moving vcenter server from existing farm to new esx host

[tomagoaluminium]

Scenario

2 ESX hosts running version 3.

1 ESX host running version 4

New vcenter server running on vm machine within current cluster

Existing vcenter server is physical machine.

How do i move my virtual vcenter server from the existing cluster to my new ESX Host.

[mittim12]

Have you thought about using VMware Converter to move the physical over to a VM inside the cluster?

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[weinstein5]

The key question is where is the vCenter Database becaue this is where all the information about your vCenter environment is stored - if it is stored in a seperate database server just build a new vcenter server in the cluster and point it to the exisitng database or as the other poster indicated use VMware converter -

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[tomagoaluminium]

is there any other way?

like i have the machine in exsiting vm cluster..

can i power it off, and then build a new machine in the new vm and point it to the exisiting disk files?

[weinstein5]

In your original description I though you said "Existing vcenter server is physical machine" - so you are saying your vCenter server is already virtualized? If this the case are all the machines - the 2 esx3 and the 1 esx 4 running under that vCenter environment? Do they share a common vMotion network? Are you running vCenter 4? If all these are true you should be able to vMotion between the ESX hosts - if they are not part of a common vCenter environment but share common storage than yes you can simply power down the VM remove it form the inventory of the existing cluster and then using the datastore browser find the vmx file and add it to the new server's inventory =

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[tomagoaluminium]

sorry

i have existing cluster of esx 3 hosts managed by vc2

the vm with my new vcenter server 4 is on in this cluster

i have new esx host 4 built and it is being managed by the vm in the older cluster..

so if i power down the vm in original cluster.

i can then add vm to new esx host and point to disk files from shared storage?>

are there any complications with this?

[weinstein5]

Ok I understand now - if your VM is stored on shared storage than yes - power down the vm use the datastore browser in the vsphere client connected to your ESX 4 host and find the directory where the VM is stored - right click on the vmx file and one of the options will be add to inventory - once it is added power it on and you should be back in business

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[mittim12]

If the new vCenter server is on the shared storage you should be able to unregister it from the virtual center 2.5 and login to the 4.0 host use the datastore browser to find the vmx file and add it to the inventory of the 4.0 host.

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[tomagoaluminium]

this isn't going to work for me...

my vcenter server is in the existing old cluster...

in order to browse to the datastore and add the files only works when connected to the vcenter server, i cannot do it when i directly connect to the esx host. i don't get the datastore browser option when connected directly to the host..