Knowledge Base

To enable EVC on a cluster when vCenter is installed on a virtual machine running in the cluster:

1. Connect VMware Infrastructure (VI) or vSphere Client to the vCenter Server.
2. Create a new empty cluster which does not contain any ESX hosts.
3. Enable EVC on this new empty cluster.
4. Migrate all virtual machines off of one ESX host in the existing cluster.
5. Right-click on this ESX host and choose Disconnect to disconnect it from the vCenter Inventory.
6. Drag and drop the disconnected ESX host into the EVC cluster.
7. Right-click on the ESX host and choose Connect to connect it to the vCenter Inventory.
   
   This leaves you with an EVC cluster containing one ESX host.
   
   
8. Connect VI or vSphere Client directly to the ESX host which is hosting the vCenter virtual machine.
9. Right-click on the vCenter Server virtual machine and choose Edit Settings.
10. Click the Options tab.
11. Click General Options.
12. Note the location and name of the virtual machine configuration file (.vmx) on the datastore. This information is required in step 17 and higher.
13. Power off the vCenter Server virtual machine.
14. Right-click on the vCenter Server virtual machine and choose Remove from Inventory.
15. Connect VI or vSphere Client directly to the ESX host which is in the EVC cluster.
16. Browse the datastore which contains the virtual machine configuration file for the vCenter Server virtual machine (as noted in step 13 above).
17. Right-click on the virtual machine configuration file and choose Add to Inventory.
    
    This action adds the vCenter Server virtual machine to the Inventory of the ESX host which is in the EVC cluster.
    
    
18. Power on the vCenter Server virtual machine.
19. Connect VI or vSphere client  to the vCenter Server.
    
    You now have vCenter running in a virtual machine on an ESX host which is in an EVC cluster. All other virtual machines are running on ESX hosts which are outside of the EVC cluster.
    
    
20. To add the ESX hosts which are outside of the EVC cluster into the EVC cluster, the virtual machines need to be moved from each of those ESX hosts. You can attempt to migrate those virtual machines (while powered on) to an ESX host which is already in the EVC cluster.
    
    If this migration fails (for example, due to the EVC baseline configuration), power off the virtual machines and then migrate them to an ESX host in the EVC cluster.
    
    
21. Once all of the virtual machines have been moved from an ESX host, right-click on the ESX host and choose Disconnect to disconnect it from the vCenter Inventory.
22. Drag and drop the disconnected ESX host into the EVC cluster.
23. Right-click on the ESX host and choose Connect to connect it to the vCenter Inventory.
24. Repeat steps 20-23 for each ESX host in turn until all ESX hosts are part of the EVC cluster.