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:

• EVC is not available
• vCenter is not in the environment,
• vCenter is the VM that needs to be migrated in it's own workload.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi all versions

Resolution

Moving a VM when there is shared storage between the hosts

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 making a 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. Connect with the Host UI Client directly to the source ESXi host on which the VM was running.
3. Right-click the VM and click Remove from Inventory.
4. Connect with the Host UI Client directly to the destination ESXi where the VM needs to run
5. Right-click the datastore on which the VM is stored and click Browse datastore.
6. Open the directory for VM, right-click the .vmx file and click Add to Inventory.
7. 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.
 

Moving a VM when the hosts do not have shared storage

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

Note: These options require the MAC of the virtual machine to be manually set. For more information, see Setting a static MAC address for a virtual NIC (317478).

For the majority of the workload with vCenter, it 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 workload is the vCenter itself, or vCenter cannot be utilized, below are some other scenarios:

• Clone the VM from one host to another:

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.

NOTE: Make sure we have required license for hot cloning.

• Export VM as an Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF):

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