Isaac Dontje Lindell Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 I've got a Dell PowerEdge with a 2.8ghz Nocona Xeon. It's 64 bit, with hyper-threading, but I'm pretty sure it does *not* have Intel Hardware Virtualization. (Can anyone confirm?) I think this because I could not get Hyper-V running under Win Server 2008 R2 Core to start a VM (it says that it can't start the hypervisor service). So, I'm thinking about trying VMware ESXi instead. However, I can't find any information that states whether ESXi requires the processor to provide hardware virtualization support. Does anyone know if it does? Are there any other specialized processor requirement that this processor lacks? thanks, Isaac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted August 1, 2010 Veteran Share Posted August 1, 2010 do you know how many power edges dell makes? can you be a little more specific, there are only several thousand models to choose from. you could try this... www.google.com dell poweredge xxxx virtualization technology option replace the xxxx with your model number, the virtualization technology option is set in the bios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyF Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Have you checked your BIOS settings? I've noticed that PowerEdges tend to have virtualization disabled by default, so you may have virtualization support and just not have it enabled. I believe we tried tried ESXi on a PowerEdge 1850 once that did not have virtualization support. It installed and ran, but it was only able to host 32-bit OSs, not 64-bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasandoro Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 I can confirm ESXi does NOT require hardware virtualization to work. You might have issues running 64-bit guests, depending on your processor revision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
]SK[ Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 I think cpuz will tell you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Dontje Lindell Posted August 1, 2010 Author Share Posted August 1, 2010 do you know how many power edges dell makes? can you be a little more specific, there are only several thousand models to choose from. you could try this... www.google.com dell poweredge xxxx virtualization technology option replace the xxxx with your model number, the virtualization technology option is set in the bios. I didn't think it mattered, since I gave the processor information. It's a PowerEdge 2850 Have you checked your BIOS settings? I've noticed that PowerEdges tend to have virtualization disabled by default, so you may have virtualization support and just not have it enabled. I believe we tried tried ESXi on a PowerEdge 1850 once that did not have virtualization support. It installed and ran, but it was only able to host 32-bit OSs, not 64-bit. I looked around in the BIOS and didn't find anything. Doesn't mean it isn't there, but I'm pretty sure I looked in every menu. SK[' date=01 August 2010 - 00:30' timestamp='1280644238' post='592980348]I think cpuz will tell you? It currently has Windows Server 2008 Core, which is essentially command line only. GUI programs, with a few exception, do not work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicane-UK Veteran Posted August 1, 2010 Veteran Share Posted August 1, 2010 Not sure if this link will work but.. VMware Compatability Guide VMware publish a HCL for all their products. Have a read and you'll know whether VMware ESXi is supported on your hardware :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Dontje Lindell Posted August 1, 2010 Author Share Posted August 1, 2010 Not sure if this link will work but.. VMware Compatability Guide VMware publish a HCL for all their products. Have a read and you'll know whether VMware ESXi is supported on your hardware :) Perfect, just what I needed. The entry for the 2850 says that it does support ESXi, so I think I'll go ahead and try it. One interesting point in the HCL entry, though, is that is says that the 2850 has a Prestonia/Gallatin series processor. According to Wikipedia, those series where 32 bit. However, the 2850 that I have has a 64bit Nocona series Xeon. Well, I shall try and see what happens! Isaac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrCheese Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 It requires hardware Virtualization support for 64bit guests. So without it, you will be limited to running 32bit guests, so no 2008 R2 for you :p Was slightly annoying when I installed it on some EOL servers at work for testing and discovered this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Dontje Lindell Posted August 1, 2010 Author Share Posted August 1, 2010 It requires hardware Virtualization support for 64bit guests. So without it, you will be limited to running 32bit guests, so no 2008 R2 for you :p Was slightly annoying when I installed it on some EOL servers at work for testing and discovered this Ah well, I was planning for it to be mostly Linux based guests anyway. I wonder if it's possible to dual boot ESXi and another OS. Most the guest OS's that I want to install are for testing and development, and don't need to be running all the time. It'd be nice to be able to boot up in Win Server when I don't need the VM's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted August 1, 2010 Veteran Share Posted August 1, 2010 the 2850 does not support hardware virtualization within the bios. no 64 bit guest os'es for you. vmware will run on it just fine though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharpGreen Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 <snipped> I wonder if it's possible to dual boot ESXi and another OS. <snipped> I'm sure it is. I mean if you can run it from a flash drive (which is what I'm doing) then I don't see why dual booting it would be impossible. Also I to can confirm no VT is required, since if it was..theres no way I'd be running on my netbook :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbba Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 The cpu you've specified is 64bit capable but does not support hardware virtualisation. Dual booting would be possible by having separate boot drives and changing the boot device order, eg: windows on a hdd and esxi on a flash drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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