Cluster migration from one vCenter to another

[Arkady]

Hello,

We have a cluster under vCenter A which runs on Cisco Nexus 1000v distributed switch. This cluster (all ESXi hosts and VMs) has to be migrated to vCenter B keeping VMs alive if possible.

I know that host can be removed form the vCenter with live VMs and added to a new vCenter but not sure about a distributed switch

Looking for options/advises

Our vCenter is 5.1

Thank you in advance,

Arkady

[Gortee · Accepted solution]

The switch really makes this process hard.  You best bet it to do the following process:

1. Take one nic from source host and connect to a standard virtual switch

2. Move all vm's to stanard switch

3. Remove second interface from 1000v virtual switch (may require walking management out of virtual switch)

4. Move hosts with vm's to new vCenter

5. Migtate virtual machines to new switch

I know this process sucks but the virtual switches are a construct of vCenter and don't cross vCenter.    The other option is to wait for vSphere 6.0 and use new vMotion to solve this issue.  With new vMotion this should be a right click and wait process assuming both source and destination ESXi host have the same vlans.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Joseph

[Arkady]

Hello Joseph,

Thank you very much for the answer.

Did you actually use this process?

Arkady

[Gortee]

We do a number of migrations like this all the time.  The process does work.  You do loose any unique config in vCenter, this just moved virtual machines.   The walking host networking out of the virtual switch does introduce a small interruption to management networks and required console access.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Joseph