Smart switch - what does "incompatible CPUs" mean?

[gregwatson]

Hi

I'm trying to do some smart switch quick migrations, but the only option permitted is cold migration. Although I don't get any errors, I presume it's only offering the option of cold migration because it thinks the two hosts have incompatible CPUs.

What exactly makes two host CPUs "incompatible" as far as smart switch goes? I'm trying to migrate a v8 VM on esxi 5.1.0 on a host with X5570 CPUs, to a host with X5660 CPUs running esxi 5.0.0

Veeam is version 7 patched with patch #4.

thanks!

[Gostev]

Hi. It's CPU features (such as instruction sets). Incompatible instruction sets prevent suspend/resume. Thanks!

[Vitaliy S.]

If these hosts are in the cluster, then I believe you can enable EVC mode to allow VMs migration (smart switch).

[dellock6]

It's for sure the lack of EVC, x55xx family is "nehalem" level of EVC (or EVC L2) while x56xx is "westmere" (or EVC L2). You should create a new cluster at nehalem level and import all ESXi servers. VMs running on the 5570 do not need to be powered off since they are already at the nehalem level (native level of the cpu) while you will have to plan downtime to move the VMs running over the x5660. After this, both vmotion and our quick migration will work.

Luca.

[gregwatson]

Thanks folks, makes sense.

[dellock6]

Quick correction, westmere is L3, not L2 as nehalem...