This checklist describes end-to-end requirements and configurations needed for migration with vMotion between your on-premises data center and your cloud SDDC.

Note:

HCX-based vMotion has a different set of requirements. See Hybrid Migration with VMware HCX Checklist.

Table 1. vMotion Requirements for SDDCs With NSX
Requirement Description
Networking speed and latency Migration with vMotion requires sustained minimum bandwidth of 250 Mbps between source and destination vMotion vMkernel interfaces, and a maximum latency of 100 ms round trip between source and destination.
On-premises vSphere version

Your on-premises vSphere installation must be vSphere 6.7U2 or higher. See VMware Knowledge Base article 56991 for more information.
On-premises DVS version 6.0 or higher.
On-premises NSX version any
Note: SDDCs configured withNSX do not support hot vMotion to or from on-premises VXLAN encapsulated networks (NSX for vSphere) or Geneve Datacenter Overlay networks (NSX).
IPsec VPN Configure an IPsec VPN for the management gateway. See Configure a VPN Connection Between Your SDDC and On-Premises Data Center in the VMware Cloud on AWS Networking and Security guide.
Direct Connect Direct Connect over a private virtual interface between your on-premise datacenter and your VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC is required for migration with vMotion. See Using AWS Direct Connect with VMware Cloud on AWS.
Hybrid Linked Mode Hybrid Linked Mode is required to initiate migration from the vSphere Client. It is not required to initiate migration using the API or PowerCLI.
L2 VPN Configure a Layer 2 VPN to extend virtual machine networks between your on-premises data center and cloud SDDC. Routed networks are not supported. See Configure a Layer 2 VPN and Extended Network Segment in VMware Cloud on AWS Networking and Security.
VMware Cloud on AWS firewall rules Ensure that you have created the necessary firewall rules as described in Required Firewall Rules for vMotion.
On-premises firewall rules Ensure that you have created the necessary firewall rules as described in Required Firewall Rules for vMotion.
Virtual machine hardware and settings

Ensure that these requirements are met for virtual machine hardware.

  • Virtual machine hardware version 9 or later is required for migration with vMotion from the on-premises data center to the cloud SDDC.
  • EVC is not supported in the VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC.
  • VMs that are created in the cloud SDDC or that have been power-cycled after migration to the cloud SDDC can't be migrated back to the on-premises data center with vMotion unless the on-premises EVC baseline is Broadwell. You can relocate these VMs after powering them off, as long as their virtual machine hardware version is compatible with the on-premises data center.
  • Migration of VMs with DRS or HA VM overrides is not supported. For more information on VM overrides, see Customize an Individual Virtual Machine.
Important: Source switch configurations (including NIOC, spoofguard, distributed firewall, and Switch Security) and runtime state are not applied at the destination as part of migration in either direction. Before you initiate vMotion, apply the source switch configuration to the destination network.