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nmedard
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

copy vm

Hello,

I have some VM(can have more than one disk) that are on a stand alone esxi 4.1.

I need to move these VM to a cluster, manage by vCenter.  The esxi there are 5.1.

i need to move it via the network. 

Do you know how to do the copy?

Thanking you in advance

Regards

Nicolas

11 Replies
schepp
Leadership
Leadership

Hi,

you have several possibilities, like just copy the whole VM folder from the old servers VMFS to the new datastore.

Or you can export it as OVF and import it in the vCenter: In vSphere Client select the powered off VM and choose File -> Export.

Tim

CoolRam
Expert
Expert

You can add your old esxi4.1 to VC and start datastore migration to newly esxi5.1 host .

This you can do it cold migration method also. it will  be fast.

Power OFF the VM and then migrate those VM.

If you find any answer useful. please mark the answer as correct or helpful.
schepp
Leadership
Leadership

This is only possible when the ESXi has a paid license. If it's the free hypervisor license or some essentials kit, you can't add it to the normal vCenter server.

Madmax01
Expert
Expert

HI theire,

Just Theoreticly Idea:

are you're esxi5 already Productive?  if yes. is it possible to release 1 from Cluster?  Idea would be to downgrade that License of 1 Host to 4, so then you could join the old Host into VC and doing migration to the other Host.

if you finished, you could upgrade license again.

Best regards

Max

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SavkoorSuhas
Expert
Expert

Export the VM to OVF and import the same on the new ESXi.

Suhas

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Rubrik

manmohanbisht
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Exporting VM's to OVF or OVA is best option in your case. you may need to reconfigure NIC cards.

ch1ta
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Or use Quick Migration provided in Veeam Free. It allows you to migrate VMs between hosts, datastores or both.

The workflow is pretty easy - add both hosts to a backup console, select VM, as well as, destination hosts/datastores it should be migrated to, and start migration.

Cheers.

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DeepakNegi420
Contributor
Contributor

The VM import and export will always be an option for you but depending on your storage configuration in your environment I believe you can make it more easier for you. If there is a possibility of your 4.1 host and 5 farm can use this as common storage , then you should be adding your 4.1 hosts to 5 vCenter and do VM hardware update>VMtools update>Storage vMotion and ETC.

1- Create a new cluster in 5.1

2- Leave HA and DRS off

3- Add the 4 ESXI host to new cluster

4- SVmotion and Vmotion the host to desired cluster ( You may have uncheck Nic or remove from VM if you don't have same VLANS available in the desired cluster but I'd prefer you create a new VLAN even if it is not trunked to physical NIC of ESX hosts)

5- update the VM hardware  and tools

Note- You need to review your ESXi 4 license or you can utilize your existing V5 licenses and speak to to VMware I believe it should be backward compatible.

Regards, Deepak Negi
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nmedard
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hello All,

Thank for you answer.

I talk to my Team Leader and advise me to do it like thsi

1.Create a directory on the destination DS

2. power off VM

3. Connecte SSH to source host

4. go the the vmfs directory of the VM

5. SCP * root@1p_destination_host: /location_of_the_directory_created_in_step_1

6. Then, register the .vmx to the vcenter

This will copy all item found in the source VM folder to the newly created folder in the destination folder

Thanks

Nicolas

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sakthivelramali
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi

you can export it as OVF  and you can use

Thanks

Thanks Sakthivel R
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Omega201110141
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi!

There can be different ways to address your query/problem, depending on the complexities and intricacies involved you can take a suitable approach, one of the method which I can think of is to use vCenter Converter to v2v the VM's to the new cluster.

** If you found this note/reply useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful" ** Rehman Memon follow me on twitter @RehmanMemon
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