move VM from production site to new Data center

[aiea96701]

what would be the best way to move some VMs from our production site to a Data Center located some distance away?   I was thinking about connecting a new host at the data center to our production site and then use Converter to import them into the host.  Would the distance be an issue?   It's about 50 miles away.

[DCjay]

Hello,

It depends on the network speed between locations. What I have done in most cases dependin on the size of the VMs;

1) Create a clone of the VMs to be exported

2) tar gz the VMs

3) create secure FTP in the destination

4) copy tar gz VMs o destination.

Second option is to export the VMs as OVA and import the OVA to the destination following step 3 and 4

Jay

[bulletprooffool]

This depends on the number/size of machines and your link speed

Remember, VMs are just collections of files, so you could duplicate these files locally and just ship them over on a disk drive, then re-import them at the destination.

Converter is a little over the top, as the VMs are already in the correct format.

If you have a reasonable link and are happ yto just copy the VMs, you could use something like FastSCP form Veeam : http://www.get-virtual.info/2011/01/20/essential-tools-fastscp/

This will allow you to connect to both Virtual Center's (if you are using more than one) and just copy the VM files to the destination.

[aiea96701]

thanks.  I was looking for a way to do it without making a purchase of Veeam or other software.   So, I could copy them to the local disk.  All of the files...vmx, vmdk, etc?  Or, could I convert the VM to template and just copy the template file....

I have been told I could convert to OVF but don't know how to do it.....I see there is an ovf tool.  I presume that's how I would do it.   Just looking for options w/o purchase.

And, if I don't have another vCenter to deploy....could I connect another host in production, migrate to the local drive and then move the host to the offsite location?  I guess I could do that.

[piaroa · Accepted solution]

With the vmx and vmdk files you should be fine. But just copy the entire VM folder.

Oh, and FastSCP is a free tool.

[aiea96701]

thanks. I'll use it/