Storage vmotion Nsx controller vm?

[kiran001]

We need to change the datastore  of the Nsx controllers vm,Can we just do storage vmotion or do we need to redeploy controllers?This is production environment .

[bayupw · Accepted solution]

See this KB: Procedure to migrate NSX component VMs between vSphere clusters (2148350)

The KB explains how to migrate NSX Controllers with/without shared storage and what to check before & after migration.

Source and Destination clusters have shared storage:

1. Verify on the Installation > Management page all three controllers are in a Connected state.
2. Verify the Controller cluster health status per pre-migration checklist.
3. vMotion the first Controller to the new cluster.
4. Verify Ping connectivity between the three Controllers.
5. Verify on the Installation > Management page that the migrated Controller is now in a Connected state.
6. On the Installation > Management page click on the controller node and verify Cluster/Datastore/Host reflect the new location of the Controller.
7. Verify the Cluster Status on each Controllers using the Post-migration checklist.
8. Repeat the Migrations Steps for the remaining Controllers.
   Note: The Controller vMotion will result in a brief disconnect and reconnect to the majority, this can be observed by running “show control-cluster history” following vmotion. The Controller master node will change following the migration.

The KB explains that you can vMotion the NSX controllers without redeploying it.

After the migration, you might also want to enable VM auto startup/shutdown as explained in the Deploy NSX Controller Cluster​ doc

If the controller node VMs are later migrated to other hosts, the new hosts might not have automatic VM startup/shutdown enabled. For this reason, VMware recommends that you check all hosts in the cluster to make sure that automatic VM startup/shutdown is enabled. See http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc%2FGUID-5FE08AC7...

[kiran001]

Thanks!