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November 2022

ESXi 7 and 8 Installation fails with "Fatal CPU mismatch on feature"

When you try to install ESXi 7.0 or 8.0 on a system with a 12th Gen Intel CPU, the installation fails with a purple diagnostics screen:

HW feature incompatibility detected; cannot start

Fatal CPU mismatch on feature "Hyperthreads per core"
Fatal CPU mismatch on feature "Cores per package"
Fatal CPU mismatch on feature "Cores per die"

When you try to power on Virtual Machines on 13th Gen Intel CPUs, ESXi crashes with the following PSOD:

GP Exception 13 in world

This problem is caused by the new architecture of Intel CPUs which are equipped with different types of cores - Performance-cores and Efficient-cores. With vSphere 7.0 Update 2, the kernel parameter cpuUniformityHardCheckPanic has been implemented to address the issue. This article explains the manual and automated methods to properly implement the kernel option.

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VMware ESXi 8.0 - Hardware not yet certified for upgrade

VMware vSphere 8.0 IA (Initial Availability) is in the market for a couple of weeks now and it is expected to transition into GA (General Availability) soon. It's time to verify that your hardware is supported if you plan on upgrading your ESXi hosts to vSphere 8.0. Some systems have not been certified by their vendor yet. The following servers were supported in vSphere 7.0 U3 but are according to VMware's HCL not yet supported in vSphere 8.0.

Your server is listed and you want to upgrade?

  • Usually, the list gets smaller a couple of weeks after a new vSphere version has been released. I will update this post when I notice changes.
  • Not supported does not say that it does not work.
  • Servers get certified by their vendor, not VMware. If you want a server to get certified, ask your vendor.
  • Vendor support matrices sometimes differ from VMware HCL. In doubt, ask your vendor or VMware if you are allowed to upgrade.
  • The list has been created with the help of my HCL in JSON Format.
  • Follow the comments to get notified of updates. I will comment on changes when the list gets smaller.
  • Did I miss something? Please comment.
  • To keep the list convenient, only the following vendors are included: Cisco, DELL, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi, IBM, Lenovo, Inspur, Huawei and Supermicro

Read More »VMware ESXi 8.0 - Hardware not yet certified for upgrade

Free ESXi 8.0 - How to Download and get License Keys

vSphere 8.0 has been released and as known from previous versions, VMware provides a free version of their Hypervisor ESXi. The license key can be created for free at VMware's website. It has no expiration date and the binaries you will receive as "Free Hypervisor" are 100% identical to the paid version but with some software limitations.

Tech Specs and Limitations

  • No commercial support
  • Free ESXi cannot be added to a vCenter Server
  • Some API functionality is missing (API is read-only)
  • No physical CPU limitation
  • Number of logical CPUs per host: 480
  • Maximum vCPUs per virtual machine: 8
  • The Key is restricted to 100 Physical Servers deployments.

 

[Update February 2024]
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (free edition) is no longer available
At this time, there is not an equivalent replacement product available.

Read More »Free ESXi 8.0 - How to Download and get License Keys

VMware Products without vSphere 8.0 Support

VMware vSphere 8 was released a month ago. Prior to upgrading your Production or Test environment, make sure that the software you are using on top of vCenter/ESXi is supported. To check if a product version is supported, refer to VMware Interoperability Matrix.

When checking the Interop Matrix, make sure that there is both, a minimum and a maximum version that is supported. For example, ESXi 6.5 support has been dropped in vSphere 8 which means that all ESXi Hosts need to be upgraded to at least ESXi 6.7 prior to updating vCenter Server. The upgrade path for all individual products can be verified with the Upgrade Path tool.

I'm going to monitor the progress regularly to keep the list updated. For further information check

 

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