Using OVF tool to move VM's between ESX hosts?

[efectorUS]

Hello all.......

Some of VMware's documentation reads like stereo instructions, and is confusing. I am wanting to copy some VM's(in their entirety, including configuration/network, etc), from one standalone ESX host to a second ESX host.

ESX1 holds the current VMs, and ESX2 is the destination. However, once everything is copied over, I am going to rename ESX2 to be ESX1, then take the original ESX1 off-line.

Can anyone help me with how to do this exactly? I've read the OVF tool instructions, but I do not see a "all" copy process which will move everything(including the configs) from one server to another. Everything I've read says to do it from the command line with the OVF tool. However, why can I not browse the datastore, and copy the folders down, then move them to the new server? (since the server will be renamed to be the same as the original, once it is off line).

Thanks in advance.

[weinstein5]

Welcome to the Community - You could use the OVF tool to export the VMs out of ESXi1 and then import them into ESXi 2 - my recommendation would be to use VMware Standalone Converter which will allow you to do a Virtual to Virtual (V2V) migration - you can find out more information about it here VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Documentation

[sridharece22]

Migrate the vms from esx 1 to exs2 first by using vcenter. esx 1 gets to offline and check your dns host record and pointer based on the name. based on your requirements change the name(IP Address verified through host esx before changing also vereiifed ADDS the same). otherwise check any configured cluster with FT enabled in under configuration tab then select software then security settings.If FT enbaled means disable the option and remove the cluster.

[BillWiggins]

I used the OVFTool, based on this article.  It worked great.

http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/06/how-to-copy-vms-directly-between-esxi.html

It was simplest if the Network Port Group is the same name, but the documentation describes how to use different switches to specify the correct parameters.