How to "migrate" VM's or datastores from the other vcenter based on the other storage

[vwmagic]

We are planning on retiring a storage B/vCenter-B(Source), and before then, we have to migrate all VM's to Datastores on the storage A or vCenter-A (Target). Currently these two storages or vCenters are separated.

I am a storage admin, not VMware admin. Is there any way I can import all Datastores from Source to Target? If I can, then I should be able to do vMotion to move VM's from Source datastores to Target Datastores. Do I have to have downtime?

I'd appreciate it if somebody can outline steps in details.

[daphnissov]

Could you maybe better explain what your environment looks like along with versions of vSphere and how and what storage is connected where?

[vwmagic]

Thanks for your response.

For the Source where the VM's will be moved, we are still in investigating the details. But, the following is what I know of:
XIV storage using SAN (either FC or iSCSI for the datastores)
vShere 5.5Destination where the VM's need to be moved to:
NetApp NFS datastore
vSphere 6.0
Currently these two vCenter has no connections.

[daphnissov · Accepted solution]

There are a couple of options you can take:

1. Present the source storage to the destination ESXi hosts (or vice versa). Migrate the VMs using storage vMotion. At a cut-over interval, power down the VMs, unregister from source vCenter and register at destination.
2. Join the source hosts to the destination vCenter (it's unclear exactly what versions you have in which sites). Perform a migration that changes host and storage selecting the destination storage. There must be vMotion connectivity between source and destination hosts. Storage and CPU/memory will be transferred using the vMotion network.
3. Backup and restore VMs from source onto destination. Use a true backup tool that invokes VADP, not a datastore download and upload.
4. Export as OVF (last option). Import at destination.

[MohamadAlhousse]

Hi vwmagic​

you can use the below fling to do the migration:

Cross vCenter Workload Migration Utility

Regards,

[daphnissov]

MohamadAlhoussein​ that Fling requires at least vCenter 6.0 on each site to function. OP has stated one of his sites is on vSphere 5.5, so this will not work.

[vwmagic]

Thanks!

Does Option 2,3, or 4 require any downtime?

For option 2, Source hosts and Destination hosts have to have networking connections between them first, correct? if there are no connections now.

As supposed to Option 3, and 4 they don't have to have networking connections between them. Correct?

[daphnissov]

Does Option 2,3, or 4 require any downtime?

Options 3 and 4 both require downtime. Only options 1 and 2 do not.

For option 2, Source hosts and Destination hosts have to have networking connections between them first, correct?

There needs to be vMotion connectivity, yes, as well as the VMs being capable to resume execution on the destination hardware. Even if you have vMotion connectivity between source and destination ESXi hosts, if the CPUs are incompatible (or you're not using EVC), you may not be able to perform an online vMotion anyway.

As supposed to Option 3, and 4 they don't have to have networking connections between them. Correct?

Yes, there are no interconnectivity requirements in options 3 and 4.