vSphere "Move To" function

[RichardBrown]

Hi,

I have recently been looking into the new Move too feature from 5.5 i believe, but there appears to be a lack of information regarding the actual technical requirements and how it works (that i can find anyway). I assume that it uses the vMotion network in order to migrate the VM is this the case? In this case the non-routable vmotion network would need to be configured on each host in each location to allow connectivity within the same subnet. If it infact leverage's the vmkernel to establish a secure tunnel what ports are used to accomplish it.

If anyone has a design and/or documentation please point me in the right direction.

.....

[erikverbruggen]

The Move Too feature is sort of a shortcut which opens the correct action to move the object. For example, if you move a VM the another host it will start the migration wizard to vMotion the VM. If you move a VM to a folder it will start the migration wizard to move the VM to another folder.

So, if you are executing the first example to move a VM to another host the 'normal 'vMotion requirements are applicable.

[RichardBrown]

Thanks,

So if you are migration a VM live (Move To) from one vDatacenter to another the tunnel is established over the vMotion network? The reason I ask for confirmation is that a vMotion network can be layer 2 non-routeable but none of the documents i have read mention vMotion as a dependency on ensuring the Move to feature. In my example the 2 vDatacenters are on different layer 2 vlans therefore the "Move To" feature will not work because the 2 vMotion VLANs are disconnected.

Is there any documentation that describes this feature in more depth??

[erikverbruggen · Accepted solution]

In your case the 'Move to' feature will start a vMotion action and the requirements for vMotion are applicable. For ESXi 5.5, routed vMotion is not supported. ESXi 6.0 and higher do supported routed vMotion.

From the following KB article, vMotion migrations fail when using multiple VMkernel ports for vMotion in different IP subnets (2052...‌:

"When using a single VMkernel port for vMotion, all hosts participating in vMotion migrations must also have their vMotion VMkernel interface in the same IP subnet/VLAN."

It is not very clear in the documentation but there is a difference in the documentation of ESXi 5.5 and 6.0. The ESXi 6.0 documentation cleary states the requirement if you want to have vMotion routed across subnets.

vSphere 6.0 Documentation Center

"To have the vMotion traffic routed across IP subnets, enable the vMotion TCP/IP stack on the host. See Place vMotion Traffic on the vMotion TCP/IP Stack of an ESXi Host."

This can not be found in the ESXi 5.5 vMotion requirements.

vSphere 5.5 Documentation Center