Before you migrate, you must review the documentation, verify that you have the required software versions, modify your existing NSX-v environment if needed, and deploy the infrastructure for the new NSX-T environment.

Documentation

Check for the latest version of this guide and the release notes for NSX-T Data Center and migration coordinator. You can find the documentation on this docs.vmware.com portal.

Required Software and Versions

  • NSX-v versions 6.4.4, 6.4.5, 6.4.6, 6.4.8 and later are supported.
  • The version of vRealize Automation that you are using must support this migration. Support for this migration is available starting in vRealize Automation 8.3. See the Release Notes in the vRealize Automation documentation at https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/index.html.

    In vRealize Automation, the target NSX-T cloud account must be associated with NSX-T 3.1.1 or later.

  • See the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices for required versions of vCenter Server and ESXi.
  • The version of ESXi used in your NSX-v environment must be supported by NSX-T.
  • vSphere Distributed Switch versions 6.5.0, 6.6.0, and 7.0 are supported.
  • The NSX-v environment must match the NSX-T system requirements for ESXi, vCenter Server, and vSphere Distributed Switch.
  • If you want to migrate the user roles from NSX-v, you must deploy and configure VMware Identity Manager™. See the VMware Interoperability Matrices for compatible versions. See the VMware Identity Manager documentation for more information.

Prepare a New NSX-T Data Center Environment

You must configure a new NSX-T Data Center environment to migrate an existing NSX-v environment that is integrated with vRealize Automation.

For a detailed information about all the preparation tasks, see Prepare NSX-T Data Center Environment.

Prepare NSX Data Center for vSphere Environment

You must check the state of the NSX-v environment and fix any problems found. Also, depending on your environment, you might need to change your NSX-v configuration before you can migrate to NSX-T Data Center.

For a detailed information about all the preparation tasks, see Prepare the NSX-v Environment for Migration.

Prepare vRealize Automation Environment for Migration

Do the following tasks in vRealize Automation to prepare for the migration:
  • Add a new target NSX-T cloud account in vRealize Automation for the source NSX-v cloud account in your vRealize Automation projects.

    For more information, see Getting Started with vRealize Automation NSX-V to NSX-T Migration in the vRealize Automation 8 NSX-V to NSX-T Migration Guide.

  • Create a migration plan to migrate from NSX-v to NSX-T. Complete the following four steps in the migration plan:
    • Step 1: Specify the source and target cloud accounts.
    • Step 2: Assess the NSX cloud accounts for migration readiness.
    • Step 3: Enter maintenance mode for the cloud accounts.
    • Step 4: Generate a deployment configuration file.

    For a detailed information about each of these steps, see Creating and Running the vRealize Automation NSX-V to NSX-T Migration Plan in the vRealize Automation 8 NSX-V to NSX-T Migration Guide.

The deployment configuration file in .json format becomes an input to the NSX-T migration coordinator.