How can I migrate my VCSA to another host?

[vmman34]

Hi,

I have got myself into an issue when trying to remove a Cluster from my DC.

Because the last host in the cluster host the VCSA on its local storage and I am unable to put the host in maintenance mode.

What I would like to do is migrate the VCSA onto another host outside of the cluster.

What can I do?

Thanks

[IRIX201110141]

Buy the right licenses (vSphere ESXi Standard and higher)

or

Clone the vCenter (which is the same as backup/restore) by its self.

Regards

Joerg

[vmman34]

Hi, I am going to try and clone it and see what happens.

I will get back to you with the results.

Thanks

[mguidini]

- You can use VMware vCenter Standalone Converter to convert v2v, it's free.

- Storage vMotion between clusters is an option?

[vmman34]

Hi mguidini​

I am going to try cloning it and look into the tool that you mentioned too.

Thanks

[anvanster]

Another option is through ESX CLI console, using scp.

Procedure looks like this:

1. Enable ESXi console and SSH on both hosts.

2. Shut down VCSA VM

3. Switch to ESX console and log in (Alt+F1)

3.1 Unregister your VCSA:

3.1.1 run: vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

3.1.2 run: vim-cmd vmsvc/unregister ###

4. change dir to your datastore (cd /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name)

5. run scp to copy your VCSA to second host (scp -r your-vcsa-folder root@new-host-ip:/vmfs/volumes/new-host-datastore)

6. register VCSA on a new host, either through WEB GUI or by using vim-cmd (vim-cmd solo/registervm path-to-vcsa-vmx-file)

[vmman34]

anvanster​

Hi,

Woaahh I am fairly new to vSphere and the cli is all new to me lol.

I tired exporting the VM as an ovf and it failed to deploy.

I tried cloning it and it got some and got an error message about Quiescenting and to look in the logs.

I'm not having much luck here but i'm going to try out some more methods todays.

[IRIX201110141]

Dont use the CLI from above because you may will lose the state of your thin provisioning vDisks (assumed you have one).

Ignore the Quiescing error or does it prevent cloning? Cloning will create a normal VM Snapshot with the default Quiescing Option with the help of the installed VMware Tools. What is the state of the Tools? (Running, Managed)

I can successfully clone on of my VCSA to another Cluster without a error.

How does you backup your VCSA VM in the past?

Veeam B&R Community Edition is free for up to 10 VMs and contains "Replication".

Regards

Joerg