Migrate VM's from ESX5.0 to ESXi5.1

[TheSlider]

Our existing VM environment consists of an HP Bladesystem c7000 with 12 blades.  Each Blade is running ESX5.0 and we have a physical server running vCenter 5.0 managing the 12 hosts and their VM's.

The datastores are via a 10Gb connection to remote disks.

We are planning to replace the existing Disk system and do some major fabric and firmware upgrades to the HP Bladesystem c7000.  Whilst we are doing this we would like to upgrade to ESX5.1

We have got two temporary HP servers running ESX 5.1 and a VM running on one of these temp hosts with vCenter 5.1 installed.  The temporary ESXi hosts have a connection to the existing datastores and also the same physical network.

Now I need to move the VM's from the 5.0 environment to the new temp 5.1 hosts whilst we do the maintenance work on the Blade enclosure.

I have successfully removed a VM from the 5.0 inventory and added it to the 5.1 environment, but this method of course involves a shut down and and restart.  Some of the machines are critical servers that require minimal downtime.

Can the VM Update manager assist in migrating from one to the other or do I need to perform an upgrade of the existing 5.0 to 5.1 first?

[marcelo_soares]

If all ESX servers shares the same datastores, you can remove the 5.0 ESX from the vcenter 5.0 and then add itto the new/temporary 5.1 vcenter,and then vmotion VMs from the blades to the temporary ESXi servers. You will just need to configure vmotion vmkernel interfaces for that.

[AGDave]

It sounds like from your environment it would be possible to:

-Connect an existing blade to the new (temp) vCenter

-vMotion and then Storage vMotion VM's to a temporary host (no downtime), therefore clearing VM's off the blade.

-Upgrade the Blade

-Move back the host for the next batch of VM's/

[TheSlider]

Thanks for your responses.  Sometimes it is moments like this when you think, "Why didn't I think of that!"

I will try and follow your suggestions tomorrow.  I expect that I should use EVC before I move the hosts?

[AGDave]

To be honest with you I've just gone through the same thing, I just performed a vCenter+Host+Storage migration of our existing farm.

With regards to EVC - depends on the hosts. Which CPU's are on each box?

I didn't need to use EVC when migrating from older to newer hosts. All hosts were Intel CPU's, but my new hosts were obviously much newer. Bear in mind if you do enable EVC to facilitate moving your VM's they will need to be powered completely off and powered back on should you want to remove EVC from the cluster.

If you need to check, attempt a vMotion. During the validation stage it will let you know if there's an issue with CPU incompatibility.

Good luck!

[TheSlider]

Yes good point.  If nothing else it will be a learning curve for me.  Thanks for your help.  I'll let you know how I get on.

[AGDave]

These kinds of projects (migrations and the like) are excellent from an experience point of view. I too learnt a lot from doing exactly what you're doing.

If you encounter any issues do let us know .

[TheSlider]

I have removed one blade from the original vCenter, and I am in the process of adding it to the temporary vCenter.

First question is, What do I do about the licences?

In the wizard it asks if I want to enter a new licence or use the existing licence.  If I use the existing licence what will happen to the other hosts on the original vCenter that are using that licence?

The Temp vCenter is running on an eval license at the moment.

[AGDave]

Hi,

Is the existing license the key applied to the host when it was in the previous vCenter estate? I'm fairly certain nothing will happen to your other hosts if you decide to retain the license when importing the host into the temporary vCenter server. In fact, that's how I did it here to facilitate the migration of VM's from one vCenter estate to another. The license essentially just dictates the features you're able to utilise on the host or in the case of the vCenter license - the vCenter server.

[TheSlider]

Yes that is correct.

The original vCenter has two licences.  One for 16 CPU's and one for a further 8 CPU's.  Each blade has 2 CPU's.

I have removed blade 2 and am in the process of adding it to the temp vCenter.  Once in the temp vCenter the VM's will be vMotioned off to the the temp hosts. It will remain in the Temp vCenter for a week or so whilst we complete the upgrade work then I will move the VM's back to the blade and then return the blade to the original updated vCenter.

I am concerned that if I proceed that it will cause problems for the other 11 blades still on the original vCenter.  Is this a similar situation to yours?

[TheSlider]

OK I have just clicked NEXT and I see the following screen...

I am concerned that if I click "Use Key" it will cause problems with the other ESX's still in the original vCenter.