How do you move a VM running vCenter from one ESXi host to another?

[Nacht_Uhl]

How do you move a VM running vCenter from one ESXi host to another?

I am running VMware vSphere 4.1 Essentials with a vCenter VM running on one of the ESXi hosts that I want to move to the other ESXi host. Both ESXi servers have direct attached storage, so the VM has to be moved from one datastore to another without vMotion. And, the migration function is not available for a powered on vCenter VM in the VMware Essentials version.

Can I use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone to move the vCenter VM to the new ESXi host? Will the move be recognized and updated by vCenter

when the vCenter VM is rebooted?

Any suggestions on how this can be done would be helpful.

[JohnADCO]

vmotion?

If you don't have Vmotion, you have just have to browse the datastore on the new host add it to inventory and then power it back up on the new host using the basic infrastructure client loaded up for each host.

[JohnADCO]

Shared storage?

Just use the basic infrastructure client.    Just make sure you can see that lun on the new host.   then power down on the original host it's running and then browse the data store (lun) on the new host,  find the vmx file and add the VM to inventory.   Power it on, and answer I copied it in the summary window if prompted. 

[Nacht_Uhl]

I had an incomplete question get posted. I have updated the question

Are you saying that I should just copy the vCenter VM files to the new datastore, add the VM to inventory, and boot it. Will the vCenter VM recognize that it has been moved and update the vCenter database to reflect that it is on a new ESXi Host.

[JohnADCO]

No shared storage then?

If you have no shared storage?  The most common way is to use a USB drive. 

Generally when you have two esx hosts, they are hooked up to shared storage, both hosts should have access to all the luns on the shared storage, 

[Nacht_Uhl]

I think you are missing the point. I can copy the VM from one datastore to another by logging into the target ESXi host, browsing the datastore and uploading the VM files from the remote datastore. The problem is how will vCenter know that it has been moved and properly update its database.

[AureusStone]

In vSphere you would right click on the guest and remove it from inventory.

Then in the datastore browser for the host you are moving it to right click on the vmx file and click on register vm.

[Nacht_Uhl]

I think that I need more clarification:

My internal VMware environment:

--- VMware vSphere 4.1 Essentials (No vMotion Capabilities)

--- 2 x ESXi 4.1 Hosts with local Direct Attached Storage (DAS)

--- vCenter is running on a VM on the first ESXi Host

ESXi Host A

-- DAS

      VM-vCenter ---- Virtual Machine running vCenter

ESXi Host B

-- DAS

I want to move the VM-vCenter virtual machine from the Host A's DAS to the Host B's DAS and have vCenter recognize that the VM has been moved from Host A to Host B. Since I don't have vMotion or a shared storage the VM-vCenter can not be moved via vMotion or the migration function. So, the VM-vCenter has to be powered down, and manually copied from one ESXi Host A to Host B. Then I would have log in locally to Host A and remove the vCenter from inventory on Host A and add it to Host B's inventory. When you log in locally the vSphere client reminds you that the VM's are managed by vCenter and any changes you make can cause problems. So, I am trying to figure out how to move the VM-vCenter virtual machine from Host A to Host B and have the vCenter database recognize that it has been moved without breaking vCenter.

[JohnADCO]

I don't think you can because VC is not doing the move here.

When I do this in our environment?   I use a USB drive,  probably not an option if it's to big, but your Vcenter Svr would surely fit on the usb drive.

You give it a slightly new name for the VM on the second host then remove from inventory on the original host.  Pretty sure after that you could then name the VM back to the original name.

Are you worried about some scheduled tasks or something?   I think you may have to just set them back up.

Your delima makes the case for shared storage for sure.

[Nacht_Uhl]

I can copy the VM over the network so I don’t need the USB drive. Not even certain that a USB drive will be seen by ESXi, since I am unaware of USB support by the ESXi host. I would have loved to have a shared storage, but I could not get the owners to invest in the asset. They are short-term focused vs. long-term. I am going to test copying the VM and starting it on the second ESXi host. Hopefully, vCenter is intelligent enough to update the change automatically.

[Nacht_Uhl]

I was able to move the virtual machine VM-vCenter using VMware vCenter Converter Standalone. I used the convert function and copied the VM from the ESXi Host A to ESXi Host B. Then I removed the VM from inventory on Host A, and started the moved VM on Host B. vCenter was able to detect that it was moved from Host A to Host B. vCenter now displays the original VM-vCenter on Host A as an orphaned VM. I will delete the old copy in a week or 2 if I have no complications.

[Kapil84]

Hi,

Currently I am also in same situation. I have Virtual machine vCenter server but the ESXi host on which vCenter server machine is running is not sharing shared storage and I want to move my current virtual machine vCenter 5.0 server to another ESXi.

Please let me know how you manage to move vCenter virtual machine from one ESXi host to another ESXi host using convert function.

Can you provide me some document or steps so I can follow to move my Virtual vCenter server.

Regards,

KB

[Nacht_Uhl]

I used the vCenter Converter stand-alone and selected the convert machine button. The process is simple: Source System, Destination System, Options, and Summary. The help files are very useful if you have problems. Essentially, I moved the VM from Host A datastore to Host B datastore using the Converter Tool. An alternate tool is Veeam’s FastSCP 3.0, a free utility, that should be able to copy the VM between the 2 datastores without having to use the vCenter Converter. Unfortunately, the Veeam tool does not play well with a 64 bit OS, so I recommend installing and running from a 32 bit OS.

The move process is the following:

1) Shutdown the vCenter VM

2) Use the vSphere client and login to the ESXi Host A where the vCenter VM resides and remove the VM from the inventory. (DO NOT DELETE FROM DISK!)

3) Use the Converter, FastSCP, or alternate method to copy the vCenter VM from Host A datastore to Host B datastore.

4) Use the vSphere client and login to the ESXi Host B, add the vCenter VM to inventory, and Power On the vCenter VM.

In my environment vCenter was able to recognize the datastore move and automatically updated the information in vCenter. I kept the original vCenter copy on the Host A datastore for a few days in case I needed to restore the original environment.