Getting VM EVC Mode Requirements via PowerCLI
One of my customers was preparing to do some major ESXi host reconfiguration and so needed to shift VM workload from one cluster to another. They had a challenge in that their clusters were running with different EVC modes, and they wanted to move VMs from the newer cluster to the older cluster. "Impossible!" the strawman says, "it can't be done!" Well, yes and no. That's absolutely correct that you can't vMotion a VM that powered up on an Ivy Bridge CPU back onto an ESXi host with a Sandy Bridge processor. The reason for this is that the VM, during its power on operation, scans the CPU of its host for a list of CPU features that are available and begins potentially using those features, which means that it can't be moved to a processor that doesn't have those features. The VM, in effect, inherits its host's EVC Mode for the lifespan of this power cycle. Until the VM goes through a complete new power cycle (not a reboot from within th...