Move-VM between compute resources / datastores

[Skagnola]

In the near future, my environment may need to move 100+ VMs from one compute resource / datastores to a different compute / datastore. I am able to successfully test doing a single move like so:

Move-VM -VM testvm -Destination [destination host in the cluster} -Datastore [destination ds in the cluster]

However, if I want to allow vMotion to automatically determine what destination host and datastore to move the VMs to, what are the arguments and how to move these VMs? Also, if I want to set a move limit such that only 2 or three are moved at a time?

In the GUI, when choosing to migrate both compute / datastore you are prompted for the top-level cluster resource and does not require the specific host. The datastore it requires you to choose the store. 

I am fairly new to PowerCLI /PowerShell so any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[LucD]

On the Move-VM cmdlet you can specify a cluster for the Destination parameter.

Same for the Datastore parameter, you can select a datastore or a datastorecluster.

Normally the system will limit the number of parallel vMotions you can do.

You can also monitor the maximum number yourself from a script (there are a number of threads in this community on that subject).

It comes down to doing the Move-VM in the background (the RunAsync parameter), capturing the the Tasks and controlling how many you want to have running at the same time.

But again, the system determined maximum is the limit.

[Skagnola]

Thanks for the quick response. 

Right, I am able to get a successful move when specifying the Destination (specific host in the cluster) and Datastore (specific host in the ds)

Move-VM -VM testvm1 -Destination esx1-1p01-domain.com -Datastore data-esx1-storage1

However when trying to specify via a cluster name it will fail

Move-VM -VM testvm1 -Destination ESX1 -Datastore ESX1

"No host is compatible with the virtual machine."

Wondering if there is a 'long name' I might have to use when referring a cluster name. Also if there is a way to have PCLI automate the placement of the VM, maybe based on the one with the most available space, or if by a certain name in the datastore cluster?

[LucD]

Is DRS enabled in that cluster?

Yes, SDRS should do that for you, but that will not necessarily be the datastore with the most free space.

If you want that, you'll have to add that logic to your script I'm afraid.

[Skagnola]

Appears DRS is enabled on the destination cluster

vSphere DRS is Turned ON                                                                                                                                                   

DRS Automation

Automation Level

Fully Automated

 

DRS automatically places virtual machines onto hosts at VM power-on, and virtual machines are automatically migrated from one host to another to optimize resource utilization.

Migration Threshold

Apply priority 1, priority 2, and priority 3 recommendations.

 

DRS provides recommendations when workloads are moderately imbalanced. This threshold is suggested for environments with stable workloads. (Default)

Predictive DRS

Predictive DRS is disabled. vCenter will not respond to forecasted metrics from vRealize Operations.

Virtual Machine Automation

Individual virtual machine automation levels enabled.

[LucD]

Then there must be an incompatibility for the vMotion.

What does it say when you try to start the vMotion from the Web Client (and select the cluster, not a specific ESXi node).

Otherwise have a go with the script Matt gave in Re: vmotion -- dry run through powercli

[Skagnola]

When I use the Web Client, I am able to select the cluster with no compatibility issues. There is one when selecting a datastore

If this operation is performed, the virtual machine will lose vSphere HA protection. If you proceed with this operation and it completes successfully, "vSphere HA will not attempt to restart the VM after a subsequent failure. vSphere HA protection will be restored when any network partitions or disk accessibility issues are resolved.".

Of course, you can continue the operation despite the warning in the Web Client.

[LucD]

And do you have HA enabled on the system where the VM is running?

Does it work when you use the default resourcepool on the target cluster as the Destination?

$tgtClusterName = 'Cluster'

$rp = Get-ResourcePool -Name Resources -Location $tgtClusterName

[Skagnola]

And do you have HA enabled on the system where the VM is running?

Yep; looks like that is set.

vSphere HA Protection: Protected

.. where the VM is sourcing from.

I may not be crafting the script ( movevm.ps1 ) properly. See below for my syntax

$tgtClusterName = 'name'

$rp = Get-ResourcePool -Name Resources -Location $tgtClusterName

$vm = 'testvm1p01'

$ds = 'name'

Function Move-VM

    {

  -VM $vm -Destination $tgtClusterName -Datastore $ds $rp

    }

After running, nothing happens.

[LucD]

I'm not sure what the Function is doing there, but try something like this

$tgtClusterName = 'name'

$cluster = Get-Cluster -Name $tgtClusterName

$rp = Get-ResourcePool -Name Resources -Location $cluster

$vm = 'testvm1p01'

$ds = 'name'

Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $rp -Datastore $ds

[Skagnola]

Really appreciate the replies and patience, Luc!

Getting an error returned that seems kind of odd... as though the Move-VM does not like the cmdlet -VM.

Of note, I am crafting this in PowerShell ISE and getting this after saving the edits and then running the

=============================================

$tgtClusterName = 'K7C'

$cluster = Get-Cluster -Name $tgtClusterName

$rp = Get-ResourcePool -Name Resources -Location $cluster

$vm = -VM 'testvm1p01'

$ds = 'K7C'

Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $rp -Datastore $ds

==============================================

-VM : The term '-VM' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

If I run this from the commandline as the script file .\movevm.ps1, nothing happens.

[LucD]

I have the impression you also have the Hyper-V PowerShell module installed, and that module also contains a Move-VM cmdlet.

Can you check with

Get-Command -Name Move-VM

[Skagnola]

That returns

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source                                                                                                                                                                

-----------                 ----                                                    -------        ------                                                                                                                                                                

Function               Move-VM                                                             

[Skagnola]

And some more info about the PCLI install

PowerCLI Version

----------------

   VMware PowerCLI 6.5.1 build 5377412

---------------

Component Versions

---------------

   VMware Cis Core PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 6820716

   VMware VimAutomation Core PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 6234650

[LucD]

That si not right, that shoudl say Cmdlet for the PowerCLI MOve-VM.

Can you replace the Move-VM, in your script, with VMware.VimAutomation.Core\Move-VM ?

[Skagnola]

That comes back with

========================================

VMware.VimAutomation.Core\Move-VM : 12/8/2017 12:33:25 PM Move-VM Could not find StorageResource with name 'name'.

At C:\Users\Skagnola\Documents\movevm.ps1:9 char:1

+ VMware.VimAutomation.Core\Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $rp -Datastore ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (name:String) [Move-VM], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_ObnSelector_SelectObjectByNameCore_ObjectNotFound,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.MoveVM

VMware.VimAutomation.Core\Move-VM : 12/8/2017 12:33:25 PM Move-VM Destination is a Resource Pool owned by a Cluster, but the VM you are trying to move is not in that Cluster. Please select for destination a Host in that Cluster or a Resource

Pool owned by a stanalone Host.

At C:\Users\Skagnola\Documents\movevm.ps1:9 char:1

+ VMware.VimAutomation.Core\Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $rp -Datastore ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (Resources:ResourcePoolImpl) [Move-VM], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_VmHostServiceImpl_MoveVm_ResourcePoolOwnedByCluster,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.MoveVM

[LucD]

Ok, that is much better, we are at last using the Move-VM fomr PowerCLI.

There are two errors that the Move-VM reports:

1. You don't seem to have replaced the string 'name' with an actual datastorename.
2. The VM you are trying to move, is not located in a cluster but on standalone ESXi node it seems. That means that instead of the cluster, you will have to a host in the cluster.

Try like this (but do not forget to get actual names for the cluster and the datastore.

$tgtClusterName = 'name'  # <== Replace with the actual clustername

$cluster = Get-Cluster -Name $tgtClusterName

$esx = Get-VMHost -Location $cluster | Get-Random

$vm = 'testvm1p01'

$ds = 'name'              # <== Replace with a datastorename in the target cluster

VMware.VimAutomation.Core\Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $esx -Datastore $ds

[Skagnola]

Ok I think I can definitely do that. I had the correct entry in 'name' but redacted it from the output when I pasted it here.

For the part

$ds = 'name'        # <== Replace with a datastorename in the target cluster

Is there a way to add something like this with that variable

Get-Datastore | Where {$_.name -Like 'k7c-cml-brhev*'}

... and somehow have it moved to one of the resulting datastores, but based on most free space?

[LucD]

Sure, try like this

Get-Datastore -Name k7c-cml-brhev* | Sort-Object -Property FreeSpaceGB  -Descending | Select -First 1

[Skagnola]

Luc! That worked nicely for the single test VM!

So to make it even closer to the final task, going from a single column list of VMs C:\vms.txt, how would I tell this to loop over these lines, but then wait until the move is complete before doing another? Ergo, it will pull updated free space on the available datastores as it goes before proceeding.

Does there need to be a Wait-Task inserted somewhere?

$tgtClusterName = 'K7C'

$cluster = Get-Cluster -Name $tgtClusterName

$esx = Get-VMHost -Location $cluster | Get-Random

$vmList = Get-Content C:\vms.txt

$ds = Get-Datastore -Name k7c*-cml*-brhev* | Sort-Object -Property FreeSpaceGB -Descending | Select -First 1

foreach (in $vmList) {VMware.VimAutomation.Core\Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $esx -Datastore $ds} <================Don't think I have this syntax correct as it bombs out.