How do I transfer guest to another host on ESXi6.0 without vCenter Server.

[mantaroh]

Hi there.

We are planning to transfer the Linux guest VM to another ESXi6.0 host.

We have two ESXi6.0 hosts:

* Host A ( The Linux X is in this host machine).

* Host B

Note that: We don't have a VMWare vCenter Server. (So we can't use the VMotion.)

We want to move the Linux X VM to the Host B. However, I'm concern about the disk space of Host A.  The Linux X uses 3TB disk spaces. (This is a database) The available disk space of Host A is 40GB. So I think that we can't clone and the snapshot of this Linux X guest.

Is there the way to transfer guest VM to another host?

[GayathriS]

If the Linux VM is on same datastore which is accessible by both Host A and Host B .

You can try to un-register VM and re-register VM on another host.

Similar discussions are here :
Move a VMware VM from one host to another WITHOUT VMware vMotion

Please mark this as "correct" or " Helpfull" if this answers your query.

regards

Gayathri

[MikeStoica]

Take a look at these also: https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/06/how-to-copy-vms-directly-between-esxi.html & http://www.virtualizetips.com/2010/04/15/how-to-move-a-vm-without-vcenter-or-storage-vmotion/

[HassanAlKak88]

Hello,

can you advise if there is a shared storage between the two Hosts ?

[mantaroh]

Thank you for your answer.

Unfortunately, We don't have a shared datastore, each host has independent datastore. i.e., The datastore A is Host A, the datastore B is Host B.

[IRIX201110141]

Whats your Backup product? Something Veeam Backup&Replication can help here.

Otherwise

• Install a new Linux VM on Host B and migrate the Database
• Buy a Essentials Bundle for 450,- and you can migrate the VM (needs to be shutdown of course)

Copy a 3TB VM with the help of "scp" was not an option of me.

Regards

Joerg

[khaliqamar]

you can use vmware converter.

[HassanAlKak88]

Hello,

So I prefer to use the OVFtool, for more info check the following: Release Notes

Please consider marking this answer "CORRECT" or "Helpful" if you think your question have been answered correctly.

Cheers,

vExpert2019||VCIX6-NV||VCAP6-NV||VCP-NV-DC-CMA||

@KakHassan

linkedin.com/in/hassanalkak

[IRIX201110141]

Hmm.... Converter with Linux

Exporting and Importing a 3TB VM with ofvtools?

Thats what i calling fun

Regards,

Joerg

[Buddhika01]

Use Veeam for Backup and restoration. i believe that this will help to reduce the transfer time.

[continuum]

Do you have a Linux VM that has ssh access to both hosts ?
If not - any recent Linux LiveCD can be used.
Read my reply to  Re: Migrating 98TB VM
This is the only procedure that I am aware off which has resume-capabilities if it dies along the way.
I highly recommend this approach for any large vmdk-files.
Ulli