SMC migrates VMware virtual machines to Alibaba Cloud without in-guest agents. This guide covers agentless migration benefits, architecture, billing, and the step-by-step procedure.
You can also use agent-based migration. Migrate servers to ECS.
Benefits of agentless migration
No in-guest footprint
The SMC client runs outside your VMs, consuming no guest resources.
Efficient deployment
No per-VM agent installation required.
Enhanced security
No guest OS operations required, reducing the attack surface.
Broad compatibility
OS-agnostic migration increases the success rate.
Server Migration Connector
The Server Migration Connector is a VM with the SMC client pre-installed. Deploy it by importing the Open Virtualization Appliance (OVA) template into your vCenter or ESXi environment — no agents required on source VMs. This minimizes production disruption and improves migration security and efficiency. Step 1: Create a Server Migration Connector.
How it works
SMC consists of a client and a console. The following diagram shows the agentless migration architecture for VMware.
Server migration principles:
Download the Server Migration Connector OVA template from the SMC console and import it into vCenter to deploy the connector VM.
Log on to the connector VM, configure the vCenter server and source VMs, then run the import commands. The SMC client registers source VM information through the SMC service endpoint.
When you create a migration task, SMC provisions a temporary intermediate instance with security group rules allowing inbound access on ports 8080 and 8703. If you migrate to a destination instance, it serves as the intermediate instance, and an additional data disk is created and attached.
The SMC VMware agentless connector virtual appliance establishes communication by connecting to port 8080 of the intermediate instance, and transfers disk data to the data disk of the intermediate instance through port 8703 of the intermediate instance. After the source system data is migrated, the data is stored on the cloud disk of the intermediate instance; SMC does not store it separately.
SMC snapshots the disk data on the intermediate instance and generates a custom image. If you are migrating to a destination instance, SMC replaces its system disk with the new image.
Billing
SMC itself is free. However, ECS resources created during migration incur charges as described in Product Billing.
Procedure
To migrate VMs with SMC, import the migration source, then create and start a migration task. The following diagram shows the procedure.
Follow these steps:
Prepare for the migration
Complete the prerequisites: create an Alibaba Cloud account, complete real-name verification, and activate the RAM service and snapshot service. Prepare for the migration.
Create a Server Migration Connector
Download the connector OVA template from the SMC console and import it into vCenter. Step 1: Create a Server Migration Connector.
Import the migration source
Log on to the connector VM, configure vCenter and the source VMs, then run the import commands. Step 2: Import the migration source.
Create a migration task
Create and start the migration task in the SMC console. After migration, SMC generates a custom image that you can use to manually create an ECS instance. Step 3: Create a migration task.
Feedback and support
For questions or suggestions, join the SMC DingTalk support group or scan the QR code below. Download the DingTalk client
