How to Migrate VMware Vcenter 6.0 VMs from one host to another host

To Migrate VMware Vcenter 6.0 VMs from one host to another host

Migration is the process of moving a virtual machine from one host or storage location to another. Copying a virtual machine creates a new virtual machine. It is not a form of migration. below I have explained migration methods.

Cold Migration: Moving a powered-off virtual machine to a new host. Optionally, you can relocate configuration and disk files to new storage locations. You can use cold migration to move virtual machines from one datacenter to another.

Migrating a Suspended Virtual Machine: Moving a suspended virtual machine to a new host. Optionally, you can relocate configuration and disk files to new storage location. You can migrate suspended virtual machines from one datacenter to another.

Migration with vMotion: Moving a powered-on virtual machine to a new host. Migration with vMotion allows you to move a virtual machine to a new host without any interruption in the availability of the virtual machine.

Migration with Storage vMotion: Moving the virtual disks or configuration file of a powered-on virtual machine to a new datastore. Migration with Storage vMotion allows you to move a virtual machine’ s storage without any interruption in the availability of the virtual machine.

Both migration of a suspended virtual machine and migration with vMotion are sometimes referred to as “ hot migration” , because they allow migration of a virtual machine without powering it off. Migration with vMotion is sometimes referred to as " live migration" .
In this tutorial the method to perform migration with vMotion using with NFS-DATASTORE methodology is covered.

Migrating VMware Vcenter 6.0 VMs

First, you need to log into your vCente server. Enter your credentials to log into vcenter Web client.

Once you are in, click on the vCenter Inventory Lists from the left panel.

And then choose the Hosts menu.

And then, click datastore and select related objects.

Now, chose the datastore menu to create NFS datastore and follow the below steps to create NFS datastore.

You need to select the type of datastore. Choose NFS and click Next to proceed further.

In the next stage, choose the version of NFS and click Next to proceed further.

Later, enter the datastore name, NFS mount point, NFS server name and NFS permission. Once all are entered, click Next to proceed further.

Finally, in this setup, check the the summary that is displayed on the screen and click Finish.

The NFS datastore is now created.

Now, you need to enable the vMotion service for both the hosts. Navigate to Networking menu and select VMkernal NICs and choose vmk0.

Now choose Edit settings and enable Vmotion service from service column.

And then, you should upload the ISO image into the newly created NFS datastore.

Select the location from the given list, and click on OK.

Now create the New virtual machine in NFS-datastore by following the steps given below. Select a creation type and proceed to next stage.

Select a name and a folder for target location. Click Next to proceed further to the next stage.

Select a computer resource and proceed further.

And then select storage and proceed to the next step.

And then select compatibility that depends on the hosts in your environment.

After which you need to select a guest OS. So, select your OS and its version and proceed to the next step.

And then you need to customize the hardware. Proceed further once it is done.

Finally, cross-check the summary, and click on the Finish button to complete the migration process.

You can check that, your CentOS 7 mini is migrated to the destination machine.

In order to do hot migration, you need to follow the following steps. Select the file you want to migrate

Select the migration type and proceed further.

Then select a computer resource and proceed to next step.

And then select a network and carry forward to the next step.

Also, now you need to select vMotion priority according to your CPU resources so that you can protect the performance of your running virtual machines.

Finally, the wizard is ready. Click on the Finish button to complete the process.

You can check all your migration activities. Click the Hosts, and select the destination

Click on the virtual machine. You can notice that the migration has taken place without any glitches.

Migration is work’ s without any interruptions

With this, this tutorial on how to migrate VMware Vcenter 6.0 VM’ s from one host to another host comes to an end.