Moving vCenter VCSA (compute/storage) from Cluster A to Cluster B

[WDGNet]

I have created a new vSAN enabled cluster and have migrated all the VM's from the old infrastructure, to the new vSAN-enabled cluster.  The original cluster was using vSS and the new vSAN cluster used vDS.  I was going to do this offline, but wanted to make sure my process is correct.  I am a little unclear on how to handle the vSS currently setup on the vCenter VCSA and moving it to the new vSAN cluster than uses vDS.  The port group that the vCenter VCSA uses is currently not identical to the port group that it will be using on the vDS side.

Here is what I am planning on doing.  Will this work, moving from vSS to vDS?  Should I create a dummy vSS port group (with no uplinks since I have none available) on the source side with the same port group name for management as the destination side?  I want to make sure that when I power the VCSA up on the new cluster, with new networking, it doesn't complain and blow up on me.  Thanks guys.

Step 1: Shutdown

Shutdown the vCenter server after making a note of the host and datastore it is on.

Step 2: Remove from the inventory

Connect with vSphere directly to the host it was running on, right-click the vCenter server and choose “Remove from Inventory.”.

Step 3: Browse

Browse the datastore it was on and single click the folder which has the vmdk's and vmx in.

Step 4: Download

Click on the "Download a file from this datastore to your local machine" and save it somewhere you will remember.

Step 5: Browse new datastore

Connect with vSphere directly to the host you want it to run on and browse the datastore of the disk/raid you want it on.

Step 6: Upload

Single click the root of the datastore and click "Upload files to this datastore" and select the previously downloaded folder.

Step 7: Add to inventory

Once the file is uploaded go into the folder on the datastore and right click the VMX file and choose "Add to Inventory".

Step 8: Assign resources

Follow the on screen instructions. This will be asking you for Name of the server and resource pool.

Step 9: Yes I moved it

When you turn on the VM you will see a message saying msg.uuid.altered, click on "I moved it".

[WDGNet]

So I went ahead and followed the directions above but ran into an issue.  I was unable to copy one of the -flat.vmdk files (105Gb).  It was almost like it was in a copy loop or something.  Sometimes it would recopy at 80%, sometimes at 93%, etc.  No rhyme or reason apparent to me.  Anyway, that process didn't work so well for me so had to back track a bit.

So I eneded up re-adding to inventory the VCSA on the original host/storage for now.  I did clone the VCSA before I did this and placed it on the new vSAN storage/hosts.  I then compared the MAC on the clone and it was different from the original.  I'm tempted to shut down the VCSA, remove from inventory.  Then go to the VCSA Clone, manually change the MAC to match the original and power on and see what happens.

Any other ideas on how to get this vCenter Appliance over to it's new home?

[mhampto]

The clone and change of the MAC would work around the copy issue.  Not sure what is preventing the copy if a clone is working.

[WDGNet]

I did not end up going this route.  Instead, I upgraded on of my hosts from 5.5 to 6.5, changed vmk subnet on source host to match subnet on destination host and was able to migrate online.

Here's the thread for that process:

Can vmware converter be used to migrate vCenter 6.5 VCSA?