Moving a virtual machine between ESXi hosts with different processor types

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to move a VM from one processor type host to another processor type host when:

• Enhanced vMotion compatibility is not configured
• The source- and destination ESXi hosts are using different EVC modes
• vCenter is not in the environment
• vCenter is the VM that needs to be migrated in it's own workload.

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x
• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Resolution

Scenario A - Moving a virtual machine (VM) that is located on a shared datastore shared between the source- and destination host

Warning: If the virtual machine being migrated is running on a Virtual Distributed Switch (vDS), move the virtual machine to a standard vSwitch before proceeding with these steps.

To move a VM between hosts when there is shared storage:

1. Shut down the VM after taking note of the host on which it is running and the datastore on which it is residing. Both can be found on the Summary tab of the virtual machine.
2. Open the vSphere ESXi Host Client of the ESXi where the VM is currently registered.
3. Right-click the VM and select Remove from Inventory.
4. Now open the vSphere ESXi Host Client of the destination ESXi host the VM is supposed to be moved to.
5. Right-click the datastore on which the VM files are located, and select Browse datastore.
6. Open the virtual machine folder, and locate the VMX configuration file (<VM_name>.vmx)
7. Right-Click the .vmx file and select Add to Inventory.
8. Power on the virtual machine.

Note: The first time a moved virtual machine is powered on, a uuid.altered message displays. Select I moved it to keep the existing uuid. If it was a vCenter Server that was moved using the above directions, there may be a slight delay for vCenter Server virtual machine to correct its own location in the vCenter Server database.
 

Scenario B - Moving a VM that is located on a datastore which is not accessible by the destination host.

Note: These options require the MAC of the virtual machine to be manually set. For more information, see How to set a Static MAC Address to a Virtual Machine.

To move a VM between hosts when storage is not shared, perform one of these options:

The majority of the workload VMs in vSphere can be powered off, and can complete a xvMotion using the web client by selecting migrate compute and storage. This feature does not require licensing that needs storage vMotion, as we do not use the storage vMotion stack for this type of migration. If the VM to be moved is the vCenter Server itself, or if vCenter Server cannot be utilized, below are some alternative options:

• Option a) Clone the VM from one host to another. This will require that the vSphere License applied to the ESXi hosts includes hot cloning as a licensed feature:

1. Select the VM from the Inventory.
2. Right-click the VM and click Clone.
3. Select the destination ESXi host.
4. Power off the VM on the source host.
5. Power on the VM on the destination ESXi host.

• Option b) Export the VM as an Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF) template and reimport it on the destination host:

1. Connect the Host UI Client to the ESXi host running the VM
2. Power off the VM
3. Click File > Export > Export OVF Template
4. Connect the vSphere Client directly to the destination ESXi host
5. Click File - Deploy OVF Template.
6. Power on the VM