Tags replace the custom attributes functionality found in previous versions of vSphere. If you have existing custom attributes, you can migrate them to tags.

During the migration, the custom attribute names are converted to categories. Custom attribute values are converted to tag names.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Web Client object navigator, browse to any object that has custom attributes.
  2. Click the object's Summary tab.
  3. Select Actions > Tags & Custom Attributes > Edit Custom Attributes...
  4. In the Migrate Custom Attributes dialog box, click Migrate.
    The Migrate Custom Attributes to Tags wizard appears.
  5. Read the instructions and click Next.
  6. Select the custom attributes to migrate and click Next.
    The Create Tag Categories page displays the name of each custom attribute as a new tag category.
  7. (Optional) Select a category to edit its options.
    Option Description
    Category Name The category name must be unique to the currently selected vCenter Server system.
    Description You can provide text in the description to describe the purpose or use of the category.
    Cardinality
    • Select One tag per object to allow only one tag from this category to be applied to an object at any one time.

      Use this option for categories whose tags are mutually exclusive. For example, a category called Priority with tags High, Medium, and Low should allow one tag per object, because an object should have only one priority.

    • Select Many tags per object to allow multiple tags from the category to be applied to an object at any one time.

      Use this option for categories whose tags are not mutually exclusive.

    After you have set the cardinality of a category, you can change the cardinality from One tag per object to Many tags per object, but not from Many tags per object to One tag per object.

    Associable Object Types

    Select whether tags in this category can be assigned to all objects or only to a specific type of managed object, such as virtual machines or datastores.

    After you have set the associable object types for a category, you can change a category that is associable with a single object type to be associable with all object types. You cannot restrict a category that is associable to all object types to being associable to a single object type.

  8. (Optional) Select a tag to edit its attributes.
    Option Description
    Name The tag name must be unique across all linked vCenter Server systems.
    Description You can provide text in the description to describe the purpose or use of the tag.
  9. Click Finish.

Results

The selected custom attributes are converted to categories and tags.