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Server Migration Center:Create a server migration job

Last Updated:Feb 29, 2024

After you import the information about a migration source, Server Migration Center (SMC) automatically generates a record for the migration source. You must create and start a migration job for the migration source in the SMC console. This topic describes how to create and start a migration job.

Prerequisites

Background information

During server migration, SMC can obtain the partitioning scheme of a source disk used by the migration source and generate the same partitioning scheme for the destination disk. This accelerates data transmission during migration.

Procedure

  1. Log on to the SMC console.

  2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Migration Sources.

  3. Find the migration source for which you want to create a migration job and click Create Migration Job in the Actions column.

  4. In the Create Migration Job dialog box, configure the parameters and click Create.

    The following table describes the parameters that you can configure to create a server migration job.

    Parameter

    Description

    Migration Job Type

    The type of the migration job. After you select Server Migration, read the migration instructions.

    Migration Job Name

    The name of the migration job.

    Note

    The job name must be unique within an Alibaba Cloud region.

    Job Description

    The description of the migration job.

    Destination Type

    The type of the destination on Alibaba Cloud to which you want to migrate the source server. Valid values:

    ECS Image

    You can migrate the source server to an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) image and then create an ECS instance by using the image.

    If you set the Destination Type parameter to ECS Image, the following parameters are displayed:

    • Destination Region: the Alibaba Cloud region to which you want to migrate the source server. This parameter is required. For more information about regions, see Regions and Zones.

    • Image Name: the name of the destination ECS image generated by SMC for the migration source.

    ECS Instance

    You can migrate the source server to an ECS instance that you have purchased. The storage system and operating system of the source server must be compatible with those of the destination ECS instance. For more information about best practices, see Migrate servers to ECS instances.

    Important
    • After a migration job is created, all original data is deleted from the destination ECS instance. If the source server is migrated to a simple application server, the original data in the destination simple application server is not deleted. If the destination ECS instance contains important data, we recommend that you do not directly migrate the source server to the destination instance. In this case, we recommend that you set the Destination Type parameter to ECS Image to migrate the source server to an ECS image and then create an ECS instance by using the image. For more information about how to migrate a source server to an ECS instance, see Migrate servers to ECS instances.

    • During the migration, a pay-as-you-go cloud disk is created for temporary use. The cloud disk serves as a data transfer hub and is automatically released after the migration is complete.

    • During the migration, the operating system of the destination ECS instance is changed, and the automatic snapshots of the system disk are deleted and cannot be recovered. You can manually disable the Delete Automatic Snapshots While Releasing Disk feature to retain the snapshots. For more information, see Delete automatic snapshots while releasing a disk.

    If you set the Destination Type parameter to ECS Instance, the following parameters are displayed:

    • Destination Region: the Alibaba Cloud region to which you want to migrate the source server. This parameter is required. For more information about regions, see Regions and Zones.

    • Destination Instance: the ECS instance that is used as the destination instance.

    Important

    During the migration, do not stop, start, restart, or release the destination ECS instance. Otherwise, the migration fails.

    Simple Application Server

    You can migrate the source server to a simple application server that you have purchased. The storage system and operating system of the source server must be compatible with those of the destination simple application server. For more information about best practices, see Migrate a server to Simple Application Server.

    If you set the Destination Type parameter to Simple Application Server, the following parameters are displayed:

    • Destination Region: the Alibaba Cloud region to which you want to migrate the source server. This parameter is required. For more information about regions, see Regions and Zones.

    • Destination Instance: the simple application server that is used as the destination instance. For more information about how to create a simple application server, see Create a simple application server.

    Important
    • During the migration, do not stop, start, restart, or release the destination simple application server. Otherwise, the migration fails.

    • If the number of data disks on the destination instance is less than that on the source instance, only some data disks on the source instance are migrated to the destination instance.

    • If the disk size of the destination instance is smaller than that of the source instance, we recommend that you expand the disk size of the destination instance before you start the migration job. For more information, see Extend a data disk.

    Container Image

    Note

    If you set the Destination Type parameter to Container Image, the following parameters are displayed:

    • Destination Region: the Alibaba Cloud region to which you want to migrate the source server. This parameter is required. For more information about regions, see Regions and Zones.

    • Namespace: the namespace of the destination container image.

    • Repository Name: the name of the repository that stores the destination container image.

    • Version: the version of the destination container image.

    • RAM Role: the Resource Access Management (RAM) role that is attached to the intermediate instance.

    Destination Disk Size (GiB)

    The disk configurations of the destination instance. Configure the following parameters based on your business requirements:

    System disk

    • System Disk: the size of the system disk of the destination instance. Unit: GiB. Valid values: 20 to 2048. The size of the destination system disk must be larger than the amount of data on the source system disk. For example, if the total size of the source system disk is 400 GiB but the size of data stored on this disk is only 100 GiB, you must set this parameter to a value greater than 100.

      Note

      The default value of this parameter is the size of the source system disk. We recommend that you retain the default value or specify a greater value.

    • Partition <N>: the size of the partition. SMC generates a partitioning scheme for the destination disk based on the partitioning scheme of the source disk. Unit: GiB. Valid values of N: 0 to 14. <N> indicates the serial number of the partition. For example, if the system disk of the migration source has only one partition, Partition 0 is generated.

    Data disk

    • Data Disk <N>: the size of the data disk of the destination instance. Unit: GiB. Valid values: 20 to 32768.

      • If you select the Data Disk <N> check box, a destination data disk is generated.

      • <N> indicates the serial number of the data disk.

      • The size of the destination data disk must be larger than the amount of data on the source data disk. For example, if the total size of the source data disk is 500 GiB but the size of data stored on this disk is only 100 GiB, you must set this parameter to a value greater than 100.

    • Partition <N>: the size of the partition. SMC generates a partitioning scheme for the destination disk based on the partitioning scheme of the source disk. Unit: GiB. Valid values of N: 0 to 14. <N> indicates the serial number of the partition. For example, if a data disk of the migration source has only one partition, Partition 0 is generated.

    Note

    If your migration source has no data disk or no data disk is attached to the migration source, the Data Disk parameters are not displayed. For more information, see the Why are the data disk parameters of a migration source not displayed in the Create Migration Job dialog box? What do I do? section of the "FAQ" topic.

    Block Replication

    SMC allows or disallows you to turn on the switch based on whether the migration source supports block-level replication for partitions.

    • If the migration source does not support block replication for partitions, you cannot turn on the switch. If SMC uses the default method to migrate the migration source at the file level, you can modify the size of each partition on the destination disk.

    • If the migration source supports block replication for partitions, the switch is turned on by default. You can migrate disk data at the partition level. The block replication feature ensures stable data transmission. The feature also ensures that the source and destination disks use the same partitioning scheme. However, you cannot modify the size of each partition on the destination disk.

    Note

    If your source server runs Windows, block replication is enabled by default. You cannot disable this feature.

    Migration Test

    Specifies whether to enable the migration test feature. This feature helps you understand the feasibility and risks of a migration job before the migration job starts and provides solutions to identified issues. You can also obtain information such as the amount of data to be migrated, migration speed, and total duration of the migration. This helps reduce the issues and losses that may occur during the actual migration. In most cases, a migration test takes 5 minutes. During the test, you are charged for pay-as-you-go resources. By default, Migration Test is turned on.

    For more information, see Configure a migration test.

    Execution Method

    The mode in which the migration job is run. Select an execution method based on whether Migration Test is turned on.

    Migration Test is turned on

    • Test Only: The system performs only the migration test. After the migration test is complete, you must manually start the server migration job.

    • Test and Migrate: The system performs the migration test. After the migration test is complete, if no test items are in the Critical state, the system automatically starts the server migration job. This is the default value.

    Migration Test is turned off

    • Migrate Now: The migration job starts immediately after it is created. This is the default value.

    • Migrate Later: The migration job automatically starts at the specified time after it is created.

      Note

      The earliest time that you can specify to run a migration job is 10 minutes after the job is created.

    • Create Only: After the migration job is created, you must manually start the migration job.

    (Optional) Expert Mode

    Network Type

    The type of the network that is used to migrate data to the intermediate instance. During migration, SMC creates an intermediate instance that connects to a vSwitch in a virtual private cloud (VPC). If you select Public Network, a public IP address is assigned to the intermediate instance.

    Public Network

    SMC migrates data to the intermediate instance over the Internet. If you select Public Network, make sure that the source server can access the Internet. You can determine whether to specify a VPC and a vSwitch based on your business requirements.

    • If you specify a VPC and a vSwitch, SMC creates an intermediate instance that connects to the specified VPC and vSwitch.

      If you migrate multiple migration sources at a time, you can specify the same VPC and vSwitch for migration jobs. This improves the usage of VPC resources. In this case, you can migrate up to 100 migration sources at a time.

    • If you do not specify a VPC or a vSwitch, SMC automatically creates a VPC and a vSwitch, and creates an intermediate instance that connects to the created VPC and the vSwitch.

      If you do not specify a VPC or a vSwitch before you migrate multiple migration sources at a time, SMC creates a VPC for each intermediate instance.

      Note

      Each Alibaba Cloud account can have up to 10 VPCs in a region, including the VPCs that are manually created and the VPCs that are automatically created by SMC. Therefore, you can migrate up to 10 migration sources at a time if you do not specify a VPC or a vSwitch. For more information about how to increase the VPC quota, see Manage VPC quotas.

    VPC

    SMC migrates data to the intermediate instance over a VPC. If you select VPC, you must specify a VPC and a vSwitch and make sure that the source server can connect to the VPC.

    Note

    If your server in a data center, your VM, or your third-party cloud server can connect to a VPC, we recommend that you select this network type to migrate data. Compared with migration over the Internet, migration over a VPC is more efficient and stable. You can use VPN Gateway, Express Connect, and Smart Access Gateway to connect a migration source to a VPC. For more information, see Connect a data center to a VPC.

    Transmission Speed Limit

    The maximum bandwidth for data transmission during migration. Unit: Mbit/s.

    Compression Ratio

    The compression ratio of the data to be migrated. Set the compression ratio based on your business requirements.

    • If the bandwidth is limited, a high compression ratio improves the transmission efficiency.

    • If a high bandwidth is available, we recommend that you do not compress data. Data compression consumes CPU resources of the migration source.

    Valid values: 0 to 10. Default value: 7. A value of 0 indicates that data is not compressed.

    Checksum Verification

    Specifies whether to verify data integrity by using a checksum. By default, this feature is disabled. If you enable this feature, data integrity is ensured, but transmission speed may be reduced.

    License Type

    The license type. Valid values:

    • Alibaba Cloud: the Microsoft license provided by Alibaba Cloud. For more information, see FAQ.

    • BYOL: SMC allows you to bring your own license (BYOL). You can use your own Microsoft or Red Hat license to migrate a server to Alibaba Cloud. For more information, see FAQ.

    Intermediate Instance Type

    The type of the intermediate instance. Select an intermediate instance type based on your business requirements. This parameter is displayed only if the Destination Type parameter is set to ECS Image or Container Image.

    • If you specify an instance type, SMC creates an intermediate instance of the specified instance type. If the specified instance type is unavailable, the migration job fails to be created.

    • If you do not specify an instance type, SMC automatically selects an instance type to create an intermediate instance.

    Important

    To prevent migration failures, do not stop, start, restart, or release the intermediate instance during the migration process. After the migration job is complete, SMC automatically releases the intermediate instance.

    Automatic Incremental Synchronization

    Specifies whether SMC automatically synchronizes incremental data of the migration source to Alibaba Cloud. By default, this feature is disabled.

    • To enable this feature, you must configure the following parameters:

      • Synchronization Interval: the interval at which SMC automatically synchronizes incremental data to Alibaba Cloud.

      • Maximum Reserved Images: the maximum number of images that can be retained during incremental migration.

      SMC automatically synchronizes incremental data to Alibaba Cloud at the specified interval. For more information about best practices, see Migrate incremental data from a source server.

    • If you disable this feature, incremental data is not synchronized.

    Image Check

    Specifies whether to enable the image check feature. The image check feature checks whether an image is valid and whether the image can be used to create full-featured ECS instances. You can use the image check feature when you create a server migration job or an agentless migration job for a VMware VM.

    This feature helps you identify potential issues in images or ECS instances after the migration job is complete, and provides solutions to the identified issues. This helps you improve the success rate of starting ECS instances.

    For more information, see Configure image check.

    Migration Job Tags

    The tags that you specify for the migration job. Each tag contains a key and a value. You can use tags to query and manage migration jobs. For more information, see Use tags to manage migration sources and migration tasks.

    Note

    You can specify up to 20 tags for a migration job.

  5. In the message that appears, read the migration notes and click Got It.

  6. Optional. Start the migration job.

    Note

    If the Execution Method parameter is set to Migrate Now, skip this step. If the Execution Method parameter is set to Create Only or Migrate Later, you can perform the following steps to start the migration job.

    1. In the left-side navigation pane, click Migration Jobs.

    2. Find the migration job and click Run in the Actions column.

      • To start multiple migration jobs at a time, select the jobs and click Run or Retry Migration Job in the lower part of the Migration Jobs page. The selected jobs must be in the Not Started, Stopped, or Error state.

      • To stop a migration job in the Synchronizing state, click Stop in the Actions column.

  7. On the Migration Jobs page, wait until the migration job is complete. You can view the migration speed and remaining synchronization duration.

    image..png

    If the state of the migration job changes to Completed, the migration succeeds.image..png

Related operations

Operation

Description

Verify the migration result

This feature verifies whether the image generated by the migration job can be used to create and start instances. This verification is based on the CloudOps Orchestration Service (OOS) template named ACS-SMC-CreateAndVerifyInstance provided by Alibaba Cloud.

  1. Find the migration job and click Verify Migration Result in the Actions column.

  2. In the dialog box that appears, read the instructions on the verification process and click Verify Now.

    You can also click Customize Verification Parameters to configure the parameters.

  3. View the verification result in the Latest Verification Result column.

    • Verified: indicates that the migration is successful. You can click Show Output Parameters to check the details.

    • Not Verified: indicates that the migration failed. You can click View Cause to view the cause of failure and troubleshoot issues.

    You can also click the... icon in the Actions column and select View Verification Records in OOS Console to view the template history.

View the destination instance

If you migrate an operating system or set the Destination Type parameter to ECS Instance, you can find the migration job and click View Destination Instance in the Actions column to view the details of the destination instance.

Deploy containerized applications

If you set the Destination Type parameter to Container Image, you can use a container image to deploy applications. For more information, see the Step 3: Verify the container image section of the "Migrate source servers to Container Registry" topic.smc docker

View the details of the migration job

On the Migration Jobs page, click the ID of the migration job to view the details of the migration job.

Troubleshoot migration issues

If the state of the migration job changes to Error, the migration job failed. In this case, you can perform the following steps:

  1. Find the migration job and click View Logs in the Actions column to view logs and fix errors. For more information about common errors and solutions, see FAQ and Troubleshoot server migration failures.

  2. On the Migration Jobs page, click Retry Migration Job in the Actions column of the failed migration job. The migration job resumes from the point at which it was stopped.

    Note

    If the intermediate instance is released, you must create another migration job. For more information, see the What do I do if I release an intermediate instance by accident? section of the "FAQ" topic.