Move a datastore from ESX3.5 to ESX4

[vanak]

Hi there,

Here is the question :

I have actually 3 esx 3.5, with 3 datastore connected from a SAN and each datastore connected to all esx nodes, and some other vm running on the local datastore.

And, i have also 3 new esx4 nodes.

What i want to do : Remove old datastore without deleting vm from the ESX 3.5, and reattach them directly to the new esx4 nodes. The san connection is ok, im not afraid of this point.

I tried to remove simply the datastore through the vsphere client, but when you try to remove it, all datas contained on the datastore is deleted, its now what we expect !

The question : Is it possible ? and how ?

Thx for your answers

[AntonVZhbankov]

You don't even have to delete datastore from 3.5, just upgarde vCenter to 4.0 and add new ESX4 hosts to cluster, migrate VMs to new hosts, delete old hosts.

Less downtime, less problems. You can even VMotion VMs from 3.5 to 4.0 so downtime can be equal to zero.

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VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[vanak]

Ok for this point, i agree with you. But is there a way to do, what i excpected first ?? I mean, cleanly unmount datastores from the old esx, to map them to new ones ?

[weinstein5]

vSphere and VI-3 use the same VMFS version - there is no change to the datastore so there is no need to move the datastore. Just make sure the new ESX 4 server can see the existing datastores

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[AntonVZhbankov · Accepted solution]

Give new hosts access to datastores before you unmap them from old hosts. Make sure VM files are visible from ESX 4 hosts, unregister VMs from 3.5 (directly or just migrate VMs to 4.0 hosts) an only then disconnect datastores from 3.5

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VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[runclear]

it sounds like you need to simply rezone your LUNS,

you will need to rezone the lun to your new esx host, remove the "esx3" node to have access to "lun" and then "add" access to the "lun" for "esx4" node...

Once you unzone the lun from your storage system, - once you rescan "esx3" you will see that the datastore is gone, and when you "rescan" "esx4" you will see the datastore attached..

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[bulletprooffool]

Vanak,

If these are locally attached Disk (MSA 70 or something similar), you'll need to move the hardware and attach to a ready built ESX 4 bow . . be careful as building an ESX with disks attached from scratch can wipre the disks.

If it is iScsi / FC, you'll need to rezone the fabrics or do the Lun masking vchanges to make the storage visible to the ESX Host

If this is NFS storage, you need to make sure that the Exports are created in
nfsbox\c$\etc\exports

[vanak]

Thanks everybody, you've all been helpfull.

Cheers

[IsaacL]

Have you used VMotion with a MSA 70? I have one currently and have the dual domain support. Have you had much luck with this? THanks,