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datadotcom
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Contributor

Transfer VMs esxi4 to esxi6

Good Morning,

I inherited a server with installed esxi 4 of usb key on the motherboard.

This configuration worries me a lot so I would take a new server on which to install esxi6 essential (HDD) and migrate the VMs from the old server.

What should I do (you have suggestions) to make the transfer from version to version esxi4 esxi6?

Thank You

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RichardBush
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Hi,

You mentioned the esxi installation is on USB, where are the Vm's located ?

if it was going to do this, and the VM;s are not on shared storage, i would power off the Vm's, browse the datastore from the vpshere client where they are located and download all from the datastore to my PC.

Once this is complete, upload all the files to the new ESXI box datastore and add the vm;s to inventory.

Another option would be to use an NFS share, if you have one, as you could mount that to both servers.

if they are on shared storage its easier, present the storage to the new host, power off on old host, add to inventory on the new host, power on.

Rich

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datadotcom
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Good Morning and thanks for the reply

the VMs are on the HD server (RAID 5), the physical server is only one.

So I can get into the datastore, download the VMs (esxi4) and do after uploading in the new server with onboard esxi6 essential and upload vms. This will work in spite of the different versions?

Thank You

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RichardBush
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Yes, i would advise upgrading the VMware tools and the hardware version once you have moved them onto the new server.

Another option if you would feel safer would be to use vmware converter to treat the vm;s as physical servers and import them into the new host.

Here is a good article with the different options: VMware KB: Moving or copying a virtual machine within a VMware environment This is 4 to 5 but the same principle.

Rich

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datadotcom
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Thanks for your help and information

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