Hi,
i want to migrate or move 1 VM Linux machine running on Esxi 6.1 to another esxi 5.1 both esxi are separate and their Datastore also.
kindly assist me on this.
Just export it and import, you can't destroy anything this way, just leave the source off until its imported correctly.
You cannot migrate or power on a virtual machine created on a newer version of ESXi to an older version due to virtual machine hardware version difference.
You can use a tool like VMware vCenter Converter standalone to do this migration - VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Documentation
This is a free tool and does not come with any support.
is it possible to create VM in esxi 5.1 and copy vmdk and related files from esxi 6.1. will it work.
could you please recommend something using converter. i dont want to damage VM machine.
You should also note that both of those versions are also out of support - only 6.5 and later are supported now.
Just export it and import, you can't destroy anything this way, just leave the source off until its imported correctly.
Do realize though that some newer operating systems aren't supported in older versions so you may run into issues.
Even export and import would need HW downgrade first to make sure the machine works on the lower version ESXi server.
Yeah thats true, but looks steps in here may work
Brother i export VM Machine in OVF file and i change vmx-11 to 9 thats work. thanks for that. but now i want to reduce the size of vmdk file. server doesn't have that much space. i can export again after changing the properties but server on cloud and it has very low bandwidth. is there any way i can reduce vmdk file and its properties locally?
vmdk is 38 GB but allocated 600GB Thick Provision. want to reduce by 300GB
Options:
A:: best option but requires a brave admin - modifies existing vmdk and requires no extra space
- resize partitions inside the guest
- cut off the unused space after last partition with dd
- fix GPT or MBR with Linux LiveCD
B: second best - requires about 40gb of extra space
- create new thin provisioned disk and partition it as needed
- add new disk to existing VM
- move data from old disk to new disk
C: recommended by most admins
- use VMware Converter
- sounds like easiest variant but but is probably the trickiest in your scenario
You first should tell which vHW the VM is currently using.
Running a VM on 6.0 doesnt mean that the vHW of 6.0 is used.
Regards,
Joerg
i dont know the limitation of server right now. but during exort i couldn't change the size but ichange it to thin provision. now i can change the disk size. and rest of the thing will figure out. e.g. convert thin provision to think provision. not sure that server required or not. but i guess it will work. it just a drive.
Hi,
You can also do it like this:
ARomeo
Thank you all, i just export and import the VM machine, there was vmx-11 issue because of migrate newer version to older. work fine. there was another problem relate to storage. existing machine has 600GB thick provision and where i migrated was 500GB available so i just import it with thin provision. after that there was network hardware difference which is solved also by changing network file in linux machine.