6.5.1

Table Of Contents
Prepare JSON Configuration Files for CLI Migration
When you use the CLI process to migrate a source vCenter Server installation to a target
vCenter Server Appliance, you must prepare a JSON template with the configuration values for the new
appliance.
You can migrate vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, or Platform Services Controller instances from
Windows to an appliance by setting values to the configuration parameters in the templates that are
available in the installer ISO file. The configuration parameters that are not included in the templates are
set to their default values. You can add configuration parameters in the templates to set their values for
your migration specification.
The vcsa-cli-installer/templates/migrate directory contains example migration templates for CLI
migration of vCenter Server 5.5 and vCenter Server 6.0 to an appliance.
For a complete list of the configuration parameters and their descriptions, navigate to the installer
subdirectory for your operating system and run the vcsa-deploy migrate --template-help
command.
Important The user name that you use to log in to the machine from which you want to run the CLI
installer, the path to the vCenter Server Appliance installer, the path to your JSON configuration file, and
the string values in your JSON configuration file, including the passwords, must contain only ASCII
characters. Extended ASCII and non-ASCII characters are unsupported.
Local OS user names for vCenter Server 5.5 are not migrated to the target vCenter Server Appliance and
must be recreated after migration is complete. If any local OS user names are used to log in to the
vCenter Single Sign-On, you must recreate them in the Platform Services Controller appliance.
Prerequisites
Verify your environment meets the requirements for migration. See System Requirements for Migrating
vCenter Server Deployments to vCenter Server Appliance Deployments,
Prepare your environment for migration. See Preparing for Migration.
Procedure
1 Open the migrate subfolder in the vcsa-cli-installer/templates directory.
2 Copy the migration template from the migrate subfolder to your workspace.
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For vCenter Server 5.5, use the migrate/winvc5.5/ folder.
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For vCenter Server 6.0, use the migrate/winvc6.0/ folder.
3 Open the template file for your use case in a text editor.
To ensure the correct syntax of your JSON configuration file, use a JSON editor.
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