module 2-4 - evc
TRANSCRIPT
7/28/2019 Module 2-4 - EVC
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Enhanced vMotion Compatibility
Product Support Engineering
VMware Confid ential
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Module 2 Lessons
Lesson 1 – vCenter Server High Availability
Lesson 2 – vCenter Server Distributed Resource Scheduler
Lesson 3 – Fault Tolerance Virtual Machines
Lesson 4 – Enhanced vMotion Compatibility
Lesson 5 – DPM - IPMI
Lesson 6 – vAppsLesson 7 – Host Profiles
Lesson 8 – Reliability, Availability, Serviceability ( RAS )
Lesson 9 – Web Access
Lesson 10 – vCenter Server Update Manager Lesson 11 – Guided Consolidation
Lesson 12 – Health Status
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OEM VMotion Compatibility Matrix
Source: www.dell.com; Similar matrices are available for HP and IBM servers
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Enhanced VMotion Compatibility (EVC)
EVC allows vCenter to enforce VMotion compatibility betweenall hosts in a cluster by forcing hosts to expose a common set
of CPU features (baseline) to Virtual Machines.
EVC automatically configures servers whose CPUs feature Intel
FlexMigration and AMD-V Extended Migration technologies to
be VMotion-compatible with servers that use older CPUs.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.
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Detecting CPU Features
OS or application software executes CPUID machine instructionCPUID instruction reports many system properties:
Vendor (e.g. Intel or AMD)
CPU family, model, stepping
Supported CPU features, e.g.: NX/XD (No execute; memory protection from malware)
AMD-V/VT-x (Virtualization support in hardware)
SSE3 (CPU instructions to optimize streaming applications)
Number of CPU cores, cache size, and many other properties
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EVC Benefits
Enables VMotion across CPU generationsNew 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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Intel EVC Cluster With Different Generation CPUs
VM sees Intel Core 2 level CPU features and can migrate toany host in the EVC cluster
ESX
Intel Core 2 CPU
ESX
Intel Core 2
45nm CPU
ESX
Future Intel CPU
App
OS
Intel Core
2 VM
Intel EVC Cluster
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AMD EVC Cluster With Different Generation CPUs
VM sees AMD Opteron Rev E CPU features, can migrate toany host in the EVC cluster.
ESX
AMD Rev E CPU
ESX
AMD Barcelona CPU
ESX
Future AMD CPU
App
OS
Opteron
Rev E VM
AMD EVC Cluster
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EVC Baselines
Baseline: a set of CPU features that is supported by every hostin the cluster
Baseline is the least common denominator of all hosts, or less
In ESX 3.5 u2, one baseline per CPU vendor
Intel: CPU features supported by Merom cores
AMD: CPU features supported in Opteron Rev E/F
In VI4, it is expected that two or more baselines can be defined,
e.g.:
Intel: Merom, Penryn (SSE4.1), Nehalem (SSE4.2)
AMD: Rev E/F and Greyhound (SSE4A, ABM)
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EVC Baselines (ctd)
EVC Baseline Compatible CPUs
Intel® Core™ 2
(Merom)
Intel® Core™ 2
Intel® 45nm Core™ 2
Intel® 45nm Core™ 2
(Penryn)
Intel® 45nm Core™ 2
AMD Second Generation Opteron™
(Rev. E/F)
AMD Second Generation Opteron™
AMD Third Generation Opteron™
AMD Third Generation Opteron™
(Barcelona)
AMD Third Generation Opteron™
Multiple baselines allow the user to choose:
Greater compatibility (fewer cpu features)
More features (less cpu compatibility)
Additional baselines will be introduced for new CPU generations
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EVC baselines & CPU Models
VMware KB article 1003212 lists specific CPU models and
which baselines they support
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003212
Examples:
Intel Core 2
Intel Merom baseline: 73xx (Tigerton), 51xx (Woodcrest)Intel Core 2 45nm
Intel Penryn baseline: 74xx (Dunnington), 54xx (Harpertown)
AMD 2nd Generation
Opteron Rev E/F baseline: 2yy, 8yy, 22yy, 82yy
AMD 3rd Generation
Greyhound baseline: 23yy, 83yy
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EVC Cluster With Intel Core 2 45nm (Penryn) Baseline
VM cannot migrate to an Intel Core 2 (Merom) based CPUIt can migrate to an Intel Core 2 45nm (Penryn) based CPU
outside the cluster
ESX
Intel Core 2 CPU
ESX
Intel Core 2
45nm CPU
ESX
Future Intel CPU
Intel EVC Cluster (Core 2 45nm baseline)
ESX
Intel Core 2
45nm CPU
App
OS
Core 2
45 nm VM
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Determine CPU Model
vCenter will display model information for CPUs that alreadyhave ESX installed
For new servers that do not have ESX installed, use some of thefreeware utilities such as CPU-Z.
The E54xx CPUs are „Harpertown‟
processors from the Penryn series
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EVC & CPU Features
EVC does not affect CPU featuresNumber of cores per CPU. For example, a Greyhound (quad core)
CPU does not lose 2 cores when it‟s added to a Rev E/F (dual core)
EVC cluster
Cache size
Hardware virtualization support (VT-x, AMD-V, nested paging)
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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Requirements For EVC
EVC requires ESX 3.5 update 2 or later.
EVC requires Intel CPUs with Core 2 micro architecture and newer,
e.g.
Merom: 73xx (Tigerton), 51xx (Woodcrest), 53xx (Clovertown)
Penryn: 74xx (Dunnington), 54xx (Harpertown)
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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Enabling EVC On A Cluster (ctd)
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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.
2. VC will not allow hosts to enter the cluster which are not capable of
exactly matching the cluster EVC requirements.
3. VMotion will never fail due to CPU incompatibility since all hostspresent identical features through EVC baselines .
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EVC Maintains Complete VMotion Compatibility
Cannot add a host with incompatible hardware
All hosts CPUs must be from the same vendor
CPUs must be on par with the cluster baseline or newer
ESX
AMD CPU
Intel EVC Cluster (Merom Baseline)
ESX
Intel Pentium 4
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EVC Maintains Complete VMotion Compatibility (ctd)
Cannot add a host with running VMs
The VM could be using CPU features that are not present in all hosts
in the cluster.Must migrate or power off VMs on the ESX that you wish to add to
the cluster.
ESX
Intel Core 2
45nm CPU
App
OS
Core 2
45nm VM
Intel EVC Cluster (Core 2 Baseline)
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EVC Maintains Complete VMotion Compatibility (ctd)
Cannot add a host with incompatible ESX version
Host must have ESX 3.5 update 2 or newer installed
AMD EVC Cluster (Rev E/F Baseline)
ESX 3.0.x
Opteron Rev F CPU
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Troubleshooting EVC
VMware CPUID utility
Bootable CDROM
Reports raw CPUID data and “interesting” features
http://www.vmware.com/download/shared_utilities.html
Intel processor identification utility
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/piu/
CPU-Z, a freeware utility for displaying CPU features
www.cpuid.com
VMotion Info tool
Displays CPU info of servers in a vCenter deployment
www.run-virtual.com
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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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Lesson 2-4 Summary
Learn how to enable EVC on a Cluster
Learn how to create EVC Baselines
Learn how to troubleshoot EVC
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Lesson 2-4 - Lab 4
Module 2-4 Lab 4 – VMware vCenter Enhanced vMotion
Compatibility
Enable EVC on a Cluster
Checking EVC compatibility
EVC settings
Troubleshooting EVC