ESXi migration from one server to another.

[itguymn]

I have a client that had a SAN connected to 2 ESXi 5.1 hosts. The SAN died and the customer decided not to repair the SAN. They had another IT services company come out with a loaner server and restored the VM's to the loaner. The customer asked me to install local drive storage on the 2 original hosts and migrate the VM's back to their original hosts using vSphere vCenter Server. I can migrate the servers back to the original hosts and see them through the management network or VLAN, but can not access them through the Server or Data LAN. The VM's have been migrated back to the loaner server for now.

This seems to be a network or LAN related issue. The Ethernet cables have not been moved or removed, so It is unlikely a wiring issue. When looking at the Configuration tab and Networking, I notice that the Virtual Machine Port Group on the loaner server is named differently than on the original 2 host servers. My guess is that they installed ESXi at their office and when restoring the VM's from backup, changed the name of the network adaptor in each VM to match their server and not just change the Virtual Machine Port Group on the host server.

I have changed the Virtual Machine Port Group name on the original servers to match what the loaner box has, but can't migrate a server until after hours again.

Does this sound like I am on the right track. The engineer that installed the loaner box is not available, and I am new to VMware.

Thank you.

[a_p_]

Yes, that might be the issue. The port group names are important, so either use the same names on the target hosts or just reconfigure the VMs settings - once migrated - and connect their virtual network adapters to the appropriate port group.

André

[King_Robert]

This issue is caused when removing an ESXi/ESX server from one vCenter Server and then adding it to a new vCenter Server without disconnecting it from the original. This can cause the vpxa agent on the host to not provide stats to the new vCenter Server (that is, performance statistics collection fails).

This can lead to:

• Performance charts failing to function:
  
  
  • After the migration, performance charts in vCenter Server may fail to collect data
  • Performance charts may report no data available errors
  
  
• DRS can cause a vCenter Server imbalance which in turn causes high levels of contention on the ESXi/ESX host. Without performance statistics, DRS treats the virtual machines as 100 percent active, and proceeds to migrate the virtual machines to new ESXi/ESX hosts.

This issue is resolved in vCenter Server 5.5. You can download the latest vCenter Server release from the VMware Download Center.

To work around this issue when you do not want to upgrade, disconnect and then reconnect the ESXi/ESX host in the current vCenter Server inventory:

1. Log in to vCenter Server with the vSphere Client.
2. Click Home > Hosts and Clusters.
3. Right-click the ESXi/ESX host, then click Disconnect. Wait for the task to complete.
   
4. Right-click the ESXi/ESX host, then click Reconnect.