Dell Precision 690 workstation and ESXi 5.1 compatibility

[krishong]

Hello All,

I have a Dell Precision 690 Workstation (1 Intel Xeon 5130 Dual Core Processor 4M Cache, 2.00 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB) with 18GB RAM) and would like to setup a Virtual lab for VMware vSphere 5. I plan to buy another CPU to make 4 Cores.

Before buying another CPU, I tested to install VMware Workstation 9 plus a virtual esxi 5 host, but there is an error " Virtualized Intel VT-x/EPT is not suppported on this platfrom" and it will only support 32 bit VMs"

So, I assume if I have Windows Server 2008 R2 VM created under this virtual esxi 5 host, it will not turn the VM on at all since it is a 64 bits VM.

Isn't Intel Xeon 5130 dual core processor compatible for having ESXi 5 environment? Anyone have setup ESXi 5 on precision 690 with the processor?

If it is compatible, what settings should I configure to work correctly?

It hesitates me to buy another CPU for now.

Please advise me.

Thanks in advance.

Kris

 

[rohitgiri0]

it is not compatible

 

[krishong]

If I upgrade another Xeon CPU (Quad Core) on the system, would it work? I saw some precision 690 users seem to have different CPUs which work with ESXi 5, but I am not positive. Is there any suggestions or suggested CPU to upgrade for me to work?

 

[krishong]

I found an article saying that the highest spec processor I can install on a 690 is the Xeon X5365 (3.0 Ghz). I just wonder if I upgraded to it, would it be compatible with ESXi 5 host? or still not compatible?

Does anyone have the CPU with 690 and tried to install virtual ESXi 5 host and running 64 bit VM nested successfully?

 

[toms987]

Hello All,

I have a Dell Precision 690 Workstation (1 Intel Xeon 5130 Dual Core Processor 4M Cache, 2.00 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB) with 18GB RAM) and would like to setup a Virtual lab for VMware vSphere 5. I plan to buy another CPU to make 4 Cores.

Before buying another CPU, I tested to install VMware Workstation 9 plus a virtual esxi 5 host, but there is an error " Virtualized Intel VT-x/EPT is not suppported on this platfrom" and it will only support 32 bit VMs"

So, I assume if I have Windows Server 2008 R2 VM created under this virtual esxi 5 host, it will not turn the VM on at all since it is a 64 bits VM.

Isn't Intel Xeon 5130 dual core processor compatible for having ESXi 5 environment? Anyone have setup ESXi 5 on precision 690 with the processor?

If it is compatible, what settings should I configure to work correctly?

It hesitates me to buy another CPU for now.

Please advise me.

Thanks in advance.

Kris

Hi Kris -

I have a Precision 690 with 2 - Intel 5050 Dual Core Xeon CPUs clocked at 3.0 GHZ and 8 GB RAM. They support 64-bit code and Hyper-threading. I use the system to Run VMWare ESXi 5.1 in 64-bit mode and it works very well for the VMs that I have setup.

 

[krishong]

Hi Kris -

I have a Precision 690 with 2 - Intel 5050 Dual Core Xeon CPUs clocked at 3.0 GHZ and 8 GB RAM. They support 64-bit code and Hyper-threading. I use the system to Run VMWare ESXi 5.1 in 64-bit mode and it works very well for the VMs that I have setup.

Hi toms987,

Is your ESXi 5.1 host virtualized?

I setup a virtual esxi 5 host via VMware Workstation 9. Under vCenter server, I added the esxi 5.1 host and created a VM for Windows server 2008 R2, but the Client Server VM won't even power on due to the error. I also have tried to create another ESXi 5 host with workstation 8 or 6.5-7 compatible mode, but still have the same issue.

I checked my CPU only support VT-x, but doesn't have EPT support, nor your CPUs.
Therefore, I just wonder how you are able to make it. Would you please give me more detail what you have done ?

Appreciate your help

Kris