In this section, we will perform live migration on a workload from the On-Premise datacenter to VMC on AWS
Start Migration
We will now start the migration process of your live workload to VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC using VMware HCX.
Click Migrate at the top to open the migration UI.
Group Name
Create a Group Name for the migration. Use the VM Name followed by -migration. A descriptive group name will make it easier to find the migration in the Migration list.
- In the Login Credentials menu on the top right corner, click the copy icon next to VM Name
- Paste the VM Name on the Group Name field by pressing CTRL+v (Windows) or command + v (macOS) on your keyboard
- Type -migration following the VM Name
Please note: If the group name already exists, add a number at the end to differentiate the new migration. If you are using a Safari browser, the copy icon in the Login Credentials menu will not work. The VM Name will need to be typed.
Search for Workload to Migrate
Paste or type in your VM username (For e.g. <your-username>_xxxx) on the search bar to search for your workload VM running on your On-Prem Data Center.
Please note: The VM username in the image is different from that of your workload.
Select Workload To Migrate
Select the workload VM to migrate and click ADD to continue.
Please note: The workload VM selected in the image is different from your VM username.
Compute Container
In the Workload Mobility pop-up, click the Mandatory: Compute Container to select the destination of the migration.
Destination Compute Container
Pick the resource pool that starts with your username (For e.g. <your-username>_xxxx) and click Select.
Please note: The resource pool in the image is different from your username.
VMware HCX Migration Types
Virtual Machines can be moved to and from VMware HCX-enabled data centers using multiple migration technologies. In the image, you will see a short description of each of the Migration Types.
The migration time of each may vary depending on the size of the VM and available bandwidth.
VMware HCX Migration Types
Now that we’ve learned the basics of the different types of HCX migrations.
Select vMotion
VMware HCX vMotion can transfer a live Virtual Machine from a VMware HCX-enabled vCenter Server to a VMware HCX-enabled destination site.
The estimated time to vMotion a single VM is 5 minutes.
Please note: The VMware TestDrive environment is shared, and the estimated time it takes to vMotion a VM is dependent on how many users are using the service simultaneously, the size of the VM, and available bandwidth.
Validate Migration Steps
Click Validate to validate migration settings are successful. Now we are ready to start the migration.
Migration Progress
Click refresh in migration UI to update status. You can search for the new migration in the table by the Group Name (VM Name-migration). Expand the migration and click the Graph box on the top right to see more details.
Please note: The Group Name in the image is different from your username.
Recent Tasks Status
In Recent Tasks, you can see the progress and the relocation of the virtual machine kicking off.
Migration Progress in vSphere Client
The virtual machine has migrated from the Dallas data center to SDDC-Datacenter located US East (N. Virginia) VMC on AWS SDDC.
The name of your VM is found in the Login Credentials menu in the top right corner.
To locate your VM, expand the following:
- SDDC-Datacenter
- Cluster-1
- Compute-ResourcePool
- HCX-Demo-Migrations
- Locate the virtual machine that starts with the title of your username. (For e.g.<your-username>_xxxx)
Please note: The virtual machine in the image is different from the title of your virtual machine.