ESXi 5.1 Update 3 Storage vMotion RDM Options

Physical or Virtual mode RDM ?

this makes a difference to your options.

IT is in physical mode since it use to be part of a MS Failover cluster.

Just a disk image copy with all VMs involved powered off.

Disk image copy using vmfstools or Converter? We have a small downtime window

How could the data be moved in the back end between SAN's with out replication?

In your dreams. You built it that way that you have SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE - untouchable RDM. Now you have the downtime.

UNfortuently I did not build it and cleaning up bad choices from my coworkers...Looks like moving the LUN on the backend or using convert will need downtime.

Yes, it will need the downtime. The bigger the LUN the longer.

ouch... thanks again... :o)

If t is cluster quorum you can make another quorum and disconnect old from machines on reboots.

Well if it's physical, you can only migrate RDM to VMDK, when the VM is OFF.

So other options....

Converter or Double Take MOVE to do the Migration with zero downtime.

Converter with Sync Mode....

how much downtime can you cope with 60 minutes  or 2 minutes

The Vm is not longer in a cluster to a quorum drive is not needed. The RDM is 600GB and was planning to use converter.

Any way for me to run this live on teh VM the and do the final sync powered off?

600GB at 50MB/s = 3.5h if that 600GB is on a single physical disk.

No the Sync via Converter, must be done whilst ON, and the final sync ON.

Ok so I had it reverse ... this might work... this mean the final down time would me minimal and need to read up on this since I have not done it before with a RDM.

V2V, P2V same with a RDM as any other server.

see my EE Article

HOW TO:  Synchronize changes when completing a P2V or V2V with VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.1

it's simple really.....

Start your V2V......this can take as long as it likes.

when your first sync has been done, publish and get your Outage Scheduled, I would recommend a window of 2 hours. (1 hour to stop the service, 1 hour for final tweaks and return to service).

Depending when you know, the date of your Outage, Perform a Manual Sync every day.

1 hour before the published 2 hour Windows perform another sync......

then shutdown all services, shares, etc networking on the server...

perform a FINAL SYNC.

Shutdown Old VM.

complete modifications on new VM, IP Address etc, and then start....

Simple, 2 hour outage....and you do not have to worry about how long it takes to replicate, and it's done in background,, with little impact on server.

I am reading your article indetail now and will let you know if I have any questions. I planned I testing this on a test VM first... The only thing I will not be able to do ahead of time is install the convert software on the product VM due to our strict change control process so I will have to run it from a remote server running converter.

not sure in terms of change control what is the difference here, because both will change the VM, e.g. install software on the VM to be converted.

As long as you have a back-out plan.....e.g. rollback, before software was installed should satisfy most change boards, we've been involved with!

I am running converter 5.0.1 which is what we already have installed on our vcenter server and selecting virtual infrastructure after I login and select my VM I get the message "cannot convert a powered on machine"

Someone not reading my articles......tut tut!

VMware Converter, best practice and recommended install on the VM to be converted.....

I did read the article but cannot install it on the source VM becuase of our change control process

thank for your your guidance as always Hancock!!!!

I learned something new..

No problems, if you have a budget, you may want to consider Double Take MOVE for $300 or a one time move.

Better than Converter, and less downtime.

(still installs an agent though!)