moving vm to a different datacenter

[jl999]

I was trying to move a vm from one datacenter to the other. The destination has 2 host clusters, each with multiple hosts. All hosts connect to the same datastore cluster.

Tried this but got an error: must be on the same datacenter:

$vm | Move-VM -Destination $vmHost -Datastore $ds

But if I tried -Destination as $datacenter object, PowerCLI didn't throw an error:

$vm | Move-VM -Destination $datacenter -Datastore $ds

However, the when I looked at the vSphere Client, it showed an error:

The operation is not supported on the object.

What's the best way to move a vm to a different datacenter?

[LucD]

That is afaik a limitation, you can only migrate between clusters in the same datacenter.

I suspect the VM was powered on ?

See here for the limitations of vMotion

[jl999]

VMs were powered off. When manually moving them, I could specify which host and datastore to move to, then the VMs would be placed in the root of target datacenter folder. Then I could move them to the subfolder I specify. So it's a 2-step process if I do this through vSphere client.

[LucD · Accepted solution]

The alternative is to use the RelocateVM_Task method.

Something like this

$vmName = "TestVM"
$tgtDatastore = "datastore"
$tgtCluster = "cluster"
$tgtPool = "resourcepool"

$vm = Get-VM -Name $vmName
$ds = Get-Datastore -Name $tgtDatastore
$esx = Get-Cluster -Name $tgtCluster | Get-VMHost | Get-Random
$rp = Get-ResourcePool -Name $tgtPool

$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineRelocateSpec
$spec.Datastore = $ds.ExtensionData.MoRef
$spec.Host = $esx.ExtensionData.MoRef
$spec.Pool = $rp.ExtensionData.MoRef
$vm.ExtensionData.RelocateVM($spec,"defaultPriority")

[jl999]

Thank you Luc. Calling RelocateVM_Task works!

Jason

[touimet]

How would I run the RelocateVM_Task with something similar to -RunAsync??

Thanks!

[LucD]

Most of the API methods have 2 invocations, one with a _Task suffix and one without that suffix.

The _Task entry point is the RunAsync one.

[ioudas]

When I try this code in 6.0 I just get multiple errors.

$vmName = "MYVM"

$tgtDatastore = "TestSAN"

$tgtCluster = "GD SVRM"

$tgtPool = "Resources" - I notice i cannot define a resource pool for this DC.

$vm = Get-VM -Name $vmName

$ds = Get-Datastore -Name $tgtDatastore

$esx = Get-Cluster -Name $tgtCluster | Get-VMHost | Get-Random

$rp = Get-ResourcePool -Name $tgtPool

$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineRelocateSpec

$spec.Datastore = $ds.ExtensionData.MoRef

$spec.Host = $esx.ExtensionData.MoRef

$spec.Pool = $rp.ExtensionData.MoRef

$vm.ExtensionData.RelocateVM($spec,"defaultPriority")

Exception setting "Datastore": "Cannot convert the "System.Object[]" value of

type "System.Object[]" to type "VMware.Vim.ManagedObjectReference"."

At C:\movevm.ps1:12 char:1

+ $spec.Datastore = $ds.ExtensionData.MoRef

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], SetValueInvocationExceptio

   n

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExceptionWhenSetting

Exception setting "Pool": "Cannot convert the "System.Object[]" value of type

"System.Object[]" to type "VMware.Vim.ManagedObjectReference"."

At C:\movevm.ps1:14 char:1

+ $spec.Pool = $rp.ExtensionData.MoRef

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], SetValueInvocationExceptio

   n

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExceptionWhenSetting

Exception calling "RelocateVM" with "2" argument(s): "A specified parameter

was not correct: spec.location.datastore"

At C:\movevm.ps1:15 char:1

+ $vm.ExtensionData.RelocateVM($spec,"defaultPriority")

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : VimException

Any help would be appreciated.

[LucD]

It looks as if you have multiple ResourcePool objects returned, hence the "System.Object[]" in the error message.

If you have multiple vSphere server connections open (check $global:defaultviservers), add a Server parameter on the Get-ResourcePool cmdlet.