Description:

This script utilizes VMware VIMA and the VI Perl Toolkit found in VMware VIMA.

ESXi is a formidable hypervisor solution in both licensed and free operation mode. When fully licensed in a Virtual Center cluster, ESXi's features (VMotion, HA, DRS, VCB, etc...) are indistinguishable from ESX. One feature of importance, VMotion, is used to perform live migrations of VMs that reside on shared storage from one host to another. In free operation mode however, ESXi hosts are independent of each other, in which case, useful features like VMotion become unusable.

The motivation for this script (ghettoQuickMigrate.sh) then is to provide administrators running the free version of ESXi on several hosts with the capability to perform Hyper-V-like "quick" migrations of virtual machines residing on shared storage between the hosts. VMware's VIMA virtual appliance was chosen as the central launch point for the quick migration process. ghettoQuickMigration.sh is executed from within VIMA and is compatible with ESXi 3.5u2+.

Excerpt from Hyper-V Quick Migration Document:

This script follows similarly to the Hyper-V Quick Migration process with the exception of replacing the disk resource swap with a virtual machine unregister/register command on the source and target hosts respectively. The state (powered ON/Suspended/OFF) of the virtual machine designated for migration is preserved through the entire process. Online virtual machines undergoing this migration will experience a temporary pause due to the suspend and resume steps.

Like VMware's VMotion storage requirement, virtual machines in environments where this quick migration script is employed must reside on shared storage between source and target hosts. The script will provide a list of validated VMs that fit this criteria. Unlike VMware's VMotion CPU feature requirements, this script does not validate and enforce source and target CPU hardware compatibility. It is up to the user to ensure that virtual machines designated for migration are compatible with both the source and target host CPU features prior to execution of the script.

Requirements

VMs running on ESXi 3.5u2+
VMware VIMA (virtual appliance)

Usage

ghettoQuickMigrate input parameters:

Usage: ./ghettoQuickMigrate.sh [-s SOURCE_ESX] [-d DESTINATION_ESX] [-i CONFIG_FILE_TO_OUTPUT] [-c CONFIG_FILE]

OPTIONS:
   -s     Source ESXi 3.5u2+ Server IP or Hostname
   -d     Destination ESXi 3.5u2+ Server IP or Hostname
   -i     Generate a configuration file
   -c     Configuration file to be executed

(e.g.)
    Generate configuration file
        ./ghettoQuickMigrate.sh -s himalaya.primp-industries.com -d olga.resnet.ucsb.edu -i migrationConf

    Execute configuration file
        ./ghettoQuickMigrate.sh -c migrationConf

Setup

Two default VMware VI Perl Toolkit scripts require a slight modification. On initial execution, this script (ghettoQuickMigrate.sh) will duplicate and modify the necessary lines of the two scripts. This operation will require the user to enter the password for their vi-admin account. Once entered, the following two scripts will be generated and stored in /usr/lib/vmware-viperl/apps/vm.
1) my-vmregister.pl
2) my-vmcontrol.pl

Prior to starting, ensure that the VMware VIMA host is managing the appropriate ESXi 3.5u2+ hosts (those that will be utilizing the ghettoQuickMigrate.sh script). The script uses VMware VI Fast Pass authentication to connect to the ESXi server(s). The following steps will demonstrate how to set this up prior to executing the script.

1. Add ESXi hosts to VIMA managment using vifp

A password prompt for the vi-admin account and root password to the pertinent ESXi host(s) will be presented.

[vi-admin@vima-primp-industries ~]$ sudo vifp addserver olga.resnet.ucsb.edu
root@olga.resnet.ucsb.edu's password:
[vi-admin@vima-primp-industries ~]$

2. Verify that the appropriate hosts are being managed by VIMA

[vi-admin@vima-primp-industries ~]$ sudo vifp listservers
olga.resnet.ucsb.edu
himalaya.primp-industries.com

3. Lastly, prior to running any of the RCLI or VI Perl Toolkits that utilize VI Fast Pass (not all can), run the following command on the appropriate ESXi host(s).

[vi-admin@vima-primp-industries ~]$ vifpinit olga.resnet.ucsb.edu

To remove a server from VIMA, use the argument “removeserver” on the host and provide the appropriate credentials.

Now, you're ready to begin!

Example execution

1. Initial script preparation and VI Fast Pass authentication

vi-admin@vima-primp-industries ~$ ./ghettoQuickMigrate.sh -s olga.resnet.ucsb.edu -d kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu -i migrationConf

VI Fast Pass "vifpinit" has not been executed for either "olga.resnet.ucsb.edu" or "kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu"!
Please run the following once prior to executing this script:

vifpinit olga.resnet.ucsb.edu
or
vifpinit kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu

You can check your environmental variables to ensure the following have been defined:

env | grep VI

VI_SERVER, VI_PROTOCOL, VI_PORTNUMBER, VI_SERVICEPATH, VI_USERNAME and VI_PASSWORD

vi-admin@vima-primp-industries ~$ vifpinit olga.resnet.ucsb.edu

2. Generating available virtual machine list

[vi-admin@vima-primp-industries ~]$ ./ghettoQuickMigrate.sh -s olga.resnet.ucsb.edu -d kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu -i migrationConf

Retrieving info from: olga.resnet.ucsb.edu ...
Generating virtual machine list (this may take some time)....

1)  quickMigrate-1
2)  quickMigrate-2
3)  quickMigrate-3
4)  exit

Please select VM(s) to be migrated (e.g. 1,2,3,4,5 or 1,2,3-5):

3. Confirmation of selected VM(s)

Note: The current configuration will be saved to the specified file if migration is not executed.

[vi-admin@vima-primp-industries ~]$ ./ghettoQuickMigrate.sh -s olga.resnet.ucsb.edu -d kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu -i migrationConf

Retrieving info from: olga.resnet.ucsb.edu ...
Generating virtual machine list (this may take some time)....

1)  quickMigrate-1
2)  quickMigrate-2
3)  quickMigrate-3
4)  exit

Please select VM(s) to be migrated (e.g. 1,2,3,4,5 or 1,2,3-5):
1-3

Selected VM(s):

1) quickMigrate-1
2) quickMigrate-2
3) quickMigrate-3

Please confirm the quick migration of the listed 3 VM(s) from "olga.resnet.ucsb.edu" to "kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu"? (y or n)
y

4. Execution of migration

--------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCE :: |olga.resnet.ucsb.edu|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
quickMigrate-1                                          [          ]
quickMigrate-2                                          [  queued  ]
quickMigrate-3                                          [  queued  ]

--------------------------------------------------------------------
TARGET :: |kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu|
--------------------------------------------------------------------


====================================================================
Migrating quickMigrate-1
Status: Suspending
0/3 VM(s) migrated -- 3 VM(s) left to migrate

5. Migration progress for each VM will be updated on the screen

--------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCE :: |olga.resnet.ucsb.edu|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
quickMigrate-2                                          [####      ]
quickMigrate-3                                          [  queued  ]

--------------------------------------------------------------------
TARGET :: |kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
quickMigrate-1                                          [ migrated ]


====================================================================
Migrating quickMigrate-2
Status: Unregistering
1/3 VM(s) migrated -- 2 VM(s) left to migrate

--------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCE :: |olga.resnet.ucsb.edu|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
quickMigrate-3                                          [  queued  ]

--------------------------------------------------------------------
TARGET :: |kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
quickMigrate-1                                          [ migrated ]
quickMigrate-2                                          [########  ]


====================================================================
Migrating quickMigrate-2
Status: Resuming
2/3 VM(s) migrated -- 1 VM(s) left to migrate

6. Migration completed

--------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCE :: |olga.resnet.ucsb.edu|
--------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------
TARGET :: |kalina.resnet.ucsb.edu|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
quickMigrate-1                                          [ migrated ]
quickMigrate-2                                          [ migrated ]
quickMigrate-3                                          [ migrated ]


====================================================================
3/3 VM(s) migrated


Start time: Mon Jan 26 00:58:34 PST 2009
End   time: Mon Jan 26 01:00:00 PST 2009
Duration  : 1.43 Minutes