vMotion between 4.1 cluster and 5.5 cluster

[Whaler]

Our production now runs on a 4.1 cluster and on our old fiber-attached SAN with VMFS3.  We have 3 new, unused servers now in a 5.5 cluster with a new empty fiber-attached SAN with VMFS5.  Even though both these clusters have their vMotion networks in the same subnet, I don't believe vMotioning a live VM from old to new cluster is possible, mainly because 4.1 needs to be attached to both SANs.  Even with a VM turned off I don't think vCenter & vMotion is any help, and backup & restore of some kind is what's called for.  Am I right on all this?

I think what we should do is:  forget the new cluster, join the new 5.5 servers into the old cluster, use vMotion to migrate all VMs to the 5.5 servers but still located on the old SAN, cut loose the old 4.1 servers, add the new empty VMFS5 datastore, and storage vMotion the VM's to the new SAN (all done with the VMs running).  Not completely sure if 4.1 servers and 5.5 servers will work in the same cluster, but I think they can.  Old CPUs are AMD Opteron's and new CPUs are Intel Xeon's.  How does this sound?

Thanks for any advice....Lyle

[rh5592]

Hi,

For both scenarios, you wont be able to use vMotion since the 4.1 and 5.5 servers have different CPU brands. EVC only supports vMotion of VMs on the same CPU brand. You will have to poweroff your VMs and cold migrate between the intel and AMD servers. VMware KB: EVC and CPU Compatibility FAQ

Will you have a new 5.5 vCenter Server on the new environment or are  you planning to upgrade you existing vCenter Server? 

[Whaler]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that vCenter is already at 5.5.

....Lyle

[rh5592 · Accepted solution]

In that case, you can do the following:

1. Build a new cluster in the same vCenter server containing the 5.5 hosts

2. Ensure the new hosts can see the old SAN (you can also connect just one host which can act as a staging host)

3. Cold migrate the VM from 4.1 host to 5.1 host

4. Power On the VM and verify

5. use storage vMotion to migrate from old san to new san

[Whaler]

Cool.  Thanks, Rommel.....Lyle