Through the HCX Migration interface, you can configure multiple virtual machine migrations, including reverse migrations.
This section describes migration operations for systems licensed for HCX Advanced services. For information about migration operations using HCX Mobility Groups, which is available with systems licensed for HCX Enterprise services, see Migrating Virtual Machines with Mobility Groups.
Migrations are always configured using the HCX Connector or Cloud system that initiated site pairing. In Cloud-to-Cloud deployments with bi-directional site pairing, HCX in both paired sites can initiate migrations. For more information, see Add a Site Pair.
The HCX system automatically detects virtual machine disk additions or removals and reconfigures running migrations to accommodate these changes. These disk changes are honored only if the changes occur before the migration switchover phase. If disk changes occur during the switchover phase, the changes are not recognized, which can affect the success of the migration operation. Support for adding or removing disks is available only with Bulk and Replication Assisted vMotion migrations.
Taking snapshots of a VM during migration, either manually or through a third-party backup solution, it can disrupt the migration process. To prevent any impact, it is required to stop those services that may create or remove snapshots during migration. Refer to KB79220 for more information.
For Bulk, vMotion, and RAV migration types, you can select a Service Mesh to use for migration operations. For each HCX site pair, you can have one or more Service Mesh configurations. Each Service Mesh configuration has a specific resource and network configuration. In some cases, you might choose a specific Service Mesh to use for migrations based on the Service Mesh configuration. If no Service Mesh is selected for a migration, HCX automatically selects the Service Mesh to use. To add a Service Mesh for a site pair, see Create a Service Mesh for vSphere-based Site Pairs.
The selectable Service Mesh option requires that both the source and destination sites run HCX 4.8 or later.
For the operational limits supported with HCX migrations, see Configuration and Service Limits.
Prerequisites
The migration service is activated in both the source and destination site Compute Profile.
The migration service is activated in the HCX Service Mesh.
For RAV or OSAM migrations, the HCX Enterprise license is activated.
Note: No additional license or activation is required in HCX for VMware Cloud on AWS deployments.Sentinel software is installed on all guest virtual machines requiring OSAM migration. See Sentinel Management.