ESXi host migration failed

[bigneo07]

Hi All,

I would like migrate ESXi 6.0 which is currently connected to vCenter 6.0 to new vCenter 6.7. What I do is disconnect ESXi 6.0 host from vCenter 6.0 and remove it. Then, I connect ESXi 6.0 to new vCenter 6.7 but failed. Refer to attachment. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help

[scott28tt]

Moderator: Thread moved to the vSphere area.

[Lalegre]

Hey bigneo07​,

That issue you are facing is because the ESXi host is part of a VDS which is managed by the source vCenter Server so when you remove it the configuration still exists in the ESXi to provide network connectivity but it can not be synced with the vCenter for the administration.

In this case what you should do first is the next:

1. Create a new VSS
2. Migrate at least one vmnic to that VSS
3. Create the portgroups with the same VLAN ID that you are using on your VDS.
4. Migrate the VMkernels and the Virtual Machines to the VSS portgroups.
5. Disconnect the ESXi from vCenter Server.
6. Remove the ESXi from vCenter Server.
7. Connect the ESXi to the destination vCenter Server.
8. Migrate everything from the VSS to the VDS of the destination vCenter.

Follow the next procedure: https://vwud.net/2016/01/04/migrating-from-a-vds-to-a-vss/

I know the procedure is for old versions but the only thing that change is the UI all the procedure is mostly the same. Pay attention because that procedure is from VDS to VSS, then for going back to VDS you can do everything from the Add and manage hosts option inside the VDS.

If you have any doubts let us know!

[bigneo07]

Hi @Lalegre

Hi thanks for the reply.

For steps 1 until 4, I need to do in old vCenter or in ESXi host?

Create new VSS for all VM?

[Lalegre]

Exactly you need to do that before changing the vCenter, it is the cleanest way to do it.

And yes you need to create a new VSS or use an existing one.

[bigneo07]

Hi Lalegre​

I have migrated my ESXi host to new vCenter. When I want to add host in vDS, it show incompatible? Any idea?

[Lalegre]

Hey bigneo07​,

This is probably because of the version you created for the VDS to be much more updated than the ESXi.

Try to delete the VDS and create a new one with version 6.0.0.

[jburen]

Or upgrade your host to a version that is compatible with the version of the VDS.

[NathanosBlightc]

Create another VDS in the new vCenter server (6.7) but choose version 6.0.0, then you can add your ESXi host to this new one. You cannot add older versions of ESXi to a newer VDS.

BTW you should always specify what do you want to do with the orphaned distributed vSwitch (a proxy vSwitch remains from the configuration of an old vCenter that your ESXi was part of it before) otherwise, you will see warning/error like this until you fix it