vRA 7.3.1 move an esx cluster to a new vCenter. Whats the correct process?

[qc4vmware]

We have a situation where we need to create a new vCenter and move one of the esx clusters that houses vRA managed vm's to this new cluster.  I'm curious what the correct order of operations is for this?  I'm assuming that the move from one vCenter to another is going to break the uuid link that exists currently between the vCAC:VirtualMachine and the vCenter vm?  I've yet to have to deal with this situation and my searches are not uncovering any good documentation on it.  I could unmanage all the vm's in the cluster then do a bulk import once we've migrated everything but I'd prefer to keep things in place if possible hoping the data collections will sort it out.

Thanks!

Paul

[daphnissov]

Eeek. That's going to (probably) be a painful process on 7.3.1. You may need to remove from management and import. I would probably recommend you open an SR with GSS to see if they have any behind-the-scenes scripts they can offer to re-map those entities for you, because otherwise I think that's what you're facing.

[qc4vmware]

Thanks.  That is what I was expecting.  We'll see if anyone else has past experience.  I'll open up a case to see what support says!  If anyone else has gone through this I'd love to hear from you!

Paul

[carl1]

You can certainly do a cross-vcenter vMotion (just make sure the user has reservations on destination) but it sounds like you are planning to destroy the original vCenter.  Not sure what happens to the UUID's of those VMs when you do that.  Also not sure if linked mode during the transition is possible for you as the vMotion requires it.

Carl L.

[unhappyvra]

Easy-peasy, already did it:

1) build a new vCenter

2) build a new cluster

3) install new vRA Agent and connect it to new vCEnter

4) Create reservation, network/profiles for new vCenter/cluster (hint - you need to use new portgroups (don't use names of previous portgroups!)

5) start cross-vmotion for your boxes (well, here is the trick - you need to update reservation + network profiles -- Orchestrator has OOTB "Change Reservation" workflow, just modify it a little bit)

When you migrated box to the new vCenter/Cluster + updated reservation - run "Data Collection"

Profit!