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VSphere vMotion, DRS and Windows Activation

Hi All,

We are currently running vSphere but have different hardware hosts. 2x Dell R710 and 1x Dell R610 - all have different speed processors. What are the implications of migrating VM's between the hosts? Will Windows 2008 need to be activated each time? Also is it possible to enable DRS further down the line or will I encounter the same issue? In order for this to work correctly do all your hosts have to be the same make and model with the same processor? Seems a bit awkward to have to buy exactly the same machines as I am sure most people do not have identical kit and their VM infrastructure has grown over time.

Obviously it is Microsoft that would cause the re-activation.

Many thanks,

Matt

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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

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Subhashish Laha

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matthewrichmond

ASKER

Thanks Hanccocka,

I have EVC enabled. Does this still mean if I use vMotion to migrate between hosts I will still need to re-activate Windows? I presume that it will pick up that the hardware has changed? I take it that migration between the two R710s would be less likely to cause this than migration between the R710 and the R610? I will just have a look through the documents you suggest.

matthewrichmond

ASKER

Thanks both I will split the points. I think that I must have migrated some servers before enabling EVC and that was causing the re-activation. It is now active so this should not happen when migrating between hosts now in the cluster. Thanks for your help.