6.0.1

vCenter Server moves the virtual machine to the new host or storage location.
Event messages appear in the Events tab. The data displayed on the Summary tab shows the status and
state throughout the migration. If errors occur during migration, the virtual machines revert to their original
states and locations.
Migrate a Virtual Machine to a New Compute Resource and Storage
You can move a virtual machine to another compute resource and move its disks or virtual machine folder
to another datastore. With vMotion, you can migrate a virtual machine and its disks and les while the
virtual machine is powered on.
Simultaneous migration to a new compute resource and datastore provides greater mobility for virtual
machines by eliminating the vCenter Server boundary. Virtual machine disks or content of the virtual
machine folder are transferred over the vMotion network to reach the destination host and datastores.
To make disk format changes and preserve them, you must select a dierent datastore for the virtual
machine les and disks. You cannot preserve disk format changes if you select the same datastore on which
the virtual machine currently resides.
Prerequisites
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Verify that your hosts and virtual machines meet the requirements for live migration. See
“Requirements and Limitations for vMotion Without Shared Storage,” on page 125.
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For migration across vCenter Server instances verify whether your system meets additional
requirements. See “Requirements for Migration Between vCenter Server Instances,” on page 126.
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Required privilege: Resource.Migrate powered on virtual machine
Procedure
1 Right-click the virtual machine and select Migrate.
a To locate a virtual machine, select a data center, folder, cluster, resource pool, host, or vApp.
b Click the Related Objects tab and click Virtual Machines.
2 Select Change both compute resource and storage and click Next.
3 Select a destination resource for the virtual machine, and click Next.
Any compatibility problems appear in the Compatibility panel. Fix the problem, or select another host
or cluster.
Possible targets include hosts and fully automated DRS clusters. If your target is a non-automated
cluster, select a host within the non-automated cluster.
If you environment has more than one vCenter Server instances, you can move virtual machines from
one vCenter Server inventory to another.
4 Select the format for the virtual machine's disks.
Option Action
Same format as source
Use the same format as the source virtual machine.
Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed
Create a virtual disk in a default thick format. Space required for the
virtual disk is allocated during creation. Any data remaining on the
physical device is not erased during creation, but is zeroed out on demand
at a later time on rst write from the virtual machine.
vCenter Server and Host Management
138 VMware, Inc.