I want to move all of my VM's from my old IBM hardware ESX host to new DELL hardware ESX host which are on same network but on different datastore, can anybody explain me the easiest steps so that i can complete this task.
Hi,
are we talking about local or shared storage?
MCP, VCP
is the both datastore are in the same cluster than
when you right click on the guest, choose migrate. The third screen
will give you two options, one is Keep the other is move, choose move,
then next and finish.
If the datastore are not in the same cluster than
First thing you need to do obviously is make sure ESX can see both of your datastores.
Power off the virtual machine that you wish to copy.
SSH into the server using putty or like product.
go to /vmfs/volumes and go into the volume in which you want to move your data:
cd /vmfs/volumes/Datastore2
mkdir <Name of VM directory>
cd /
Now switch back to source datastore
cd /vmfs/volumes/Datastore1
cp . /vmfs/volumes/Datastore2/<Name of newly created VM directory>
Depending on the size of your datastore this obviously can take a very long time.
Now you have to register the new virtual machine
Go into virtual infrastructure, Click on the left the name of your ESX server, Go to the configuration tab.
From here go down to storage on the right hand column, double click the datastore in which you moved the VM.
Browse until you get to the folder that you moved. Find the vmx file right click on it and select add to inventory.
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thanks for your inputs
Iam running ESX 3.5, is it possible to use vmkfstools command in order to move the VMs
Vmkfstools is only for copying disk files. You can use SCP on the ESX console to copy all other files.
MCP, VCP
I suppose that your do not have vCenter Server.
You can use VMware Converter Standalone (if you want a simple tool) or your have to use scp between hosts (and you have to enable SSH for ESXi).
Andre
You can use vmware converter, it will be faster than fastvcp. Also you can avoid this trouble if you will use shared storage.