virtualisation on dl380 g3 server

[colin essex]

Hi I have a dl380 g3 server 2x 2.8 intel xeon prcrs
Can someone tell me if I can & how to enable virtualisation in the bios my machine is running HP Bios P29 09/15/2004
do I need to upgrade the bios ? if so will the updated bios allow virtualisation support ?
I beleive its a 32bit machine..

thanks Colin

[wobbe]

G3 server don't support hardware assisted virtualization (intel-vt or amd-v). So there is nothing to turn on in the bios. You need a newer server like a G5 and perhaps the last models in G4 series.

[Matti_Kurkela]

Yes, it is a 32-bit machine. And it is too old to have hardware-level virtualization features (Intel VT): the earliest versions of those were introduced in 2005.

Comparing the HP QuickSpecs listing to Wikipedia's list of Xeon processor models, a DL380 G3 would have a Xeon version codenamed "Gallatin" or "Prestonia". These are too old to have the VT feature.

Sources:
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11473_div/11473_div.HTML
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Xeon_microprocessors

Upgrading the BIOS cannot give you the virtualization features, as your CPUs are too old to support them. Anyway, it looks like you're running the latest BIOS version that exists for your server model.

Even without the hardware virtualization features, the DL380 G3 can run some virtualization products, e.g. VMware ESX 3.5.0 and older versions. It just won't be quite as efficient as the newer versions using the hardware support.

http://www.hp.com/go/supportos (click for VMware and then check all the tabs)

MK