6.7

Compatibility Check Results
If the virtual machine is compatible, the panel displays the message Compatibility checks
succeeded. If the virtual machine is not compatible with either the host’s or cluster’s configured networks
or datastores, the compatibility window might display both warnings and errors:
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Warning messages do not disable migration. Often the migration is justified and you can continue with
the migration despite the warnings.
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Errors might disable migration if no error-free destination hosts are available among the selected
destination hosts. In this case, if you click Next, the wizard displays the compatibility errors again,
and you cannot proceed to the next step.
Compatibility Checks During Migration Setup
When you attempt to move only the compute resource, the Migrate Virtual Machine wizard examines
the source and destination hosts, the target resource pool, the datastore, and the network. When you
attempt to move only the storage, the wizard checks the compatibility of the same objects except for the
network.
When you move compute resources and storage together, the Migrate Virtual Machine wizard runs
fewer compatibility checks. For example, if you move the compute resource, you select the target host or
cluster under a vCenter Server instance. The wizard performs all necessary validation only against the
selected host, and does not check the datastores available on the destination host. When you attempt to
move the virtual machine to a cluster, the Migrate Virtual Machine wizard examines the compatibility
against the host recommendation from vSphere DRS. The wizard directly validates the compatibility of the
target datastore when you select it later.
Another compatibility check is whether vMotion is enabled on the source and target hosts.
Compatibility Checks for Virtual Hardware
Effects of a specific host CPU feature on compatibility depend on whether ESXi exposes or hides them
from virtual machines.
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Features that are exposed to virtual machines are not compatible when they do not match on the
source and target hosts.
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Features that are not exposed to virtual machines are considered as compatible regardless of
whether they match on the hosts.
Specific items of virtual machine hardware can also cause compatibility problems. For example, a virtual
machine using an Enhanced VMXNET virtual NIC cannot be migrated to a host running a version of ESXi
that does not support Enhanced VMXNET.
vCenter Server and Host Management
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