Cannot enable EVC for a cluster due to an error com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.supports3d com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.sm41 etc

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• When enabling EVC for a cluster using vSphere Client, it fails, instead showing an error similar to below: 

  com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.supports3d com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.sm41 com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.multisample4x com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.multisample2x com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.maxvolumeextent com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.maxtexturesize com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.maxtextureanisotropy com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.maxpointsize com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.logicops com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.linestipple com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.dxmaxconstantbuffers com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.basecapslevel See KB 1003212 for more information. Host is of type: vendor amd family 0x19 model 0x11

• the vCenter service log /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd-<number>.log contains the following failure:

  <timestamp> info vpxd[1136355] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=########] [VpxLRO] -- FINISH task-1900
  <timestamp> error vpxd[1136355] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=########] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-1900 -- 52ad####-####-####-####-########d19c(5204####-####-####-####-########dac9) -- domain-c### -- vim.ClusterComputeResource.moveHostInto: :vim.fault.EVCAdmissionFailed
  --> Result:
  --> (vim.fault.EVCAdmissionFailed) {
  -->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
  -->    faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
  -->       (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
  -->          key = "com.vmware.vim.vpxd.vmcheck.hostCpuType",
  -->          arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
  -->             (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
  -->                key = "vendor",
  -->                value = "amd"
  -->             },
  -->             (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
  -->                key = "family",
  -->                value = "0x19"
  -->             },
  -->             (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
  -->                key = "model",
  -->                value = "0x11"
  -->             }
  -->          ],
  -->          message = <unset>
  -->       },
  -->       (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
  -->          key = "com.vmware.vim.vpxd.vmcheck.evcKb",
  -->          arg = <unset>,
  -->          message = <unset>
  -->       },
  -->       (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
  -->          key = "com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.basecapslevel",
  -->          arg = <unset>,
  -->          message = <unset>
  -->       },
  -->       (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
  -->          key = "com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.svga*svga.dxmaxconstantbuffers",
  -->          arg = <unset>,
  -->          message = <unset>
  ...
  -->             }
  -->          ],
  -->          vm = <unset>,
  -->          host = 'vim.HostSystem:28b0####-####-####-####-########c7ae:host-####'
  -->          msg = ""
  -->       }
  -->    ]
  -->    msg = ""
  --> }
  --> Args:
  -->
  --> Arg host:
  --> 'vim.HostSystem:host-###'
  --> Arg resourcePool:

• when reviewing the host specified in the failure stack, you find errors referring to AMD-V or Intel VT-x, like the ones below in /var/log/svgaFeaturesVmware.log, depending on which CPU vendor is used
• If the host has an AMD CPU, you might see:

  <timestamp> In(05) vmx - [msg.hvuser.SVMDisabled] This host supports AMD-V, but AMD-V is disabled.
  <timestamp> In(05)+ vmx - AMD-V might be disabled if it has been disabled in the BIOS/firmware settings or the host has not been power-cycled since changing this setting.
  <timestamp> In(05)+ vmx - (1) Verify that the BIOS/firmware settings enable AMD-V.
  <timestamp> In(05)+ vmx - (2) Power-cycle the host if this BIOS/firmware setting has been changed.
  <timestamp> In(05)+ vmx - (3) Power-cycle the host if you have not done so since installing VMware ESXi.
  <timestamp> In(05)+ vmx - (4) Update the host's BIOS/firmware to the latest version.

• While hosts with an Intel CPU instead will report:

  <timestamp> In(05) vmx - Msg_Post: Error
  <timestamp> In(05) vmx - [msg.hvuser.VTDisabled] This host supports Intel VT-x, but Intel VT-x is disabled.
  <timestamp> In(05)+ vmx - Intel VT-x might be disabled if it has been disabled in the BIOS/firmware settings or the host has not been power-cycled since changing this setting.

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Cause

To support 64-bit virtual machines, support for hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD-V/RVI) must be enabled on x64 CPUs.

In addition IO virtualization is needed for certain features such as VMDirectPath IO and needs to be enabled as well.

Resolution

To fix this issue, make sure that on top of the CPU-vendor specific hardware virtualization feature in the BIOS EFI (AMD-V or Intel VT-x), the respective setting for IO virtualization is enabled.

For Intel this will be VT-d while for AMD CPUs the setting is called AMD-VI.

For more information, please refer to the hardware manual or involve the server vendor.