VM Migration Management

ZStack ZSphere provides both manual migration and HA automatic migration mechanisms. For more information about HA automatic migration, see VM HA. This section introduces the following three scenarios for virtual machine manual migration:

Change Host: Migrate a virtual machine to another host. This action only changes the host where the virtual machine runs.
Change Data Storage: Migrate a virtual machine to another data storage. This action only changes data storage.
Change Host and Data Storage: Migrate a virtual machine to another host and data storage.

Change Host

Hot Migration

Hot migration migrates a running virtual machine. This action mainly copies the CPU register status and memory information.

Before you begin

The virtual machine's data storage is local storage, NFS, ZCE distributed storage, SAN storage, or ZHPS distributed storage.
Before you hot migrate a virtual machine, detach the data disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices (if any) from the virtual machine first. If the virtual machine uses a local storage, you can hot migrate the virtual machine with local data disks attached. If the virtual machine uses a shared storage, you can hot migrate the virtual machine with local data disks, shared disks, and ISOs attached.
If vNUMA is enabled for a virtual machine, make sure the pNUMA architecture of the destination host is consistent with that of the source host.
Before you hot migrate a virtual machine with VF NICs attached, make sure:
- The virtual machine has VMTools installed and the VMTools is running.
- VF NIC VM migration may fail if the internal driver version of the VM is too low. Check and update the driver version as needed
If the selected virtual machine has associated with VM scheduling policies, modify these policies based on your business needs to avoid policy conflicts.

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Actions > Migration Management > Change Host.
In the Change Host dialog, choose a destination host.
If the migration is blocked because the VM has been high-loaded for a long time, you can enable auto-converge to improve the success rate of the migration.
Review the configuration and click OK.

Note: If the virtual machines have VF NICs attached, depending on the actual network environment, short network interruptions may occur during the migration of VMs with VF NICs attached. Proceed with caution.

What to do next

After the migration, you can re-attach those data disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices to the virtual machine.

Cold Migration

Cold migration migrates a powered-off virtual machine.

Before you begin

The virtual machine's data storage is local storage.
Before you cold migrate a virtual machine, detach the data disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices (if any) from the virtual machine first.
Note: If the virtual machine uses a local storage, you can cold migrate the virtual machine with local data disks attached.
If the selected virtual machine has associated with VM scheduling policies, modify these policies based on your business needs to avoid policy conflicts.

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Shut Down.
After shutdown, click Actions > Migration Management > Change Host。
In the Change Host dialog, choose a destination host.
Review the configuration and click OK.

What to do next

After the migration, you can re-attach those data disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices to the virtual machine.

Change Data Storage

Hot Migration from SAN Storage to SAN Storage

Before you begin

Make sure that the source and destination data storage are in the same cluster.
Before you migrate a virtual machine, detach the ISOs or LUN devices from the virtual machine first.
If a shared disk is attached to the virtual machine, the shared disk cannot be migrated. Detach the shared disk first.
Before you hot migrate a virtual machine with VF NICs attached, make sure:
- The virtual machine has VMTools installed and the VMTools is running.
- VF NIC VM migration may fail if the internal driver version of the VM is too low. Check and update the driver version as needed

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Actions > Migration Management > Change Data Storage.
In the Change Data Storage dialog, choose a destination data storage and set a migration bandwidth as needed.
Review the configuration and click OK.
Note:
- If the virtual machines have VF NICs attached, depending on the actual network environment, short network interruptions may occur during the migration of VMs with VF NICs attached. Proceed with caution.
- If the virtual machines have snapshots, migrating storage while the VMs are running will delete these snapshots. Proceed with caution. To keep snapshots, shut down VMs before the migration.

What to do next

After the migration, you can re-attach those data disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices to the virtual machine.

Cold Migration from SAN Storage to SAN Storage

Before you begin

Make sure that the source and destination data storage are in the same cluster.
Before you migrate a virtual machine, detach the ISOs or LUN devices from the virtual machine first.
If a shared disk is attached to the virtual machine, the shared disk cannot be migrated. Detach the shared disk first.

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Shut Down.
After shutdown, click Actions > Migration Management > Change Data Storage.
In the Change Data Storage dialog, choose a destination data storage.
Review the configuration and click OK.

What to do next

After the migration, you can re-attach those data disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices to the virtual machine.

Hot Migration Between SAN Storage and ZCE Distributed Storage

Before you begin

Make sure that the source and destination data storage are in the same cluster.
Before you migrate a virtual machine, detach the ISOs or LUN devices from the virtual machine first.
If a shared disk is attached to the virtual machine, the shared disk cannot be migrated. Detach the shared disk first.
Before you hot migrate a virtual machine with VF NICs attached, make sure:
- The virtual machine has VMTools installed and the VMTools is running.
- VF NIC VM migration may fail if the internal driver version of the VM is too low. Check and update the driver version as needed

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Actions > Migration Management > Change Data Storage.
In the Change Data Storage dialog, choose a destination data storage.
If you hot migrate a virtual machine from a SAN storage to a ZCE distributed storage, you can specify a root disk pool and data disk pool for the disks to be migrated.
Review the configuration and click OK.
Note:
- If the virtual machines have VF NICs attached, depending on the actual network environment, short network interruptions may occur during the migration of VMs with VF NICs attached. Proceed with caution.
- If the virtual machines have snapshots, migrating storage while the VMs are running will delete these snapshots. Proceed with caution. To keep snapshots, shut down VMs before the migration.

What to do next

After the migration, you can re-attach those data disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices to the virtual machine.

Change Host and Data Storage

Hot Migration Across Data Storage of the Same Type

Before you begin

Make sure the data storage where the virtual machine resides meet the storage combination requirements.
Supported storage combination:
- Hot migration from local storage to local storage
- Hot migration from ZCE distributed storage to ZCE distributed storage
- Hot migration from NFS to NFS
- Hot migration from SAN storage to SAN storage
Before you migrate a virtual machine, detach the shared disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices (if any) from the virtual machine first.
If vNUMA is enabled for a virtual machine, make sure the pNUMA architecture of the destination host is consistent with that of the source host.
Before you hot migrate a virtual machine with VF NICs attached, make sure:
- The virtual machine has VMTools installed and the VMTools is running.
- VF NIC VM migration may fail if the internal driver version of the VM is too low. Check and update the driver version as needed
If the selected virtual machine has associated with VM scheduling policies, modify these policies based on your business needs to avoid policy conflicts.
For hot migration across data storage of the same type, you can only migrate the entire virtual machine.
Before you hot migrate a virtual machine across distributed storage, make sure that the monitor nodes of these two distributed storage can communicate with each other.

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Actions > Migration Management > Change Host and Data Storage.
In the Change Host and Data Storage dialog, choose the destination data storage and destination host and set a migration bandwidth as needed.
- For hot migration from ZCE distributed storage to ZCE distributed storage, you can specify disk 1 storage pool and choose whether to migrate the attached data disks.
- If the migration is blocked because the VM has been high-loaded for a long time, you can enable auto-converge to improve the success rate of the migration.
Review the configuration and click OK.
Note:
- If the virtual machines have VF NICs attached, depending on the actual network environment, short network interruptions may occur during the migration of VMs with VF NICs attached. Proceed with caution.
- If the virtual machines have snapshots, migrating storage while the VMs are running will delete these snapshots. Proceed with caution. To keep snapshots, shut down VMs before the migration.

Hot Migration Across Data Storage of Different Types

Before you begin

Make sure the data storage where the virtual machine resides meet the storage combination requirements.
Supported storage combination:
- Hot migration between ZCE distributed storage and SAN storage
- Hot migration between ZCE distributed storage and NFS storage
- Hot migration between local storage and SAN storage
- Hot migration between local storage and ZCE distributed storage
- Hot migration between local storage and NFS storage
- Hot migration between SAN storage and NFS storage
Before you migrate a virtual machine, detach the shared disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices (if any) from the virtual machine first.
If vNUMA is enabled for a virtual machine, make sure the pNUMA architecture of the destination host is consistent with that of the source host.
Before you hot migrate a virtual machine with VF NICs attached, make sure:
- The virtual machine has VMTools installed and the VMTools is running.
- VF NIC VM migration may fail if the internal driver version of the VM is too low. Check and update the driver version as needed
If the selected virtual machine has associated with VM scheduling policies, modify these policies based on your business needs to avoid policy conflicts.
For hot migration across data storage of different types, you can only migrate the entire virtual machine.

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Actions > Migration Management > Change Host and Data Storage.
In the Change Host and Data Storage dialog, choose the destination data storage and destination host and set a migration bandwidth as needed.
- If you hot migrate a virtual machine from a SAN storage, local storage, or an NFS storage to a ZCE distributed storage, you can specify a disk 1 pool for the disks to be migrated.
- If the migration is blocked because the VM has been high-loaded for a long time, you can enable auto-converge to improve the success rate of the migration.
Review the configuration and click OK.
Note:
- If the virtual machines have VF NICs attached, depending on the actual network environment, short network interruptions may occur during the migration of VMs with VF NICs attached. Proceed with caution.
- If the virtual machines have snapshots, migrating storage while the VMs are running will delete these snapshots. Proceed with caution. To keep snapshots, shut down VMs before the migration.

Hot Migration Across Storage Pools Within the Same ZCE Distributed Storage

Before you begin

Make sure the data storage where the virtual machine resides is distributed storage.
Before you migrate a virtual machine, detach the shared disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices (if any) from the virtual machine first.
If vNUMA is enabled for a virtual machine, make sure the pNUMA architecture of the destination host is consistent with that of the source host.
Before you hot migrate a virtual machine with VF NICs attached, make sure:
- The virtual machine has VMTools installed and the VMTools is running.
- VF NIC VM migration may fail if the internal driver version of the VM is too low. Check and update the driver version as needed

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Actions > Migration Management > Change Host and Data Storage.
In the Change Host and Data Storage dialog, choose the destination data storage and destination host and set a migration bandwidth as needed.
- For hot migration across storage pools within the same ZCE distributed storage, you can specify the disk 1 storage pool and choose whether to migrate the attached data disks.
- If the migration is blocked because the VM has been high-loaded for a long time, you can enable auto-converge to improve the success rate of the migration.
Review the configuration and click OK.
Note:
- If the virtual machines have VF NICs attached, depending on the actual network environment, short network interruptions may occur during the migration of VMs with VF NICs attached. Proceed with caution.
- If the virtual machines have snapshots, migrating storage while the VMs are running will delete these snapshots. Proceed with caution. To keep snapshots, shut down VMs before the migration.

Clod Migration Across Data Storage of the Same Type

Before you begin

Make sure the data storage where the virtual machine resides meet the storage combination requirements.
Supported storage combination:
- Cold migration between ZCE distributed storage and ZCE distributed storage
- Cold migration between NFS storage and NFS storage
Detach all data disks, shared disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices (if any) from the virtual machine before the migration.
If the selected virtual machine has associated with VM scheduling policies, modify these policies based on your business needs to avoid policy conflicts.
For cold migration between ZCE distributed storage and ZCE distributed storage: If you set a cold migration network for the target data storage, the virtual machine is migrated through the cold migration network. Otherwise, the virtual machine is migrated through the management network.
For cold migration between NFS storage and NFS storage: The destination NFS storage can be attached to the cluster where the virtual machine to be migrated is located.

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Shut Down.
After shutdown, click Actions > Migration Management > Change Host and Data Storage.
In the Change Host and Data Storage dialog, choose the destination data storage and destination host.
Review the configuration and click OK.

Cold Migration Across Storage Pools Within the Same ZCE Distributed Storage

Before you begin

Detach all data disks, shared disks, ISOs, or peripheral devices (if any) from the virtual machine before the migration.

Procedure

In the navigation pane, choose Inventory > VM and Host.
Select the target virtual machine and click Shut Down.
After shutdown, click Actions > Migration Management > Change Host and Data Storage.
In the Change Host and Data Storage dialog, choose the destination data storage and destination host.
Review the configuration and click OK.

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