Preparing for new install/migration

[sgorham]

My main environment is ESX 3.0.1 servers with VC 2.0.1.. I am planning on upgrading VC to 2.5 and then taking my 2 3.x servers, vmotioning the VM's from 1 to 2 (lets say) and then doing a clean install of 3.5 on server 1.. That being confusingly said, is there any tool that I can use to export my virtual switch settings from the server prior to wiping it clean? I know I can go through manually and document everything but that is very time consuming. Does anyone know of a way to do this? I would have through vmware would have something available to make this easy.

Thanks

[gary1012]

Don't know if this is what you want but try these at the service console:

esxcfg-vswif -l

esxcfg-vswitch -l

esxcfg-nics -l

[azn2kew]

You might want to look at Veeam product call Reporter here but if your environment is small I would manually keep track of the info in Excel spreadsheet. Using commands mentioned above will display basic settings only but can add " > /tmp/info.txt " so it will create a result in info.txt file and can open with Excel.

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Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems LLC.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[wgardiner]

That's the only way I know of doing it as well. But I'm sure you'd be able to script the re-configuration of the switches/ports/networks once the new server is built.

Does anyone know of a script floating around that will recreate your network settings based on a config file or set of parameters?

[sgorham]

Thats certainly something I would be interested in as well

[Yattong]

The file which holds this information is /etc/vmware/esx.conf

Scroll down to the /net/vswitch... section and you will see all of the switch configuration.

I have scripted all of my server builds, including all vswitch configuration.

If you need someone to do this for you, then I would be happy to do so at a charge.

However, I have posted sample scripts already on the forum which should be enough to see you through.

Good Luck

[Ken_Cline]

You might want to take a look at this VC plugin: http://www.lostcreations.com/code/wiki/vmware/viplugins/addportgroups

No guarantees, I have not used the plugin. Use caution, the plugin architecture provides a vector for attack, so test extensively before using in production.

Ken Cline

Technical Director, Virtualization

Wells Landers

VMware Communities User Moderator

[sgorham]

I have done a search for script and came up with a ton of irrelevent posts. Could someone link me to an example script to redo a virtual switch?

Thanks

[azn2kew]

Xtravirt also has this tools for VM you might need them in the future.

VMNetBac

Short Description: VMNetBac is a handy little utility which allows you to backup and restore the network configuration of your VM's. Designed for Windows 2000, 2003 and XP VM's it can be useful as a quick recovery tool when performing intrusive or mass upgrade type tasks where there may be a risk of losing network configurations.

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems LLC.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[skywalkr]

Did anyone ever find a slick way to do this?

We are planning an ESX rip and repave from 3.02 --> 3.5x as we need a CLEAN base and redoing the full vSwitch setup on multiple machines is painful to say the least. We really need some sort of clone or export and import on this part of an ESX setup.

Anyone know what happened to addportgroup plugin as well?

Later,

GC Mobley