All Products
Search
Document Center

Server Migration Center:Migrate VMware VMs without agents

Last Updated:Jul 05, 2025

Server Migration Center (SMC) allows you to migrate VMware VMs without agents. This approach does not modify the operating system settings of the migration source or consume computing resources of the source operating system. This effectively addresses concerns about server security and performance. This topic describes how to use SMC to migrate VMware VMs without agents.

Note

You can also migrate VMware VMs by using agents. For more information, see Migrate a server to an ECS instance.

Migration scenarios

Important

The SMC client will be upgraded to v2.8.6 on Nov 30, 2025. Support for migrating Windows servers to regions outside the Chinese mainland will be discontinued. For details, see [Product change] Announcement on ending support for migrating Windows servers to Alibaba Cloud instances in regions outside the Chinese mainland.

  • (Recommended) Migrate a server to an ECS custom image

    If you have not purchased an ECS instance, you can migrate a server to an ECS custom image and then manually use the custom image to create an ECS instance.

  • Migrate a server to an ECS instance

    If you have purchased an ECS instance and the configurations of the ECS instance such as the storage and operating system match those of the source server to be migrated, you can migrate the server to the ECS instance.

    Warning

    After the migration, the original data in the destination ECS instance is cleared. The data on the source server is not affected. We recommend that you do not use this method if the destination ECS instance contains important data.

Limits

Environment requirements

The following table describes the environment requirements that vary based on the Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) template.

OVA template

VMware Agentless Connector Configuration

vCenter deployment

Single ESXi Environment Deployment

SMC VMware Connector 6.7 OVA

  • Number of vCPUs: four or more

  • Memory size: 8 GB or more

  • Disk space: 40 GB or more

  • vCenter Server version: 6.0, 6.5, or 6.7

  • Version of VMware ESXi on which the Server Migration Connector is deployed: 6.0, 6.5, or 6.7

  • Version of VMware ESXi on which the VMware VM to be migrated is deployed: 6.0, 6.5, or 6.7

  • Hardware version of the VMware VM to be migrated: 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15

  • VMware ESXi version: 6.0, 6.5, or 6.7

  • Hardware version of the VMware VM to be migrated: 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15

SMC VMware Connector 8.0 OVA

  • Number of vCPUs: four or more

  • Memory size: 8 GB or more

  • Disk space: 40 GB or more

  • vCenter Server version: 6.7, 7.0, or 8.0

  • Version of VMware ESXi on which the Server Migration Connector is deployed: 6.7, 7.0, or 8.0

  • Version of VMware ESXi on which the VMware VM to be migrated is deployed: 6.7, 7.0, or 8.0

  • Hardware version of the VMware VM to be migrated: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, or 21

  • VMware ESXi version: 6.7, 7.0, or 8.0

  • Hardware version of the VMware VM to be migrated: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, or 21

Supported operating systems

The SMC client automatically identifies the operating system of the virtual machine to be migrated. The following operating systems are supported. You can run the cat /proc/version command or systeminfo to check the operating system.

CentOS
Ubuntu
SUSE
OpenSUSE
Debian
RedHat
Others Linux
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2022

Disk size limits

SMC has limits on the size of disks that can be migrated from the source. If a single disk exceeds the supported limit, SMC cannot perform the migration. If the disk size exceeds the supported limit, you need to use data migration methods (such as cp/sftp) to transfer the data.

  • System disk: The maximum supported capacity is 2 TiB.

  • Data disk: The maximum supported capacity is 32 TiB.

Role permission requirements

  • If you use a vCenter user, the role needs to be assigned the following permissions on ESXi and VM:

    • Datastore > Browse datastore

    • Datastore > Low-level file operations

    • Host > Local operations > Create virtual machine

    • Virtual machine > Change Configuration > Acquire disk lease

    • Virtual machine > Change Configuration > Toggle disk change tracking

    • Virtual machine > Provisioning > Allow virtual machine download

    • Virtual machine > Provisioning > Allow disk access

    • Virtual machine > Provisioning > Allow read-only disk access

    • Virtual machine > Snapshot management > Create snapshot

    • Virtual machine > Snapshot management > Remove Snapshot

  • If you use an ESXi user, the role type needs to be Administrator.

Migration costs

SMC is a free service. However, a small fee is charged for the Alibaba Cloud ECS resources that are used during the migration, such as intermediate instances and intermediate cloud disks. For more information about billing, see SMC billing.

Prerequisites

  • The preparations for the migration are complete. For more information, see Before you begin.

  • To avoid data loss, we recommend that you back up important data to an image, snapshot, or storage device other than the instance.

  • The following operations are complete if you want to migrate a server to an ECS instance:

    • Back up the important data on the destination ECS instance to an image, snapshot, or storage device other than the instance.

    • If your source server runs a Linux operating system, the destination instance must be a Linux distribution. If your source server runs a Windows operating system, the destination instance must run the same operating system.

    • The number of data disks attached to the destination ECS instance is greater than or equal to that of data disks attached to the source server. Otherwise, the disk data of the source server cannot be migrated to the destination ECS instance. In this case, you must attach more data disks to the ECS instance. For more information, see Attach a data disk.

    • The capacity of the system disk and data disks attached to the ECS instance is larger than or equal to that of the system disk and data disks attached to the source server. If you want to shrink the system disk and data disks attached to the source server, make sure that the capacity of the system disk and data disks attached to the destination ECS instance is larger than or equal to the size of the data on the system disk and data disks attached to the source server. Otherwise, data of the source server cannot be fully migrated to the destination ECS instance. In this case, you must scale up the data disks and system disk. For more information about how to resize a cloud disk, see Overview.

Procedure

Step 1: Create a Server Migration Connector

SMC provides OVA templates that are used to create a Server Migration Connector. In this step, download an OVA template, import the OVA template to your vCenter Server or VMware ESXi, and then deploy a Server Migration Connector by using the OVA template.

Note
  • Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is an open standard that provides an open source, secure, effective, extensible, and portable format for packaging and distributing software for VMs. An OVF package generally consists of .ovf, .mf, .cert, .vmdk, and .iso files. OVA is a single file distribution of the OVF file package.

  • VMware vSphere is a virtualization platform that transforms data centers into aggregated computing infrastructures that include CPU, storage, and network resources. VMware vSphere manages these infrastructures as a unified operating environment and provides you with tools to manage the data centers that are added to the environment. The two core components of VMware vSphere are VMware ESXi and vCenter Server. VMware ESXi is a virtualization platform that is used to create and run VMs and virtual devices. vCenter Server is a service that manages multiple hosts connected on a network and pools host resources.

Download and extract an OVA template

Click Download OVA template. In the Import Instructions section, download and decompress the corresponding OVA template file based on the version of your VMware ESXi or vCenter.

lQLPJxjJZIQrsxPMl80C7rBONH3msCozYwaTnoZxcjUA_750_151

Deploy VMware agentless connector

Import the extracted OVA template to your VMware ESXi or vCenter Server and deploy a Server Migration Connector by using the OVA template. A Server Migration Connector can be deployed on vCenter Server or VMware ESXi. You can select the deployment environment based on your business requirements.

(Recommended) Deploy a Server Migration Connector on vCenter Server

Import the OVA template of a Server Migration Connector to vCenter Server and deploy the Server Migration Connector by using the OVA template. In this example, vCenter Server 6.7 is used. To deploy a Server Migration Connector on vCenter Server, perform the following steps:

  1. Log on to vCenter, and on the vCenter host, right-click Deploy OVF Template....adad

  2. On the Deploy OVF Template page, follow the configuration wizard to create a virtual machine.

    1. Select the OVA template and click NEXT.

      Select Local file, click Browse..., and select the extracted OVA template file.ada

    2. Specify the VM name and installation location, and click NEXT.

      Enter a name for the virtual machine in the Virtual machine name field and select an installation location.ada56

    3. Select a computing resource and click NEXT.daa

    4. Confirm the template information and click NEXT.adsad

    5. Select the storage and click NEXT.asdasd

    6. Select the destination network and click NEXT.adad

    7. Confirm the configurations and click FINISH.asd,

    8. After the Server Migration Connector is deployed, right-click the Server Migration Connector and choose Power > Power On.

    9. Configure the network environment to ensure that the Server Migration Connector can connect to port 443 of vCenter Server and port 902 of the ESXi host on which the VMware VM to be migrated resides. The preceding port numbers are the default port numbers.

    10. On the Summary tab, obtain the IP address of the Server Migration Connector.asda

Single ESXi environment deployment

Import the OVA template of a Server Migration Connector to VMware ESXi and deploy the Server Migration Connector by using the OVA template. In this example, VMware ESXi 7.0 is used. To deploy a Server Migration Connector on VMware ESXi, perform the following steps:

  1. Log on to VMware ESXi, right-click Virtual Machines, and click Create/Register VM.

    image..png

  2. In the Select Creation Type step, select Deploy A Virtual Machine From An OVF Or OVA File and click Next.

    image..png

  3. On the Select OVF And VMDK Files page, enter a virtual machine name, click Click To Select Files Or Drag And Drop, select the downloaded OVA template file, and then click Next.

    image..png

  4. In the Select Storage step, click Next.

    image..png

  5. In the Deployment Options step, click Next.

    image..png

  6. On the Ready To Complete page, click Finish.

    Wait for the VM to be deployed. The IP address of the connector is displayed in the General Information section. The network of the connector is configured by using DHCP by default. You can modify the settings if needed.

    image..png

  7. Configure the network environment to ensure that the Server Migration Connector can connect to port 443 and port 902 of VMware ESXi. The preceding port numbers are the default port numbers.

Step 2: Import the information about the VMware VM to be migrated

Log on to the Server Migration Connector, add and configure the VMware VM to be migrated, and then import the information about the VMware VM to be migrated by running commands in the Server Migration Connector.

Add VMs to be migrated (multiple VMs supported)

You can use the configure.sh script to add multiple VMs to be migrated. After the VMs are added, the corresponding number of migration sources appear in the SMC console.

Note
  • A single Server Migration Connector can import and associate with a maximum of 10 migration sources at a time. If you configure more than 10 VMs to be migrated, only 10 migration sources will appear in the SMC console, and the remaining migration sources will be automatically imported after the current migration tasks are completed.

  • The preset operating system when a VM is created on vCenter Server may be incorrect. You must confirm the operating system of the VM.

  1. Log on to the VMware Agentless Connector.

    In this example, an SSH remote connection is established. Perform the following steps:

    On a terminal from which the Server Migration Connector is accessible over a network, run the following command to connect to the Server Migration Connector. The default username is root, and the default password is left empty.

    ssh root@<Server Migration Connector IP address>
    Important

    For account security, we recommend that you change your password at the earliest opportunity.

  2. Run the following command to check whether the time on the Server Migration Connector is accurate:

    date

    If the time is inaccurate, you can run the ntpdate command to calibrate the time. This topic uses the 0.asia.pool.ntp.org time server as an example.

    ntpdate 0.asia.pool.ntp.org
    hwclock --systohc
    Warning

    If the time is inaccurate, the information about the migration source fails to be imported.

    ad

  3. Run the following commands to configure the VMware VM to be migrated on your vCenter Server or VMware ESXi:

    Note

    This operation retrieves a list of all hosts and virtual machines in the environment. If you already know the names of the hosts or virtual machines to configure, you can skip this step and specify the names directly. For more information, see How to directly specify a host or VM for VMware agentless migration?.

    cd /root/smc
    bash configure.sh

    Configure the IP address, username, password, and port number of vCenter Server or VMware ESXi in sequence. We recommend that you use the default port 443. Sample command output:

    [root@localhost ~]# cd /root/smc
    [root@localhost smc]# ./configure.sh
    Please input vCenter/ESXi IP:192.168.XX.XX
    Please input username:administr****@vsphere.local
    Please input password:
    Please input port number(default 443):443

    The "Connect success" message is displayed, and a list of hosts is generated. Enter the ID of the host on which the VMware VM to be migrated resides. You must select a host that is in the Connected state. If an asterisk (*) is displayed in the Connected column of a host, the host is connected.

    Test to connect the vCenter/ESXi...
    Connect success!
    save to ./vmware_connect_config.json
    ========Aliyun SMC VMware Configure Tool 1.2========
    Connect success!
     Getting host list progress:
     [>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>100.00%]time: 1.0s
    
    
    Host List:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ID      Name                              Version            Connected
    1       192.168.XX.XX                     6.7.0                  *
    2       192.168.XX.XX                     7.0.3                  *
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Please input the ID of Host(input 0 to exit):1

    After you enter a host ID, a list of VMs is generated. Enter the ID of the VMware VM to be migrated. You must select a VM that is in the Connected state. If an asterisk (*) is displayed in the Connected column of a VM, the VM is connected.

    Test to connect 192.168.XX.XX
    Connect success!
     Getting vm list progress:
     [>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>100.00%]time: 2.3s
    
    
    VM List of 192.168.XX.XX:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ID      Name                               Connected      CBT      Add
    1080    test1                                  *
    1084    win16bios                              *
    1011    centos7-bios-2                         *
    3008    centos7-uefi                           *
    2001    centos-hw10                            *
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Please input the ID of VM to be migrated (input 0 to exit):1084

    Select the architecture of the VM to be migrated.

    --------------------------------------------------------------
    0    x86_64
    1    i386
    2    arm64
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Please choose the architecture:0

    If the operating system recognized by the system is incorrect, enter the number that corresponds to the actual operating system in the list. For example, you can enter 10 to select the Windows Server 2016 operating system.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    0	CentOS
    1	Ubuntu
    2	SUSE
    3	OpenSUSE
    4	Debian
    5	RedHat
    6	Others Linux
    7	Windows Server 2003
    8	Windows Server 2008
    9	Windows Server 2012
    10	Windows Server 2016
    11	Windows Server 2019
    12	Windows Server 2022
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Current OS [Apple macOS 10.14 (64-bit)] is invalid, please choose the OS of VM:10

    If an asterisk * is displayed in the Add column of the VM, the VM is successfully added.

    VM List of 192.168.XX.XX:
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    ID      Name                     Connected      CBT      Add  
    481     TEST_CLONE_1                 *      
    389     win16bios                    *                    *  
    338     hanjun_test_001              *  
    386     Aliyun_SMC_Agent_6.5         *  
    393     win16uefi   
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Please input the ID of VM to be migrated (input 0 to exit):0
    Note
    • If you want to migrate multiple VMs, enter the IDs of the VMs to be migrated.

    • If you want to migrate only one VM, enter 0 and return to the host list. If you want to migrate VMs on other hosts, repeat the preceding steps. Otherwise, enter 0 to exit the configuration.

(Optional) Configure the VMware VM to be migrated

Use the vmware_migrate_config.json file to confirm and modify the properties of the VMware VM to be migrated, such as its operating system, disks, and migration status.

  1. Run the following command to view the generated vmware_connect_config.json and vmware_migrate_config.json files.

    ll

    A command output similar to the following one is returned:

    [root@localhost smc]# ll
    total 5588
    drwxrwxrwx. 4 root root     239 Oct 17 17:27 Check
    -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root    6884 Oct 14 15:54 client_data
    -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     151 Oct 14 17:47 configure.sh
    drwxrwxrwx. 2 root root      72 Nov  1 01:15 dist
    -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root   38878 Oct 14 15:54 EULA
    drwxrwxrwx. 2 root root    4096 Oct 17 17:27 Excludes
    -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 5633792 Oct 31 19:43 go2aliyun_client
    -rwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     146 Oct 14 15:54 user_config.json
    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root     263 Nov 10 18:05 vmware_connect_config.json
    -rw-r--r--. 1 root root   18406 Nov 10 18:07 vmware_migrate_config.json
  2. Check whether the operating system, disks, and migration settings of the VM meet your expectations.

    vim vmware_migrate_config.json

    The vmware_migrate_config.json file is in JSON format. Each virtual machine corresponds to a key-value pair in an array, where the key is the Moref ID of the virtual machine (a unique identifier for different objects or resources in a VMware vSphere environment) and the value contains the attributes of the virtual machine. The key-value pair for each virtual machine is shown as follows:

     "1": {
            "vm_name": "centos7-bios-main",
            "moref_id": "1",
            "uuid": "1:525794aa-d3e9-2332-5d78-78a6e6d6d4f3:564dfd2b-91ab-1cae-2bef-cda625472b28",
            "cores": 2,
            "memory": 4.0,
            "boot_mode": "bios",
            "vdisk_num": 3,
            "host": "localhost.localdomain",
            "cpu_info": "Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8269CY CPU @ 2.50GHz",
            "virt_type": "VMware7,1",
            "host_id": "ddbd4d56-f407-f342-a8fa-2edd5424b34e",
            "CBT_enabled": true,
            "power_state": false,
            "connect_state": true,
            "mac": "unavailable",
            "tools_state": false,
            "ipv4": null,
            "guestOS": "CentOS 7 (64-bit)",
            "host_name": null,
            "disk": [
                {
                    "key": 2000,
                    "uuid": "6000C296-2b4b-5c40-2d8b-dfbc757641a2",
                    "capacity": 20971520,
                    "file_name": "[datastore1] centos7-bios/centos7-bios-000009.vmdk",
                    "change_id": "52 fc 41 38 48 e7 cc cc-cd af c1 f8 44 f3 0d e9/21",
                    "system_disk": true,
                    "migrate": true
                },
                {
                    "key": 2002,
                    "uuid": "6000C294-4055-f564-1190-e365396eb0a6",
                    "capacity": 22020096,
                    "file_name": "[datastore1] centos7-bios/centos7-bios_2-000009.vmdk",
                    "change_id": "52 74 c8 ba 23 f6 cd 8b-2c c5 94 40 cd b1 f5 e9/21",
                    "system_disk": false,
                    "migrate": true
                },
                {
                    "key": 2003,
                    "uuid": "6000C296-24cf-80d2-e692-67a938ad036c",
                    "capacity": 24117248,
                    "file_name": "[datastore1] centos7-bios/centos7-bios_3-000009.vmdk",
                    "change_id": "52 6a de 0a 18 b4 2a 63-46 54 19 ad 07 88 bd 16/21",
                    "system_disk": false,
                    "migrate": true
                }
            ],
            "architecture": "x86_64",
            "platform": "CentOS",
            "migrate": true,
            "hardware_version": 19,
            "host_version": "7.0.3",
            "snapshot_state": true
    

  3. Configure the operating system, disks, and migration settings of the VM. You may need to edit the following content:

    • platform: The operating system type of the VM. If the automatically identified operating system type does not match the actual one, you need to manually configure it. The following operating system types are supported for migration. Other operating system types are not supported.

    • CentOS
      Ubuntu
      SUSE
      OpenSUSE
      Debian
      RedHat
      Others Linux
      Windows Server 2003
      Windows Server 2008
      Windows Server 2012
      Windows Server 2016
      Windows Server 2019
      Windows Server 2022
    • disk: The list of disks for the VM, in array format.

      • The system disk is the first disk by default, and its corresponding system_disk value is true. If the system disk of the VM is not the first disk, you must change the system_disk value for the actual system disk to true and the system_disk value for the other data disks to false.

      • The value of the migrate parameter for all disks is true by default, which indicates that the disks will be migrated. If you do not want to migrate a disk other than the system disk, you can change the value of its migrate parameter to false.

    • migrate: Whether to migrate the VM.

      • The value of the migrate parameter for a selected VM is true, which indicates that the VM is to be migrated.

      • If you need to migrate a VM for which the value of migrate is false, you can change the value of migrate to true and manually configure platform and architecture.

      • The architecture of the virtual machine. Valid values are x86_64/i386/arm64.

Import the information about a migration source by using the SMC client

After you log on to the Server Migration Connector, start the SMC client and import the information about the VMware VM to be migrated to the SMC console by running commands.

Warning
  • Snapshot deletion error

    When the SMC client is running, avoid manually performing operations such as shutting down, restarting, creating, or deleting snapshots on the VMware VM to be migrated. If you create or delete snapshots for the VMware VM to be migrated, the migration may fail. If the migration fails as a result, run ./dist/migrate_configure in the SMC client home directory /root/smc to retrieve the VM configuration again. Then, run the ./go2aliyun_client --rerun command to rerun the SMC client.

  • Manual snapshot residue cleanup

    During the synchronization phase of a migration job, the SMC client automatically creates a snapshot for the VMware VM to be migrated. The snapshot is named in the `smc_Migration Job ID_Current Time` format, for example, smc_j-bp1ho******4_2025-07-02-17:05:43, and is automatically deleted after the synchronization is complete. If you manually delete the migration job before the synchronization is complete, the snapshot will remain. You can use the following solutions to resolve this issue:

    • Step 1: Manually delete the snapshot

      Manually delete the snapshot in the vCenter/ESXi management interface. Right-click the VM to be migrated, select Snapshots>Manage Snapshots, select the snapshot, and DELETE.

    • Step 2: Run the following command to retrieve the VM configuration in the SMC client home directory and rerun the SMC client.

      cd /root/smc
      ./dist/migrate_configure    #Retrieve the VM configuration.
      ./go2aliyun_client --rerun   #Rerun the SMC client.
  1. Log on to SMC console-Agentless Migration of VMware VMs.

  2. On the Agentless Migration of VMware VMs page, click Import Migration source.

  3. On the Import Migration Source page, configure the parameters.

    The following table describes the parameters.

    Parameter

    Description

    Migration Source Type

    In the drop-down list, select VMware VM.

    Import Method

    By default, Use Server Migration Connector To Import VMware VM is selected and cannot be changed.

    Description

    The description of the procedure for importing the information about a migration source.

  4. Obtain the activation code.

    1. Obtain an access token (Recommended): An SMC access token consists of an Access Token ID and an Access Token Code. If you do not have an access token, go to the Import Description section in the SMC console, click Generate Activation Code, and copy the access token information.

      image..png

    2. Log on to the Server Migration Connector and run the following commands to import the information about the VMware VM:

      chmod +x ./go2aliyun_client
      ./go2aliyun_client

      Enter the activation code as prompted. In this example, an activation code is entered, and a command output similar to the following is returned. If the message Import Source Server [s-bp14zd35128xgjdbh****] Successfully! is displayed, the migration source is imported successfully.

      Note
      • You can run ./go2aliyun_client --help to obtain help information.

      • If you enter an incorrect activation code and the migration source fails to be imported, you can import the migration source again. An example command is ./go2aliyun_client --accesstokenid=at-****** --accesstokencode=yK******9I.

      • You can also activate the SMC client by using an AccessKey pair. An AccessKey pair of an Alibaba Cloud account consists of an AccessKey ID and an AccessKey secret. If you have not created an AccessKey pair, create one first. For more information, see Create an AccessKey. The reference command is ./go2aliyun_client --accessid=****** --secretkey=******9I.

    3. On the Agentless Migration Of VMware VMs page in the SMC console, view the status of the migration source in the Real-time Migration Status column.

      • If the status of the migration source is Migration SourceOnline, the information about the migration source is imported.

      • If the migration source is in another state, the information fails to be imported. In this case, troubleshoot the failure based on the following solutions and import the information about the migration source again:

        • Troubleshoot the issue based on the message displayed in the SMC console or the log file in the directory where the SMC client is installed. The default installation directory for the SMC client is C:\smc.

        • For more information about frequently asked questions (FAQ) and solutions, see FAQ and Errors occurred during a server migration.

Step 3: Create and start a migration job

In the SMC console, create and start a migration job as prompted. SMC supports migrating VMware servers to the following Destination Types:

  • (Recommended) ECS Image: You can migrate the source server to a custom image and then use the custom image to create ECS instances.

  • ECS Instance: You can migrate the VMware VM directly to a purchased ECS instance if the instance is new or its existing data is no longer needed. The VMware VM must be compatible with the destination ECS instance in terms of the number of disks, disk size, and operating system.

    Warning

    After a migration job is created, all original data is deleted from the destination ECS instance. However, the system does not delete data from the source server. If the destination ECS instance contains important data, we recommend that you do not directly migrate the source server to the destination instance.

  1. Go to SMC console - VMware agentless migration.

  2. Find the migration source that you want to manage and click Start Migration in the Actions column.

  3. Configure the parameters and click Start Migration.

    1. Configure the basic parameters described in the following table.

      Parameter

      Description

      Example

      Migration Job Name

      The name of the migration job.

      VMware migration without agents

      Job Description

      The description of the migration job.

      test

      Destination Type

      Required. The type of the destination. Select a destination type based on the actual migration scenario.

      ECS Image

      Migrate the source server to an ECS custom image and then use the custom image to create an ECS instance.

      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 custom image generated by SMC for the source server.

      ECS instance

      Migrate the source server to an existing ECS instance whose configurations such as storage and operating system match those of the source server.

      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.

      ECS Image

      Execution Method

      The mode in which the migration job is run. Valid values:

      • 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 click Start Migration Job in the Actions column to manually start the migration job.

      Keep the default setting

      Automatic Incremental Synchronization

      Specifies whether to automatically synchronize incremental data from the source server to Alibaba Cloud. By default, automatic incremental synchronization is disabled.

      Note

      If you select to migrate to a Destination Instance, this feature is not supported.

      • If you turn on this switch, you must configure the following parameters:

          • Synchronization Interval: The interval for the periodic, automatic execution of incremental migration jobs.

          • Maximum Number Of Retained Images: The maximum number of images retained by default for an incremental migration job.

          The migration job will automatically run periodically and synchronize incremental data to Alibaba Cloud. For more information about the best practices for incremental migration, see VMware agentless incremental migration.

      Keep the default setting

    2. Configure the disk parameters described in the following table.

      Parameter

      Description

      Example

      Destination Disk Size (GiB)

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

      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 size of the source system disk. For example, if the size of the source system disk is 400 GiB, you must set this parameter to a value greater than 400 GiB.

      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.

      Data disk

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

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

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

      Note

      If your migration source has no data disk or the data disk is not attached, the Data Disk parameters are not displayed. For more information, see Why are the data disk parameters not displayed on the Create Migration Job page?.

      Keep the default setting

    3. Optional. Click Advanced Configuration to configure advanced parameters such as network mode and compression ratio. The following table describes the advanced parameters.

      Parameter

      Description

      Example

      Network Type

      The type of network that is used to migrate data from the source server to the intermediate instance. By default, data is migrated over the Internet. During the migration, SMC creates an intermediate instance that connects to a vSwitch in a VPC. If you select Public Network, a public IP address is assigned to the intermediate instance.

      Public Network (default value)

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

      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, or SAG to connect a migration source to a VPC. For more information, see Connect a data center to a VPC.

      Keep the default setting

      Transmission Speed Limit

      The maximum network transfer speed during the migration. Unit: Mbit/s. If you set the Compression Ratio parameter to a value greater than 0, the actual network transfer speed, which is the transfer speed of compressed data, is lower than the speed displayed in the Real-time Migration Status column.

      Keep the default setting

      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.

      Keep the default setting

      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.

      Keep the default setting

      SSL-Encrypted Transmission

      This feature is enabled by default. Using SSL encryption for data migration enhances security and ensures data integrity.

      Keep the default setting

      License Type

      The license type. Valid values:

      • Alibaba Cloud (default): Only a Microsoft Windows Server license is supported. After migration, you are charged license fees for an image when you use the image to create an ECS instance in Hong Kong (China) and regions outside China, and the image is automatically activated. The specific cost is subject to the information displayed when the instance is created.

      • BYOL: SMC allows you to bring your own license (BYOL). You can bring your own Microsoft license or register with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. After migration, you are not charged license fees for an image when you use the image to create an ECS instance. You can use your own license for activation.

        Note

        If you have created an ECS instance, you can quickly purchase software licenses such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for specified ECS instances supported by Alibaba Cloud. For more information, see Purchase a software license for an ECS instance (invitational preview).

      Keep the default setting

      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 migrate servers or VMware VMs without agents.

      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.

      Keep the default setting

      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 jobs and Use tags to implement fine-grained access control.

      Note

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

      Keep the default setting

      Intermediate Instance Type

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

      • The instance type of the intermediate instance is automatically selected. If you specify an instance type, SMC creates an intermediate instance of the specified 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 creates an intermediate instance.

      Important

      Do not stop, start, restart, or release the intermediate instance during the migration to prevent migration failures. After the migration is complete, SMC automatically releases the intermediate instance.

      Upload Diagnostic Logs

      Automatically upload SMC client logs to the SMC server for error diagnosis and analysis, which helps locate issues when migration errors occur. This feature is enabled by default.

      The SMC client logs are generally saved in the /smc/go2aliyun_client*/Logs directory in the installation folder.

      Keep the default setting

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

  5. On the Migration Jobs page, view the real-time migration status.

    The amount of time required for data transmission is subject to factors such as the data size of the migration source and network bandwidth. Wait until the migration job is complete.

    image

    When a migration job is in the Synchronizing state, you can click Pause Job in the Actions column.

  6. Optional. To view details about the migration, perform the following steps:

    View migration details

    In the Migration Source ID /Name column of the destination migration source, click the migration source ID to view the job details.

    4f6e6910cfeda1780d1e406a91e2492b

Verify migration results

  • If Completed is displayed in the Real-time Migration Status column, the migration is successful.

    • If you set the Destination Type parameter to ECS Image for the migration job, you can verify the migration result in the following way:

      After the migration is complete, an Alibaba Cloud custom image is generated. You can use your pointer to slide the scrollbar at the bottom to the right and click View Report in the Migration Deliverables column to view the check result of the image. For more information, see View the image check results step of the "Configure image check" topic.

      image

      (Recommended) Manually verify the migration result

      You can click Create Instance in the Actions column to go to the ECS instance creation page in the ECS console. The custom ECS image created by the migration job is selected by default for you to create an ECS instance. For more information, see Create an instance by using a custom image.

      Use the automatic migration result verification feature

      Note

      To use this feature, you must install the Cloud Assistant Agent in your instance, and the system version of the instance must support this feature. For more information, see Install Cloud Assistant Agent.

      This feature uses the ACS-SMC-CreateAndVerifyInstance template provided by Alibaba Cloud CloudOps Orchestration Service (OOS) to automatically verify whether the image generated by the migration job can be used to create an ECS instance and whether the ECS instance can start as expected.

      1. Click Verify Migration Result in the Actions column.

        image

      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. In the Verify Migration Result column, view the verification result. Valid values:

        • Verified: indicates that the migration is successful. You can click Details to check the verification result.

        • Not Verified: indicates that the migration failed. You can click View Cause to troubleshoot the failure.

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

    • If you set the Destination Type parameter to ECS Instance for the migration job, you can click View Destination Instance in the Actions column to go to the details page of the destination ECS instance to verify the migration result.

    After the server is migrated, you must perform the following operations to ensure normal operation of your business:

    • Verify the integrity and correctness of the data. For more information, see the How do I check a Linux server after migration? or How do I check a Windows server after migration? section of the "FAQ" topic.

    • Manually start the applications and services after the migration if automatic start is not enabled for the applications and services on the source server.

    • The IP address changes after the migration job is complete. If the service involves the configuration of the IP address, modify the domain name resolution and ICP filing after the migration.

  • When the Real-time Migration Status is Error, it indicates that the migration job has failed.

    In this case, you need to troubleshoot the issue and retry:

    1. In the Actions column, click Troubleshoot, and resolve the issue based on the error code and error message. For more information, see SMC FAQ and Troubleshoot errors.

    2. After you fix the issue, in the Actions column, click Retry Migration.

      The system continues the migration from where it left off.

      Important

      If the intermediate instance is released, you must migrate the source server again. For more information, see What do I do if an intermediate instance is accidentally released?.

Clear resources

  • Migrate a server to an ECS image

    During the migration, SMC creates a temporary pay-as-you-go intermediate instance named No_Delete_SMC_Transition_Instance within the destination Alibaba Cloud account. The method to clear resources depends on whether the migration is successful.

    • If the migration is successful, the intermediate instance is automatically released. No manual operation is required.

    • If the migration failed, the intermediate instance is not automatically released and incurs fees as long as the migration job exists. You can release the intermediate instance in one of the following ways to reduce costs:

      • If you no longer need the migration job, click the ID the migration job. On the job details page, click image > Clear migration task in the Actions column in the Migration Jobs section to delete the migration job and release the intermediate instance at a time.

      • Manually release the intermediate instance. For more information, see Release an instance.

  • Migrate a server to an ECS instance

    During the migration, SMC creates a temporary pay-as-you-go intermediate cloud disk named SMC_Temp_Disk in the destination instance. The method to clear resources depends on whether the migration is successful.

    • If the migration is successful, the intermediate cloud disk is automatically released. No manual operation is required.

    • If the migration failed, the intermediate cloud disk is not automatically released and incurs fees as long as the migration job exists. You can release the intermediate cloud disk in one of the following ways to reduce costs:

      • If you no longer need the migration job, click the ID of the migration job. On the job details page, click image > Clear migration task in the Actions column in the Migration Jobs section to delete the migration job and release the intermediate cloud disk at a time.

      • Manually release the intermediate instance. For more information, see Release a disk.

References