Moving VCenter to a different host

[Sarogar]

I inherited a mess.

VCenter 6.5

Host1 ESXi 5.5

Host2 ESXi 6.5

Host3 ESXi 6.5

Currently VCenter is on Host1. The hardware for Host1 cannot be upgraded beyond its current version

How to I move the VCenter server from Host1 to Host2 or Host3?

I dont have the version of VMotion that would let me move it while it's on. If I power off than I would lose access.

Can I clone the vcenter server to another host? Or backup/restore?

If I can get VCenter moved to another host I would then upgrade it to 7.0 and then upgrade host2 and host3.

(I only have access through the ui interface due to the Adobe EOL).

Thanks for any advice

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

some more details may help in determining possible options.

What type/editions of licenses do you have?
What's the vCenter Server's exact build number, and is it running on Windows, or as an appliance?
What's the ESXi 5.5 host's exact build number?
Are the VM's stored on local, or shared storage?

André

[Sarogar]

VCenter is 6.5 build 5973321 running appliance (its on Linux).

The 5.5 host is build 3568722. This host is a HP Proliant DL360 G6, the other two hosts are HP Proliant DL360 G7

There is shared storage between the hosts but the VCenter server is on Host3 local storage.

All the hosts are on the same network and vlan.

I am not sure what type of license I have, I don't see where to find that info. (We are an edu)

[a_p_]

According to https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/rn/vsphere-client-65-html5-functionality-support.html your vCenter version should have the HTML5 client available at https://<name-or-ip>/ui/ and with vSphere Essentials Plus, or better, there's an option to live migrate VMs to another host even without shared storage if vMotion is configured.

To find out about the licenses, login to vCenter Server, and check the Licensing section under Administration.

André

[Sarogar]

I have access to the https://<name-or-ip>/ui/ . However, under administration there is no licensing section. I am logged in as an admin.

I logged into myvmware and it seems we only have VSphere Essentials, not plus.

Is cloning VCenter to another host possible?

[a_p_]

Options that I can think of are:

• backup/restore vCenter Server
• export/import vCenter Server as OVF/OVA
• use ovftool to copy vCenter to another host (see https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/06/how-to-copy-vms-directly-between-esxi.html)
• manually copy the vCenter Server's files to shared storage (using vmkfstools for the virtual disks!!!)
  High level steps: unregister vCenter Server from the current host, copy the VM's files from the command line, register vCenter Server on another host

André