Andy Connock
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migrating from vsphere 4.1 environment to 6.5
trying to find the best path forward when moving my entire 4.1 environment to 6.5. as i type this i already have the 6.5 environment up and running on new servers (still tweaking some VSA stuff) and for all intents and purposes, i am ready to get VMs from my old environment (old DELL servers) migrated to the new environment.
i have two questions: what is the best method for moving the VMs
second question is a little more specific in that i have 3 domain controllers, 1 is bare metal, the other 2 are VMs currently hosted in the old environment. one of these VM domain controllers is the operations master.
according to vmware, they told me "This procedure can be followed if the 6.5 vCenter is deployed in the same subnet as 4.1 and the IP of the current DC is reserved." that procedure being:
shut down the 4.1 VM (domain controller)
back it up in this offline state
copy the files from the old datastore to the new datastore
register the VM on the new host
power up the VM on the new host
i suppose in the end, i could shut all the DCs down, do the moves and bring them all up at the same time but with all DCs offline, it will make transferring between hosts a little more challenging having no authentication, etc.
would it be best if i transferred the operations master role to the bare metal DC, then move the 2 VMs in the manner above? or is there a better route?
i have two questions: what is the best method for moving the VMs
second question is a little more specific in that i have 3 domain controllers, 1 is bare metal, the other 2 are VMs currently hosted in the old environment. one of these VM domain controllers is the operations master.
according to vmware, they told me "This procedure can be followed if the 6.5 vCenter is deployed in the same subnet as 4.1 and the IP of the current DC is reserved." that procedure being:
shut down the 4.1 VM (domain controller)
back it up in this offline state
copy the files from the old datastore to the new datastore
register the VM on the new host
power up the VM on the new host
i suppose in the end, i could shut all the DCs down, do the moves and bring them all up at the same time but with all DCs offline, it will make transferring between hosts a little more challenging having no authentication, etc.
would it be best if i transferred the operations master role to the bare metal DC, then move the 2 VMs in the manner above? or is there a better route?
ASKER
thanks Andrew. no both environments have completely separate storage. is there any other options available for migration other than upgrading my 4.1 environment to 5.5 then migrating? i had really hoped to simply decommission the old 4.1 environment when all VMs are moved over.
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ASKER
thanks very much Andrew. :)
not a problem, get stuck please ask questions and reach out.
ASKER
Hey Andrew, so i've decided to explore the upgrade to 5.5 route which you say, makes it easier to then migrate the VMs to the new 6.5 environment. can you confirm this? any words of wisdom for the 4.1 to 5.5 upgrade? i have downloaded the ESXi 5.5 ISO and VCS 5.5.
should i update my VCenter server to 5.5 prior to running the upgrade on each host? i'm guessing VCS 5.5 has no problems managing 4.1 hosts. and as far as the 4.1 -> 5.5 upgrade goes, is it as simple as booting from the 5.5 ISO and selecting the "Upgrade ESXi, preserve VMFS datastore"?
i have a standalone 4.1 vmware host not in production that i can use to test first.
should i update my VCenter server to 5.5 prior to running the upgrade on each host? i'm guessing VCS 5.5 has no problems managing 4.1 hosts. and as far as the 4.1 -> 5.5 upgrade goes, is it as simple as booting from the 5.5 ISO and selecting the "Upgrade ESXi, preserve VMFS datastore"?
i have a standalone 4.1 vmware host not in production that i can use to test first.
1. First check your hosts will support 5.5.
2. If they do, make sure you update the firmware for the hosts before you run the upgrade.
3. Make sure you have backups of your VMs, mistakes do happen!
4. Insert the ISO and BOOT ---> select Upgrade and Preserve VMFS if it finds it, this is where your VMs are installed.
Not really any point doing a vCenter Server upgrade, just add these upgraded hosts to your VC 6.5, when they are all under VC 6.5 management, Migrate the VMs off.
2. If they do, make sure you update the firmware for the hosts before you run the upgrade.
3. Make sure you have backups of your VMs, mistakes do happen!
4. Insert the ISO and BOOT ---> select Upgrade and Preserve VMFS if it finds it, this is where your VMs are installed.
Not really any point doing a vCenter Server upgrade, just add these upgraded hosts to your VC 6.5, when they are all under VC 6.5 management, Migrate the VMs off.
ASKER
quick update here Andrew, your suggestions above helped me immensely! particularly around using FREE Veeam B&R to migrate *and* moving FSMO roles to my bare metal DC and then migrating virtual DCs.
it all worked out perfectly. thanks again. :)
it all worked out perfectly. thanks again. :)
Is 4.1 and 6.5 on the same storage ? or can 6.5 hosts connect to 4.1 storage e.g. is this SAN or Shared Storage or Local ?
You could upgrade 4.1 to 5.1/5.5 and add to vCenter 6.5, and then Migrate.
or Export and Import...
VMware Converter (I would leave as last resort)