Server Migration Center:Migrate VMware VMs without agents

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.

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.

   

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.

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.

      

   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.