Enabling EVC on a host with an EVC supported processor fails

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Attempting to move an ESX/ESXi server into a cluster which already has EVC enabled results in this error:
  
  The host's CPU hardware does not support Enhanced vMotion Compatibility, which is enabled for this cluster.
   
• Attempting to enable EVC on a cluster results in this error:
  
  Enhanced vMotion Compatibility cannot be enabled because the cluster contains hosts that lack EVC-capable hardware

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x

Cause

EVC requires all hosts to have the CPU features enabled for Virtualization and No Execute and Monitor/MWAIT.

 

The specific feature which is missing can be identified from the vpxd logs on vCenter (/var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd-xxx.log), for example, here is a snippet showing that the MWAIT feature is unavailable on the hardware:

 

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss info vpxd[10049] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=xxxx] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-xxxx -- domain-cX -- vim.ClusterComputeResource.moveInto: vim.fault.EVCAdmissionFailedCPUModelForMode:
...
-->       (vim.fault.FeatureRequirementsNotMet) {
-->          faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->          faultMessage = <unset>,
-->          featureRequirement = (vim.vm.FeatureRequirement) [
-->             (vim.vm.FeatureRequirement) {
-->                key = "cpuid.mwait",
-->                featureName = "cpuid.mwait",
-->                value = "Bool:Min:1"

Resolution

To resolve the issue, you must enable the No-Execute Memory Protection, Virtualization Technology and Monitor/MWAIT features in order for EVC to function. Consult the documentation for your hardware for more information.

To resolve this issue:

1. Enter the BIOS setup (F9 on most systems at boot).
2. Select Advanced Options.
3. Select Processor Options.
4. Change No-Execute Memory Protection to Enabled, if necessary.
5. Change Intel Virtualization Technology to Enabled, if necessary.
6. Change Monitor/MWAIT to Enabled, if necessary.
7. Reboot the host.
8. Enable EVC in the cluster settings.

Notes:

• Hardware Virtualization is called Intel VT on Intel processors and AMD-V on AMD processors.
• Execute Protection is called Intel eXecute Disable (XD) on Intel processors and AMD No eXecute (NX) on AMD processors.

Additional Information

For additional information about EVC, see:

Ensuring Virtualization Technology is enabled on your VMware host (318916)

Determining if Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD Virtualization is enabled in the BIOS without rebooting (308079)