Move VCSA 6.7 to new host

[connector1]

Hi,

I need to move the VCSA from one host to another.  Local storage is used to host the VCSA.  I'm using v6.7u1.  I found this KB:

VMware Knowledge Base

This part of the KB seems to fit what I need to do:

Moving vCenter Server when the hosts do not have shared storage

To move vCenter Server between hosts when storage is not shared, perform one of these options:

Note: These options require the MAC of the virtual machine to be manually set. For more information, see Setting a static MAC address for a virtual NIC (219).

• Clone vCenter Server from one host to another:

1. Select the vCenter Server virtual machine from the Inventory.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and click Clone.
3. Select the destination ESXi/ESX host.
4. Power off vCenter Server on the source host.
5. Power on the vCenter Server virtual machine on the destination ESXi/ESX host.

• Export vCenter Server as an Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF):

1. Connect the vSphere Client to the ESXi/ESX host running the vCenter Server virtual machine.
2. Power off the vCenter Server virtual machine.
3. Click File > Export > Export OVF Template.
4. Connect the vSphere Client directly to the destination ESXi/ESX host.
5. Click File - Deploy OVF Template.
6. Power on the vCenter Server virtual machine.

Has anyone tried either of these?  Any issues if so?  Both seem straightforward.

Are there any other options I should try instead?

Thanks, and any advice is appreciated!

[RajeevVCP4 · Accepted solution]

Yes it will work

[connector1]

Thanks RajeevVCP4​ I'll try one of the solutions next

[larstr]

connector1,

What you suggest will work, but if possible it would be much easier to do a storage+host vmotion to the new host. It would also not involve any downtime to your vcenter.

Lars

[kenbshinn]

This seems like a lot of work when you could just do a storage+regular vMotion, unless your VCSA appliance is on a host that is not being managed by the VCSA appliance which would mean that vMotion is not an option.

[connector1]

Hi,

Thanks for the idea on vMotion.  I did think of that, but I'm having some issue with it.  I figured it was because I'm using the VCSA itself to vMotion itself to the new host.  The new host is part of the datacenter too, so I thought it should work.  It's a new setup, so I probably have something miss-configured somewhere, but it's not show stopper right now either, just something I have to look into once I have some time.  Never enough time...

Anyway, I think the export is going to work.  Just getting back to it this morning.  Thanks for the replies!

[kenbshinn]

Just remember, if your VCSA was thin provisioned, and you go to export it, it will not longer be thin provisioned and it will expand during the export of the VM. So make sure you have enough storage to be able to support that.

If you just went with a Storage vMotion it would keep it thin Provisioned.

[larstr]

connector1,

If the old host and the new host can see a common datastore you can move the vcenter disks to this storage even if vmotion isn't possible. Then you can power down vcenter, manually register it on the new host, start vcenter again and you will be ok.

Lars

[connector1]

RajeevVCP4 the export/import worked fine - thanks for confirming this!  larstr, kenbshinn I spent some time trying to figure this out, why vMotion won't work for me, but had no luck.  I'll have to look into this more.  It's just my config, something is wrong somewhere.

kenbshinn, the comment on space, well it actually didn't expand, but thank you for the heads up.  It did grow a little, 10GB's, but the disks didn't fully inflate to their max's.  Maybe it's something new in 6.7?

larstr, move the storage comment, thanks, didn't think of this.  It's all done now, but good thought!

Appreciate all the replies - thanks everyone!   I'm all set and on to figuring out the vMotion issues next, when I have time :smileygrin: