VMware Communities: Message List - Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mw4tkn — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:52:58 GMT

I want to use this tool to migrate my VC to another datastore, which itself is a VC. Does anyone see any problems with this?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

GlennBrett — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:09:52 GMT

nvm!

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

pp@pcsys — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:30:03 GMT

Hej
Jag har semester och är tillbaka den 10:e augusti.
Behöver ni hjälp med något, ring kontoret på 011-4708400
Ha en trevlig sommar
Med Vänliga Hälsningar
Peter Överhem

LAN Assistans
Skolg. 6, Box 1404
600 44 Norrköping
Dir: 011-4708412
Vxl: 011-4708400
Fax: 011-184515
www.lanassistans.se<www.lanassistans.se%20

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Itzikr — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:25:34 GMT

Hi,

will this plug-in work with vCenter 2.5 U4 or U5

Itzik Reich

Solutions Architect

VCP,VTSP,MCTS,MCITP,MCSE,CCA,CCNA

EMC²

where Information Lives

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Kosch — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:22:35 GMT

Many thanks for providing this GUI. This will save alot of time when doing storage consolidation excercises!

Works ok on ESX 3.5u4 with VC 2.5 (build 147633)

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

ccoagerdv — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:14:57 GMT

The problem is you cannot enable the plugin. As soon as you check the Enabled checkbox you get the error.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

gconklin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:25:22 GMT

If you're stuck using a proxy server, then use SSH Tunneling to redirect local traffic through your firewall. If only 80/443 ports are allowed out, then SSH to the external server through either port by having the external server listen on one of those ports. Viola!

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

ccoagerdv — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:58:57 GMT

With group policies enabled, this is not possible.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mickregan — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:04:46 GMT

okay so no disabling proxy.
have you tried bypassing the proxy for local addresses and/or using proxy exceptions?
the key point in my situation was that the proxy setting from ie were being used by either the plugin or the viclient.
I would find a way to bypass the proxy limitations of my network, rather than get a developer to change the way they determine proxy conguration.

Cheers

mickregan

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

ccoagerdv — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:36:13 GMT

Also getting the following error when attempting to enable the plugin:

The remote server returned an error: (407) Proxy Authentication Required.

Disabling proxy settings is not possible in some environments, mine is one of them.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

pscott-davis — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:35:41 GMT

I saw a previous comment about the 407 Proxy error when trying to enable the plugin but no real resolution. Our corporate policy prevents me from altering those proxy settings,

so I would really appreciate any information on what this plugin is trying to do, or how I might be able to work around or resolve this message.

Thx!

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Khue — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:47:21 GMT

Hey all,

New to the tool. I was wondering if the tool has the ability to run as a scheduled task? It would be nice to setup the option to do the activity during a lower I/O intensive time frame, without having to be around to manually do it. I just wanted to check before I actually use the product.

Thanks,

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

dougm — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:05:19 GMT

It has been moved to SourceForge.
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=228535

hope this helps

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mdinsmore223 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:48:42 GMT

I tested the PlugIn today, and the move worked fine, but the VM still shows that it is occupying something on the source LUN. There is no trace of it on the source LUN that I can see, but the VIC won't see that it only physically exists on the target LUN. This something others have seen? I looked at the trackers and I didn't see anything that was really like this. I did see some stuff about cleaning up, but I don't see any trace of the VM on the source LUN to clean up. Restarted the VIC client a couple times too, and tried it from different machines, and they all show that VM1 is touching LUN1 and LUN2, when it is only really living on LUN2. This is on the 'Summary' tab, btw.

We really need something like this, so thanks for putting the effort into it. I know lots people are appreciating your talents right now

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Ted Gertsch — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:04:27 GMT

COuld someone please tell me the best site to download the svmotion plugin from

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:58:30 GMT

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 27, 2009, at 3:51 PM, djpark <communities-emailer@vmware.com

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

djpark — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:51:14 GMT

Ha, that's absolutely true. I'll check with those in charge of SVMotion on concurrent storage moves.

And if no-one has told you this today let me just say, "YOU ROCK!"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:28:32 GMT

That's really a question for the inventors of SVMotion. The tool
simply calls the right APIs. Glad you like it

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

djpark — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:22:40 GMT

Just wanted to throw out our thanks for this marvellous tool. We've done nearly 30 SVMotion migrations for files that range from 10 GB to 300 GB without a hitch.

We have been doing these transactions serially, waiting for one to complete before starting the next. Would there be any concern about VMDK fragmentation if we were to start moving files concurrently to the same LUN?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

jmorrismjmc — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:28:10 GMT

Johnswb, I did something very similar recently. I still can't get it to work from any client workstation but I did install the plugin on my VI server directly and I can now vmotion from there. The plugins just don't work from a remote client.

Every time I try to enable the plug I get: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.

In the meantime I have a workaround.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Huston.CZ — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:05:32 GMT

Hi marvel akutz,

i have one problem, and so far i didnt found it anywhere else described. everytime i try to move virtual disk, or VM, i got error "operation is not supported on the object" and then, VI client crash totally. I am trying to move disk from stand-alone ESX 3.5 local storage RAID5 SAS to NFS NAS storage (on the same switch).

I tried to find some restrictions, and didnt found, if for storage vmotion is needed to have installed Virtual Center, or some another licenses.

I described my situation also at http://communities.vmware.com/message/1099879#1099879, if you are interested. Basicly, i need to move VM out, because i need reformat the VMFS partition, since i added som new hard disks to the RAID5.

i am still learning stuff about advanced maintaing ESX, so be nice

Or if it is really restricted because of some reason, would it be possible send me some edited "non-production" version to move these VM to NFS? Risk is on my own.;-)

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

johnswb — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:40:49 GMT

Hello all,

After upgrading VC to 2.5 build 119598 I get "Failed to connect to host." when I try to SVmotion using the plug-in. Has anyone seen this before? Does SVmotion use the console / vmotion network connections and if so, what port does it use? Or, does it migrate directly to the storage? Also, I'm running SVmotion 1.0 and my hosts are 3.5 U3. Not that U3 has anything to do with it because I have some running U2 that is not working as well.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

bill.french — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:41:09 GMT

No third party software needed for mirroring. The disks do need to be "dynamic" which might also require a reboot, I don't remember. We have fairly typically set up disks as dynamic from the get-go to allow for these sorts of situations.

Here's some more info:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323432

I've used this technique dozens of times, but svmotion (and akutz's plug-in) have made it basically obsolete, except in cases where you are concerned about snapshot growth.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mats82 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:29:49 GMT

how do you mirror the 2 seperate LUN's through server 2003? Is it done through disk management or a third party software?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

bill.french — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:36:56 GMT

I have done this with a 1TB lun:

Add a new 1TB drive on the new SAN/LUN

In windows, make the new drive a mirror of the old drive

Wait for the mirroring to finish and then destroy the old drive

You'll have to reboot at least once to remove the old drive(s) from the virtual machine, but at least the data got moved safely and without concern for snapshot growth. I forget how long it took, but it didn't really matter.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:19:17 GMT

I'm an enabler. You jump first and tell me if the ground is hard

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mpverr — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:09:17 GMT

WOW!!!

I spit my drink when I read your question.

My goodness - we certainly have not tried one that large, but we do use
smotion a lot. I would be very concerned about the delta file. While
you cannot take our metrics to be exact as there are so many variables.
But the ones we typically do are 50gig VMDK on a 2gig HBA and it takes
about 40 min or so depending on what else is happening on the
host/array. Something that large I would recommend an offline migration
or something. OR..... use something like vmconvertor that does a live
migration of a running system. Smotionn for 2tb..... count me out
<grin>

Hope this helps

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mats82 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:49:26 GMT

Has anyone tried svmotioning a 2tB LUN? Have you had any issues? Timeouts etc?

I need to svmotion an exchange server over 3 SAN LUN's with 40gig, 750gig and 2 tB. Just wondering how long i should expect it to take! Also how large the snapshot will grow whilst doing the migration

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mats82 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:25:41 GMT

got ya! I needed to move the vm as well as the disks to the host lun's. I didn't think that thing moved in the gui...

Thanks

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

jeangaud — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:20:34 GMT

I think I had this error when trying to move the disk of a VM. You need to move the whole VM to another location and submit.

Jean

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mats82 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:54:36 GMT

I'm not quite sure i understand...

I can do this through the cli using a batch file but not thru your plug in.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:05:13 GMT

Not the plug-in, it's the SDK. You're trying to do something illegal.
Work on Wallstreet much? : )

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mats82 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:56:07 GMT

it produces the following error "The requested Storage VMotion would move a virtual machine's disk without assigning the virtual machine a new home, but such a move is not supported on the source host '10.1.106.14'

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mats82 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:01:05 GMT

hi there,

Thanks for the great tool! I'm having a few issues however.. I can't seem to svmotion vm's with multiple drives onto different SAN Lun's on the destination source?

for example:

vm1

c: 20gig OLDSANLUN1 to c: 20gig NEWSANLUN1

d: 5gig OLDSANLUN2 to c: 20gig NEWSANLUN2

i can only seem to put both c and d drives on either NEWSANLUN1 OR NEWSANLUN2, not split them across the 2.

Any ideas?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mickregan — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:49:56 GMT

I just disabled all Proxy settings in IE7 and it started working.

Do you proxy internal traffic between clients and servers?

Cheers

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

chicagovm — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:07:38 GMT

I installed the MSI to my XP workstation as I use the VC 2.5 client.

The plugin failed as I get the following error when I try to check box ( enabled) .

" The remote server returned an error: (407) Proxy Authentication Required."

Do I need to install it to our VC server?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

J.Cousins — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:20:25 GMT

Just ran into a brick wall here... The VM being migrated with Storage VMotion contains an 20GB VMDK file and a physical RDM pointing to a 400GB SAN Based LUN. While all the files on the DataStore are well within the limits of the block size limitations, the SAN based RDM isn't.

There is a limitation within SVMotion where the size of the Physical RDM is being passed through and seen by VMware on the VMFS volume as the full size instead of the re-direction stub.

The effect of this is that the SVMotion won't be able to complete. There is then no option for the Virtual Machine to be able to be edited or be removed from the inventory.

Talking to VMware support we had to recreate the Directory (move the old data to a temp dir) manually copy back the real VMDK file, deregister the VM using vmware-cmd then re-register it. Also had to create a completely new VM pointing to the existing drives (VMDK file and RDM).

Quite a messy marathon, but fixable... manually and with the VM offline.

Now here's the twist.... SVM worked perfectly of an earlier VM that had 4 RDM's of larger size... which totally contradicts what just happened and the confirmation of the issue with VMware Support

Only difference on the configs is that the VM that failed was configured for a BusLogic SCSI controller...

This is real Twilight Zone stuff..

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Kindred UnixSupport — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:47:10 GMT

It has been moved to SourceForge.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=228535

Adam

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

YunghanLu — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:21:14 GMT

Dear Akutz:

I have problem to download the SVMotion Plug-in from the link you provide?

How can I download this Plug-in?

TKS

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mpverr — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:55:38 GMT

I don't think you can resize the window (bummer I know - but livable since it works great).

How many VM are you looking to move at once? We found that the loads on the fiber is pretty high when we do these and are leaning towards an offline migration since we have so many to do.

any thoughts?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

KidE — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:37:13 GMT

Well we upgraded last week to VC 2.5u2 and this morning i tested with the SVMotion plugin and it works splendid i must say

We are migrating about 1200 VM's from 1 storage array to the other and out service managers are gonna be very pleased to hear that they don't need to request downtime.

Great work man!

I just had 1 question:

Would it be possible that you can make the window resizable? it is now but only the outer edge resizes and not the contact of the window.

Gr,

Ernst

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mpverr — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:28:35 GMT

I just downloaded the version 1.0 as there was no mention of any other build. could you provide a link for the newer build? I have some 150 VMs i need to move to new LUNS and trying to use the command line svmotion.pl is horrible.

thanks!

ps - great job on this tool and SHAME ON VMWARE for not having this "simple" plug in available by now instead of waiting for VC 3.0

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

vmproteau — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:32:33 GMT

This is a great plugin. I read one post that this doesn't work with VC 2.5 Update 2. It was an isolated post so, I wasn't sure if it was accurate. Anyone use Andrew's plug-in with this version.

Andrew - If you're seeing this, have you tested with the new version of Virtual Center?

I'm going to migrate several VMs to new storage over the weekend. I'm considerign updating VC prior.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

jeangaud — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:52:38 GMT

I'm having the same issue when moving to a datastore when the VM is online.
No problem moving it when it's offline.

I will post the data set on your sourceforge website.

By the way, your tool looks very promising!
I feel i'm gonna like it alot!

Thanks

Jean

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

mcsenerd — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:35:16 GMT

This is a great contribution by Andrew...and it works like a champ when moving entire machines and their associated configuration information, but in an enterprise environment it is a necessity at times to locate VMDKs on different LUNs and storage devices on a regular basis. I just can't seem to get this GUI to allow this to happen. I get the same "The requested Storage VMotion would move a virtual machine's disks without assigning the virtual machine a new home, but such a move is not supported on the source host" - error that everyone else is. I shouldn't have to move the entire machine and I should still be able to relocate individual disks from a machine at will. I know I can do this very thing with the Remote CLI. I just found the sourceforge version of your plugin...so maybe that will correct my issue...but in any case...please accept my thanks for this greatly needed contribution to the VMware community.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Teovmy — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:38:17 GMT

Van vrijdag 11 juli tot maandag 11 augustus 2008 ben ik afwezig en kan ik uw mail helaas niet beantwoorden. Uw bericht wordt niet doorgestuurd.
Bij terugkomst zal ik antwoorden op uw mail.

Voor dringende zaken kunt u contact opnemen met de afdeling ICT.
telnr. 045-5736280

Met vriendelijke groet,

Roy Mikes
Mondriaan - voor geestelijke gezondheid,
Afdeling ICT

JF Kennedylaan 301
6419 XZ Heerlen

• 045-5736280
• r.mikes@mondriaan.eu<mailto:r.mikes@smzg.nl

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

iwant2knowwhois — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:43:06 GMT

OK..... I figured it out what i was doing wrong. What I was doing was selecting the Hard Disk and not the complete Guest. It seems that it is working now.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

iwant2knowwhois — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:22:08 GMT

what?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

iwant2knowwhois — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:09:11 GMT

I am also have the same issue as TXGeoff with the error message of "the request storage vmotion would move a virtual machine's disks without assigning the virtual machine a new home, but such a move is not supported on the source host"

I have also submitted the bug. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

pp@pcsys — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:13:12 GMT

Hej

Har semester och är tillbaka Måndag 5/8

Ha en bra sommar

//Peter

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

MF-NZ — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:29:34 GMT

hi, feedback is bit encoraging to try tools you have but few links are not working (eg - http://akutz.wordpress.comcode/wiki/vmware/viplugins/console) manage to download from http://vip-svmotion.wiki.sourceforge.net/ a zip and msi and installed on VC - restarted - nothing working. I do not see plugins installed. help plz.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Murr38 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:13:23 GMT

Great work! Very handy, and works like a charm for me.

Cheers.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

dotcom78 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:26:46 GMT

Hey akutz, great tool. Really good stuff. I have one problem that I'm hoping you might be able to explain.

What conditions cause the "migrate storage" menu item to be greyed out. I have one (and only one out of about 50) VM that when I right click the option is greyed out. The only strange thing with this VM is that it was removed from the inventory and then added back in. Would this have done anything?

Any help appreciated.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:08:01 GMT

The link is http://vip-svmotion.sourceforge.net/

--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Teovmy — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:35:24 GMT

Were to download it. I can not find it? Could somebody add the link?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

TXGeoff — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:06:10 GMT

Right. I was running an older version and just upgraded. The file is there now and I sent you a PM with the output.

Geoff

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:56:09 GMT

Look at the website. It is in your temp dir.

--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

TXGeoff — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:46:10 GMT

Are you referring to the svmotion XML file? If so, I can't find it anywhere on the machine with the plugin installed. Is this supposed to be generated all the time, or only on errors?

Thanks,

Geoff

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:46:10 GMT

Please send me the SVmotion data set, or better yet, post a bug on the
SF home page with the data set. I'll take a look. Thanks!

--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

TXGeoff — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:30:37 GMT

Sorry to be dense, but I'm missing something. I can use the Migrate Storage feature when the VM is not running, but as soon as I try it on any of my running VMs I get this error:

"The requested Storage VMotion would move a vitual machine's disks without assigning the virtual machine a new home,but such a move is not supported on the source host esx1.xxx.com"

What does this message mean?

Thanks,

Geoff

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:27:11 GMT

Hmmm. This might be a bug. I don't show RDMs, but I don't tell them to
stay the fark put either. I'll look into it. Thanks! Care to submit a
bug report on SF? Also, could you be a pal and attach the dataset that
gets written to disk so I can see what the tool thinks its doing?

--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

ccastaneda — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:12:54 GMT

I don't want to svmotion the RDM, just the VMDK the OS is on. I would imagine that svmotion would just ignore the RDMs. Your tool does only show the one VMDK and none of the RDMs, but when it tries to svmotion, I get the error.

A general system error occurred: Storage VMotion: Failed to create rdm for scsi0:1: Invalid argument (1441801).

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:57:10 GMT

svmotion of rdms is not supported

--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

ccastaneda — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:36:58 GMT

Does anyone know how to svmotion a VM with RDMs? The OS is on a vmdk that I'd like to svmotion, but RDMs should remain where they are. I get the following error message:

A general system error occurred: Storage VMotion: Failed to create rdm for scsi0:1: Invalid argument (1441801).

akutz, awesome tool by the way. So easy to use and teach the less technical savy.

Thanks,

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:47:12 GMT

glad you like it. it is comments like that that gives the me energy to
continue to develop free software : )

--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

doslager — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:38:57 GMT

Hi, I just downloaded the latest version and installed it and promptly svmotion'ed about 10 VMs. It worked perfectly! It couldn't have been easier. This plugin is awesome. This is the missing link to make svmotion work!

Thank you!

Dave O.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Teovmy — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:26:53 GMT

The link is dead. So I can not download it!

http://akutz.wordpress.comcode/wiki/vmware/viplugins/console

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

John Bergin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:43:13 GMT

This only works with 3.5 as this whole feature set was added in 3.5.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:43:12 GMT

SVMotion is only supported by VMware on ESX 3.5. Sorry.

--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

vmwareluverz — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:32:42 GMT

quick questions, is this only work with ESX 3.5 host or can it work with ESX 3.0.2? If not, how can i make it work with ESX 3.0.2 migrate to different datastore.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

John Bergin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:22:10 GMT

I just had one fail. It left the files in both locations but the vmtx apparently was still looking at the old location and not the new SAN Lun. I toasted the old vm and just added the drives to a new machine and it looks like everything is fine.

It would have been great but I didn't notice it failed until someone pointed out the app was offline this morning.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:10:07 GMT

Hmmm. I wish I could help I try to not let things get broke, that way I don't have to worry about fixing them : ) I haven't messed with deltas in a while, certainly not since SVMotion, so I don't want to tell you anything that will result in the corruption of your data.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:55:32 GMT

The dataset is stored in the temp directory. Check the SVmotion website for more information: http://vip-svmotion.sf.net/.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

jose_maria_gonzalez — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:52:10 GMT

Hi akutz,

Where can I see the dataset that gets written prior to an SVMotion operation?

Thanks,
rgds,
J.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Cruicer — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:51:00 GMT

The SVmotion starts and can get anywhere from 5% to 85% done, then fails. I am not saying the plug is causing it, as I am being told that this has been seen before in our lab using the command line as well. I am more so looking for a way to bring the delta files back in and get the VM clean again. I've download the new version, but still looking for a way to fix those that have the deltas.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:42:12 GMT

FYI - v1.0 has been released, I recommend using the new version.

we have had a few SVmotions fail

When do they fail? Is the progress bar already moving or do they fail
right away? The plug-in steps completely out the way once the SVMotion
operation begins. All the plug-in is doing is invoking an API call,
and if the call is invoked, the plug-in goes away. If you were using
the new version I could take a look at what you were doing by looking
at the dataset that gets written prior to an SVMotion operation.

I recommend trying the command line tool from VMware and seeing if you
get the same error.

--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Cruicer — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:33:04 GMT

The Plug-in works great when it works, however we have had a few SVmotions fail and then we re-try, now we are in a situation where we have delta files across LUNs. Here are some details

Have a VM that the disk list:
/vmfs/volumes/evads02-03-del/faame0182 and do a ll I see DMotion-scsi0:.........files as such.

-rw------- 1 root root 1107329024 Jun 17 10:26 DMotion-scsi0:00_faame0182-000001-delta.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 348 Jun 13 12:06 DMotion-scsi0:00_faame0182-000001.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 268488704 Jun 17 10:22 DMotion-scsi0:01_faame0182_1-000001-delta.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 352 Jun 13 12:06 DMotion-scsi0:01_faame0182_1-000001.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 2147483648 Jun 5 09:34 faame0182-07d93eb3.vswp
-rw------- 1 root root 26843545600 Jun 9 10:44 faame0182_1-flat.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 16106127360 Jun 9 09:35 faame0182-flat.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 8684 Jun 5 09:35 faame0182.nvram
-rw------- 1 root root 19708 Jun 5 09:31 faame0182-Snapshot3.vmsn
-rw------- 1 root root 402 Jun 9 08:11 faame0182.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 701 Jun 5 09:31 faame0182.vmsd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2641 Jun 17 08:54 faame0182.vmx
-rw------- 1 root root 264 Jun 17 08:54 faame0182.vmxf

When I nano the *.vmx file it lists:
DMotion-scsi0:00_faame0182-000001.vmdk

Now if I nano this *.vmdk file it lists:

Disk DescriptorFile

version=1
CID=fbfbe001
parentCID=4567b692
createType="vmfsSparse"
parentFileNameHint="/vmfs/volumes/46374ea8-4591ce5b-1922-0017087d41f8/faame0182//DMotion-scsi0:00_faame0182.vmdk"

Extent description

RW 31457280 VMFSSPARSE "DMotion-scsi0:00_faame0182-000001-delta.vmdk"

The Disk Data Base

#DDB

ddb.toolsVersion = "7172"

If I ll /vmfs/volumes | grep the UUID name 46374ea8-4591ce5b-1922-0017087d41f8....I get a different datastore as such: eva02dg2fc02-Going2Infra

If I go to that DS I see....

~~root@usspvesx0005 faame0182~~# pwd
/vmfs/volumes/eva02dg2fc02-Going2Infra/faame0182
~~root@usspvesx0005 faame0182~~# ll
total 42000512
-rw------- 1 root root 33587200 Jun 5 09:31 DMotion-scsi0:00_faame0182-delta.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 323 Jun 5 09:31 DMotion-scsi0:00_faame0182.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 16830464 Jun 5 09:31 DMotion-scsi0:01_faame0182_1-delta.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 26843545600 Jun 5 09:03 faame0182_1-flat.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 16106127360 Jun 5 09:03 faame0182-flat.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root 402 Jun 5 09:31 faame0182.vmdk

How do I fix this? If you note the Dmotion delta file date stamps are only changing on the first Datastore listed in the beginning of this message above.

Vmware recomendation was to run vmkfstools -i <orgional flat file name> <new clean flat file>, this worked for the first disk, but would not add in the deltas.

We are running your 0.4.4.0 SVMotion plug-in.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:59:15 GMT

Hate it for you, but glad it's not my plug-in's fault all the same : )
--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

jose_maria_gonzalez — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:50:16 GMT

Hi akutz,

You are right. I am getting the same error using VMware VI Remote CLI with svmotion.pl --interactive.

See attached below.

Thanks anyway.
rgds,
J.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:19:14 GMT

If the SVmotion operation starts at all my code is out of the way.
However, post the dataset that is written to the temp dir (read the
SVmotion website for this info) and I will take a look at what you
were trying to do.

--
-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

jose_maria_gonzalez — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:07:42 GMT

Hi akutz,

This is a great tool. much appreciated

I am just getting an error when it was at 9% which I have attached below

Thanking you in advance and sorry for the inconvenience

rgds,
J.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Cory_S — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:06:02 GMT

akutz,

I just downloaded the 1.0 plugin and installed using the MSI. Installed and enabled no problems, and I've already migrated a VM from one SAN to another with no problems. I'm going to be using this quite often now, I can tell already!! Thanks for all your work on this, is a great interface and a very useful plug-in.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:41:59 GMT

Version 1.0 of the SVMotion has been released at http://vip-svmotion.sourceforge.net/. New features include:

No longer protects against migrating VMs that have thin-provisioned disks.

No longer counts RDM files against datastore size, fixing the bug that plagued the last version.

SVMotion operations against templates are not supported since VMware does not support them.

Added tool tips that explain why a relocation cannot take place

All SVMotion events write out a log, enabling better understanding of what went wrong in case of an error.

Aside from the library that loads the plug-in, all of VMware's internal code has been replaced with the VI Toolkit for .NET.

The project is now supported by almost 20 unit tests, helping to ensure fewer bugs and greater stability.

The unit tests can be expanded to include testing for a system-resource supported number of servers since they use mock testing designed to work with the VI Toolkit for .NET.

The project is now built using NAnt, which allows nightly builds of the source, creates distributions, and builds the MSI installer.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

dougm — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:52:15 GMT

That sounds like a very nice feature. Complete with a little popup telling of the risks? Thanks again for this plugin. Just let us know when the new version is posted.

Thanks againI I know you have made this task a LOT easier for a lot of us.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

ccastaneda — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:01:52 GMT

akutz,

For my situation, I am NOT attempting to move from local storage to shared storage, but rather shared to shared. I am using the latest ESX build, 3.5 Update 1 (82663) along with your latest build of 0.4.4.0 and I get the grayed out "Migrate Storage" for what I believe to be the VMs with thin-provisioned VMDKs. We have about 80% thin-p'd VMs and 20% regular VMs, so there not esily distinguihable from within VC, other than the fact that I get the greyed out option for the majority of them.

Just wanted to know if you haven't built in support for the thin-provisioned VMDKs even though the ESX servers are corrected for the bug OR maybe I'm not doing something right?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

John Bergin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:45:11 GMT

I am very impressed! Thanks for all the hard work!

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:25:13 GMT

In an older version it worked. I am working on a massive overhaul of
the plug-in right now, removing all of VMware's internal library
references. Once that is complete the new version will have a switch
that lets you turn this feature back on.

-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

John Bergin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:59:06 GMT

So with an older version this worked? I would be willing to take the risk at this point.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

dougm — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:55:02 GMT

I used this plugin in to migrate to and from local storage several times at one of the last clients I was at. However, the last time I tried it, it was grayed out? ??? It is a VERY nice plugin!

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

ccastaneda — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:45:42 GMT

For some of my VMs I get the "Migrate Storage" option, while for most ot them it's greyed out. The majority of my VMs are thin-provisioned. Does this tool not support thin-provisioned VMDK files even though my ESX hosts are patched for the svmotion bug?

Thanks,

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

John Bergin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:31:10 GMT

Darn, I guess I will have to do it the old fashioned way. This does still work great for everything else.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

John Bergin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:21:10 GMT

I don't want it to break VMotion either. DRS has been a huge boon since I got that configured and finally getting the last images off of local storage (+/- 30) would be a big help. It is funny how no one is ever really willing to power off a system for even 20 minutes.
So Akutz this is working as designed then by being grayed out when selecting local storage?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

rick-vanover — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:16:25 GMT

Yeah, SVMotion as delivered from VMware will allow it through the svmotion remote CLI and right-click. But Andrew is not wanting to allow you to do something that may put you in a bad situation. Here here for akutz!

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

John Bergin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:11:12 GMT

It is grayed out for me when I choose VMs on local storage. I had hoped to use this plug-in to get everything off local storage and then mothball that for backups or other secondary uses.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:11:11 GMT

I don't want it to break VMotion...

-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

rick-vanover — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:07:44 GMT

I believe the official answer is that SVMotion is not supported for local storage.

But the real answer is that it works.

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

John Bergin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:01:11 GMT

Maybe this is a silly question but this software works like a champ for all VMs residing on SAN storage but it won't help me migrate from Local LUNs to SAN LUNs. Is that working as designed?

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

akutz — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:24:08 GMT

Thank you to everyone helping out people with the plug-in. I'm so busy
with the next version of the plug-in and the book that I have not had
time to frequent the forums lately...

-a

"condensing fact from the vapor of nuance"

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

dougm — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:18:40 GMT

NP. It is a very nice utility. I am hoping VMware will certify it and add this as a supported plugin .

Re: Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin - SVMotion

Randy_B — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:15:06 GMT

That's easy!!! Thanks!