Importing a datastore with virtual machines residing on a SAN disk into ESX host 3.5

[Paul_K1]

Hi guys,

Just a quick question. I have built a ESX 3.5 U2 host and I want to import a SAN disk containing a datastore with several virtual machines which was originally running under a ESX 3.0.1 host. SAN configuration is completed. Is it a matter of scanning the HBA's and importing the SAN disk with the virtual machines?

Thanks,

Paul.

[lmonaco]

Configuration->Advanced Settings->LVM

Set enable resignature to 1

Remember also:

3.0.1 = VMFS v3.21

3.5 = VMFS v3.31

[christianZ]

I don't think you need to set "resignature" - just present your lun with the same lun id to your new Esx 3.5 host.

Have you there VC server also?

Is your old Esx 3.0.1 still there?

[depping]

No need for resignaturing if you present the same lun id to the 3.0.1 and the 3.5 host. And i wouldn't worry about the VMFS version. There's backwards compatibility in there.

Duncan

My virtualisation blog:

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

[Paul_K1]

Hi there,

Yes I do have VC available. The reason for importing the datastore is that I upgraded our VC to 3.5 U2 and now it won't connect to my ESX 3.0.1 host which is in a cluster. I can VI into the ESX host and see the virtual machines that are running but under the updated VC I get an disconnect status and when I attempt to reconnect it prompts me for a password and username for the ESX host. After entering the credentials it producing an error saying the ESX host cant be contacted. I can ping the service console of the ESX 3.0.1 host. Since I cant use vmotion to migrate the vm's to the upgraded 3.5 U2 ESX host which is in a new cluster under the one data center I see my only option is too power off all VM's and shutdown the ESX 3.0.1 host and import the datastore into the upgraded 3.5U2 host?

Thanks

Paul.

[christianZ]

With VC 2.5 you should be able to connect to Esx 3.0.1 - I think during your update (of VC) the VC agent on the Esx host wasn't updated (check with "vmware-update -l query", you should see "Vmware-vpxa-2.5...").

If you create another DC with Esx 3.5 then you must only present your lun(with the same lun id) to your new Esx 3.5 host (check if you can see the vmfs volume),

shutdown your vm and remove it from inventory (not from disk!!) in your old DC. Then you can register it in your new DC - done.

As Duncan mentioned the difference between vmfs versions doesn't matter (although I have created a new vmfs volume and moved/cloned the vms, but I needed additional space (temporary) for that).

Hope that's clear.

[dougdavis22]

Paul.K,

It might just be worth checking that there's a /tmp/vmware-root/ folder on the 3.0.1 box, as the host agent can fail to install if this doesn't exist. If you find it isn't there, just create it and then try to reconnect to your 3.0.1 host in VC.

Doug.

[Paul_K1]

Hi guys,

I checked the version of the agent running on the ESX host and it still running the old version 2.0.1. I have also checked the tmp directory for vmware-root folder and it appears in my console.

Regards,

Paul.

[dougdavis22]

Paul.K,

You could try manually uninstalling the host agent from the ESX box. Login to the service console either as root or sudo (depending on which you use) and run:

rpm -e VMware-vpxa

Once it's uninstalled, double-check the vmware-root directory is there and then try reconnecting your host again & hopefully it should get the latest agent installed without issues.

Doug.

[Paul_K1]

Hi Doug,

I have remove the agent and confirmed the presence of vmware-root folder in tmp directory. However I am unable to connect. The virtual center server seems to have an issue upgrading the vc agent on the esx host? Can I install the agent manually? Is there logs I can look at?

Regards,

Paul

[dougdavis22]

Hi Paul,

I picked the following up after a bit of Googling - might be worth a go:

• On the VC server, locate the upgrade folder under your VC server
  program directory. Open the bundleversion.xml file and look for the
  bundle ID that corresponds to your ESX version (ie. ESX 3.0.x = 6, ESX
  3.5.x = 7)

• Copy the appropriate vpx-upgrade file for your bundle ID to a temp directory on your ESX server (ie. vpx-upgrade-esx-6-linux-)
• Install the file by typing the following from the Service Console in the directory that you copied the file to: sh ./

• Once it completes restart the hostd and vpx
  services on the ESX host by typing "service vmware-vpxa restart" and
  "service mgmt-vmware restart"

• If your server still shows disconnected, then a reboot of the ESX server is usually needed to recover from this.

<span class="a3"> If the server still displays as disconnected, you can try manually installing the VC agent on the ESX server by following these steps:

I've never tried this myself, but it sounds like it could do the trick.

Doug.