VM /ETC

VMware has provided a new KB article to help customers planning for the implementation of the new vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT) feature. Administrators that are not sure of the ESX host processors and virtual machine (VM) operating systems supported in a vSphere Fault Tolerant configuration can quickly check compatibility as well as download a new utility to assess and report on a current vSphere infrastructure’s  compatibiility for FT at:

KB Article 1008027 – Processors and guest operating systems that support VMware Fault Tolerance.

The following image is a screen shot of the FT currently capable CPU hardware and operating systems to date. Be sure to check the KB Article directly for updates and additional links to the vSphere FT assessment process.

The KB Article also provides a link to a new SiteSurvey utility that generates a helpful report on a virtual infrastructure’s readiness to use FT. For a walk through on using this utility and some samples of the report check out:

New SiteSurvey utility from VMware checks for Fault Tolerance compatibility – Eric Seibert

“This utility specifically tests to see if the hosts in your clusters are compatible with the new Fault Tolerance feature. It is available as either a Windows or Linux download and once you install and run it, you will be prompted to connect to a vCenter Server.

Once it connects to the vCenter Server you can choose from your available clusters to generate a SiteSurvery report that shows whether or not your hosts support FT and if the hosts and VMs meet the individual prerequisites to use the feature. You can also click on links in the report that will give you detailed information about all the prerequisites along with compatible CPU charts. These links go to VMware’s website and display the help document for the SiteSurvey utility, which is full of great information including some of the following prerequisites for FT.”

The official VMware documentation containing the requirements and limitations of FT can be found in the PDF titled vSphere Availability Guide. Reading this document is highly recommended.

Need more general information about the vSphere FT feature? There are a few good videos worth watching.

Demo of VMware’s vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT) – This video will demonstrate the configuration and testing of the Fault Tolerance feature in VMware’s vSphere.

VMware Fault Tolerance and vSphere – VMwareTV “Meet The Engineer” YouTube video

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