Is this migration plan possible??

[tom12010]

I'm finally planning our vSphere migration etc.

We have 3 hosts (e1, e2, e3), e1 has a lot of local storage upon which VMs can run for a while.

Can I do the migration this way??

0. Back up essential VMs, have as few running as possible (VC server, mail server, citrix/timekeeping software servers), estimated downtime, if any, should be only a few hours on a Saturday/Sunday

1. Move essential VMs to local storage on e1, disconnect it from the SAN temporarily (or not??)

2. Power down the e2 and e3 hosts, leave e1 running so the essential VMs are working etc.

3. Configure our SAN to know about its additional storage drives awaiting usage, these could become an additional LUN

4. Install vSphere to e2

5. Use vCenter Client to login, get e2 to see the SAN, set up a vCenter Server VM, get this vCenter server VM going

5a. Where I'm stuck is that I only need to have the new vCenter server talk to the remaining ESX 3.5 host, e1, long enough to storage vMotion its VMs one at at a time over to the new vSphere setup on the SAN, and convert them to vSphere VMs one at a time

How would I best go about this?? Should I create an additional temporary VM within e2 with an ESX 3.5 standalone license server in it, what?? Or does the 14-day grace period without a VirtualCenter Server allow me to move VMs off the ESX host??

I expect after 5 and 5a are done, I could shut down e1, set up e3, thus having a 2-host cluster, then I could do e1...

Most everything I've read so far more or less assumes one can take downtime, but never specifies how much.

I can do a few hours' downtime if I upgrade during a weekend, I think the 14-day "grace period" kicks in for the e1 host if it knows it has no VC to talk to.

But if I have a Virtual Center Server 2.5 running locally on e1, after I set up the new vSphere vCenter Server 4.x upon one the e2 host that has had its vSphere set up and patched, I should be able to readily bring in the e1 host's VM to the new vSphere cluster, correct??

I am thinking about all this because I would rather do clean installs than upgrade the hosts, also I have to use full vSphere rather than 4i for the short term.

Thank you, Tom

[chad_sanders]

Tom,

Let me see if I can help as I have gone through this exact thing. First off is this the same SAN that will be used on the new vSphere install? If so you can simply power them off and remove the VM from inventory from the old VC server and add to inventory in the new vCenter server, no need to move VMs around. In regards to your licensing of Virtual Center, through the licensing portal you will have access to vSphere licensing that will not be 3.5 aware which will allow you to run both environments in order to facilitate any migrations as needed. The option I gave you of removing from inventory then adding to inventory in the new vCenter is exactly what I did and then you simply upgrade the tools on the VM. Let me know if I did not answer your questions.

Chad

[tom12010]

Wow

This is better than I expected.

Yes, the same SAN will be used all the while, no changes to the vmfs per se, just telling the SAN it has 600 GB more storage.

If I understand you correctly, all I need to do is:

1. Move essential VMs including the VC 2.5 VM to e1, all local storage

2. Power down e2 and e3, remove them from the inventory of the e1 VC 2.5 server

3. Install vSphere to e2 and e3 hosts, get them to see the SAN, set up a vCenter 4.x server

4. Go back to e1, remove all its VMs from its VC 2.5 inventory

5. Jump back to e2, add all the e1 VMs into its vCenter 4.x server's inventory, then storage vMotion them back to the SAN, then upgrade the VMs to become vSphere VMs, this is where the downtime comes in, to upgrade VMware Tools, upgrade their virtual hardware...

I don't know SANs well enough to know if I can add storage/LUNs/etc. while its VMs etc. are running.

Thank you, Tom

[weinstein5]

The classic migration path is:

1. Upgrade virtual center to vCenter 4.0 - vCenter 4.0 can manage bith ESX 3.x and ESX 4.0 hosts including having them coexist in the same clusters

2. Upgrade the ESX Servers - this can be done either manually or via update manager if you so choose - vmotioning the vms off before you upgrade

3. Upgrade the virtual machines and update vmware tools - this is the only step that will require some down time of the VM - basically a reoot to ocmplete the install vmware tools and the upgrade of the virtual hardware -

You might want to look at this as you prepare to move forward -http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40_u1/vsp_40_u1_upgrade_guide.pdf

If you are adding additional storage fo your SAN this can be done independently of the upgrade -

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[tom12010]

I think I lost my reply?? I hope I'm not double-posting...

I asked all this because I want to do new/clean installs of as much as possible -- new vSphere host installs, new vCenter Server VM install, then bring in and update the other VMs --- AND not lose anything, not have too much downtime, a few hours is okay.

For example, will I need an ESX 3.5 license server running to bring in the ESX 3.5 VMs from the ESX host?? I should think not...

Thank you, Tom

[weinstein5]

Then what I would do is build a new VM and install vCenter 4.0 - remove the ESX 3.5 hosts form your 2.5 VC and add to the new vCenter 4.0 - this can be done with no down time of the virtual machines - once all the hosts are in the new vCenter environment vmotion the VMs off a host to one of the others -remove it form the inventory and bring it down - install a fresh instance of ESX 4.0 - bring the new ESX 4.0 back up and add it to vCenter 4.0 inventory - vmotion the vms to the new host emptying one of the other ESX 3.5 hosts and repeat the previous steps untill all hosts are up to ESX 4.0 - Once the ESX servers are at 4.0 you can now upgrade VMware tools and the virtual hardware - these changes will not take affect until you reboot the VM and this will be the only outage for the VM -

Some notes to keep in mind-

• You will need to disable DRS/HA and remove the hosts from the cluster before you rmeove them from VC 2.5 environment

• You will need to keep your VC 2.5 VM running as long as you have a an ESX 3.5 server running because I am assuming it is also running the VMware licensing server the ESX servers are using - once all the hosts are up to ESX 4 you can shut it down

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