migrate a server between two esxi hosts without shutdown of the server?
Is there any way to migrate a server between two host without shutdown of the server? The two esxi hosts have no shared storage and they run version 6u2. Any advice on this?
What's required to do this, is at least Essentials Plus licensing. This will allow to "Change both, host and storage", i.e. allow live migration without shared storage.
diegodco31 True, but this method will cause the VM to be shutdown at the final stages so it can be started on the destination host, which is what the OP hoped to avoid.
Thank you!!! Currently I am still using evaluation copy. The license we have is vcenter server6 essentials for vSphere. Can the evalution take care of this process?
If you are still in the evaluation process of vCenter Standard and ESXi Enterprise Plus (not Essentials), provided you have configured vMotion on these hosts then yes, it would be possible to migrate a VM non-disruptively between two hosts without shared storage.
Both esxi and vcenter are on evaluation copy currently. How can I verify the feature for vMotion without storage. I do not see that specific name. I only see vMotion and X-switch vMotion. Do they include the feature for vMotion without storage?
There is no feature called "vMotion without storage" it's just built into vMotion. If you don't understand the basics of what vMotion is or how to set that up, please refer to the product documentation for vSphere or the countless blogs that are available for a complete walk-through of that process. And in my opinion, VMware Converter is not an appropriate tool for this type of migration.
With vMotion configured on both hosts (I recommend using a dedicated physical network adapter), you will have the option "Change both, host and storage" in the migration wizard (right click the VM, and select Migrate).
