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Adding new esxi to existing essentials plus

Hi
I have a 5.5 essentials plus kit, with 3 esxi hosts in a cluster setup, connected to an IBM Stormwize storage.
I am getting short of resources in those 3 hosts, particularly since I want to leave enough room for vMotion in case of a host failure. I thought about buying an additional esxi host ( 6.5 standard ) . Can i add this esxi to the existing vCenter?

Thanks

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Qlemo

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ASKER

Ok, so is there a way for me to add a standalone esxi, and move machines from the cluster to the new esxi?

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Qlemo

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Thank you

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

I want to leave enough room for vMotion in case of a host failure.

vMotion does not help you with that, unless you know the server is about the fail. VMware HA is the function which re-starts VMs on other hosts, in the event of host failure.

Discuss your requirements with VMware, they may offer you an upgrade from Essentials to Standard.

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ASKER

Hi Andrew
Thanks for jumping in. Indeed, i have it set up in a cluster, but now i know there is not enough space left to restart vm's in other hosts in case of failure, so my idea is to add an esxi ( not to the cluster, since i already have 3 hosts in it, the maximum for the license ) , move some vm's to that new host, and this way i'll free enough resources for the remaining vm's in the cluster to be HA protected

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

But the VMs you move will not be protected in a host failure!

and also you'll be stuck if you need to do host maintenance.

If you have the money to purchase more licenses, discuss with VMware, they'll offer you a deal, and upgrade...

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ASKER

You're right. Will check with them