Troubleshoot CPU Hardware Compatibility Errors during HCX vMotion Migrations

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

This article addresses migration failures during HCX Replication Assisted vMotion or standard vMotion where the target host fails compatibility checks. This issue occurs when the source and destination ESXi hosts present incompatible CPU feature sets, preventing the virtual machine from successfully validating its current hardware requirements against the target host physical capabilities.

The migration fails during vMotion compatibility checks with the following error:

vMotion failed. No target host could be choosen after vMotion compatibility checks. The target host does not support the virtual machine's current hardware requirements. com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.cpuid.avx512vnni:Advanced Vector Extensions 512 Vector Neural Network Instructions (AVX512VNNI) are unsupported. com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.misc.rdcl_no:RDCL_NO is not supported. com.vmware.vim.vmfeature.misc.ibrs_all:IBRS_ALL is not supported. com.vmware.vim.vpxd.vmcheck.featureRequirementsNotMet.useClusterOrPerVmEvc: Use a cluster with Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) enabled to create a uniform set of CPU features across the cluster, or use per-VM EVC for a consistent set of CPU features for a virtual machine and allow the virtual machine to be moved to a host capable of supporting that set of CPU features. See KB article 1003212 for cluster EVC information..

Cause

HCX vMotion and Replication Assisted vMotion operations require the source and destination ESXi hosts to provide a compatible CPU generation feature set. When this check fails, it indicates a mismatch where the virtual machine is actively utilizing CPU features such as instruction sets or security features that the destination host does not support. This incompatibility often occurs in clusters where hosts have different hardware generations or microcode versions and lack a unified EVC baseline to normalize the exposed feature set.

Resolution

To resolve this incompatibility, you must ensure the destination host can support the CPU feature set the virtual machine requires. Apply one of the following methods to normalize the environment:

1. Configure Cluster EVC Mode (Recommended): Enable Enhanced vMotion Compatibility at the cluster level in vCenter. This creates a uniform CPU feature baseline across the entire cluster, ensuring that all hosts regardless of physical hardware generation expose identical CPU features to the virtual machines. See KB 318962 for detailed configuration steps.

2. Configure Per VM EVC: If cluster-wide EVC is not feasible, configure EVC mode per virtual machine:

3. Shut down the virtual machine.

4. In the vSphere Client, right-click the virtual machine and navigate to Configure and then VM Hardware.

5. Click Edit on the EVC mode.

6. Select a baseline compatible with both the source and destination host capabilities.

7. Power on the virtual machine and reinitiate the migration.

8. Perform Powered Off Migration: If the virtual machine is migrated while powered off via Bulk Migration, it does not hold active CPU feature requirements. Upon powering on at the destination, the virtual machine will adopt the CPU feature set of the destination host.

Additional Information

• How to Determine the EVC Mode of Your Virtual Machine
• To speak with a customer representative or a support engineer, see Contact Support. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on your respective region.