virtual machine has 16 virtual CPUs, but the host only supports 8"  came up after trying to power up the VM using the purchased vSphere 5 Standard License.

Please, can anybody advice on other options to use to make this VM work with the vSphere 5 Standard License because the customer has already invested on it.

Looking forward to wonderful and fruitful advice/solution to this problem.

Many thanks.

Kind regards

[vmroyale]

Did the VM actually use all 16 vCPUs or can you change the VM to use 8 vCPUs?

[Adekunle]

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your prompt resonse.

Actually the physical server runs on 16 processors but I'm afraid there will be performance degredation on the VM if I reduce the processor count by half or what do you think???

[vmroyale]

What do the performance metrics in the vSphere Client show for CPU Usage? I would be surprised, if this workload actually required it, but the metrics will tell the real story.

[Adekunle]

Hello,

Please, kindly find the attached screenshot for the 8vCPU Utilization level. Also note that the VM has not been mapped to its Application LUN as at the time this screenshot was taken.

[a_p_]

As you already mentioned the Standard edition supports up to 8 virtual CPUs per VM (see also http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vsphere/compare-editions.html). What you need to do is to decrease the number of vCPUs in the VM's settings. When you do this you may also need to configure the virtual core count, depending on how many "physical" CPUs/sockets the guets OS supports.

André

[Adekunle]

Hi Andre,

Thanks so much for your prompt response.

Please, kindly find the attached screenshots of the No of virtual sockets and cores per socket, Total no of cores per socket and Total no of virtual sockets.

All these will enable you understand the challenge better.

The physical server has a total of 16 processors.

Thanks.

[a_p_]

I understand this, however it doesn't matter how many sockets or cores you have on the host, it's the Standard license which limits the "Total number of cores" you can assign to a VM.

André

[Adekunle]

Hi Andre,

Please, what do you think I can do now to solve this issue?

Adekunle

Message was edited by: a.p. - removed email footer with personal data

[weinstein5]

Without upgrading the license to Enterprise Plus you will be limited to VM with 8 vcpus - but I do agree look at the CPU usage and I think you will find that the 8 vCPUs or even less will be sufficiently powerful to support the application

[EdWilts]

David Weinstein wrote:

Without upgrading the license to Enterprise Plus you will be limited to VM with 8 vcpus - but I do agree look at the CPU usage and I think you will find that the 8 vCPUs or even less will be sufficiently powerful to support the application

With 5.1, Standard limits you to 8 but Enterprise now gets you up to 32-way.  Enterprise Plus gets you to 64-way.

[a_p_]

As mentioned by vmroyale you should monitor the CPU usage with the decreased vCPU count. And if you really need more than 8 vCPUs (what I guess you won't) then your only option is to upgrade the licenses to Enterprise or better.

André