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ITTropolis
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Move VMs from ESXi 4.1 host to ESXi 6.7 host

Hi:

Can I move VMs from an ESXi 4.1 host to an ESXi 6.7 host using vCenter Converter Standalone?  Is this supported?  If not, ideas to get the VMs off the old host h/w?

Thank you!

Bob H.

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Alex_Romeo
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Hi,

If your host runs 6.7 u1, you can move them with the vmware vCenter converter, which should automatically adjust some settings for you. The vmware tools remain to be updated.

If you need to import them on a 6.7 u3 host, you need to export the "ova" file and import it on the 6.7U3 version and manually update the virtual hardware and vmware tools.

ARomeo

Blog: https://www.aleadmin.it/

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Alex_Romeo
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Hi,

The vcenter converter is compatible up to version 6.7U1 "VMware Product Interoperability Matrices ".

AROmeo

Blog: https://www.aleadmin.it/
ITTropolis
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Hi AlessandroRomeo68

Thanks for that info.  So, if my new host is running 6.7U1 then I should be able to move the VMs, ya?  If my new host is running 6.7U3, does VMWare have another way to move VMs from an older 4.1 host?

Thank you!

Bob H.

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Alex_Romeo
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Hi,

If your host runs 6.7 u1, you can move them with the vmware vCenter converter, which should automatically adjust some settings for you. The vmware tools remain to be updated.

If you need to import them on a 6.7 u3 host, you need to export the "ova" file and import it on the 6.7U3 version and manually update the virtual hardware and vmware tools.

ARomeo

Blog: https://www.aleadmin.it/
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blazilla
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Hi,

you can move them using the VMware Converter, but you can also export them as OVA and re-import them onto the new host. Can you tell us something more about you environment? Maybe there are other migration options as well.

Best regards Patrick https://www.vcloudnine.de
RDowling00
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VMware Converter is maybe the most straight forward way but there are other options...

  • What is the general condition of the VMs? OS Version etc. Is not the time to migrate their data to a current OS and run them side by side before cutting over (Minimal downtime)
  • VMware Converter is simple to use and can work well but if you have issues, this could lead back to above option (Downtime also needed in some cases)
  • Is it a single host or muti host cluster? Is the storage local or SAN/NFS mapped? (Downtime is needed but reconnecting shared storage to your new node, you could just import each VM.
  • Can the ESXi 4.1 be upgraded to 6.x? If so, then you could look at using the Cross vCenter vMotion fling to migrate the VMs live to the new host (Licensing is needed for vMotion)

Those would be my suggestions in preferential order 🙂

Good luck,

Rob.

ITTropolis
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Hi:

Can I install the Standalone Converter on the OS of the vm (2008 R2) so it sees it as a physical machine instead of a vm, then do a P2V migration to the new host?

Thank you,

Bob H.

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a_p_
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Running the Converter from inside the VM may indeed work.

However, another option that may be worth trying is to use the OVFTool, to copy a VM between hosts. See https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/06/how-to-copy-vms-directly-between-esxi.html

André

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