Installation guide

Storage VMotion Command-Line Syntax
In addition to using the Migration wizard, you can initiate migrations with Storage VMotion from the vSphere
Command-Line Interface (vSphere CLI) using the svmotion command.
For more information about installing and using the vSphere CLI, see vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation
and Reference.
You can run the svmotion command in either interactive or noninteractive mode.
n
To use the command in interactive mode, type svmotion --interactive. You are prompted for all the
information necessary to complete the storage migration. When the command is invoked in interactive
mode, all other parameters given are ignored.
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In noninteractive mode, the svmotion command uses the following syntax:
svmotion [Standard CLI options] --datacenter=<datacenter name> --vm ‘<VM config datastore
path>:<new datastore>’ [--disks ‘<virtual disk datastore path>:<new datastore>, <virtual disk
datastore path>:<new datastore>]’
Square brackets indicate optional elements.
On Windows systems, use double quotes instead of single quotes around the values specified for the --vm and
--disks options.
For more information on the standard CLI options, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation and
Reference.
Table 16-2 describes the parameters for the svmotion command.
Table 16-2. svmotion Command Parameters
Parameter Description
<datacenter>
The datacenter that contains the virtual machine to be migrated. You must quote the name
if it contains white space or other special characters.
<VM config datastore
path>
The datastore path to the virtual machine’s configuration file. If the path contains white
space or other special characters, you must quote it.
<new datastore>
The name of the new datastore to which the virtual machine configuration file or disk is to
be moved. Do not include brackets around the name of the new datastore.
--disks
If you do not specify this parameter, all virtual disks associated with a virtual machine are
relocated to the same datastore as the virtual machine configuration file. By specifying this
parameter, you can choose to locate individual virtual disks to different datastores.
To keep a virtual disk on its current datastore, use the --disks option for that disk with its
current datastore as the
<new datastore> .
<virtual disk datastore
path>
The datastore path to the virtual disk file.
Determine the Path to a Virtual Machine Configuration File
The path to the virtual machine configuration file is a necessary argument to the svmotion command.
You must specify the datastore path to the virtual machine’s configuration file in the <VM config datastore
path> svmotion command.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Client inventory, select the virtual machine and click the Summary tab.
2 Click Edit Settings to display the Virtual Machine Properties dialog box.
vSphere Basic System Administration
202 VMware, Inc.