You can use the GUI to migrate vCenter Server with Platform Services Controller to an appliance.

When you migrate from vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller (version 6.0 or 6.5) on Windows to vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller appliance, you migrate in two steps.

If you use Update Manager in the vCenter Server deployment on Windows that you migrate, and Update Manager runs on a separate machine from any other of the vCenter Server components, take an extra step to migrate Update Manager to an appliance.

  1. If your vCenter Server deployment on Windows uses an external Update Manager, run Migration Assistant on the Update Manager machine to start the migration of the Update Manager server and database to the vCenter Server Appliance.
  2. Migrate the Platform Services Controller instance from Windows to an appliance.
  3. Migrate the vCenter Server instance from Windows to an appliance.
Figure 1. vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 with External Platform Services Controller Before and After Migration


When migrating vCenter Server instances on Windows in a mixed platform environment with a Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 appliance, you upgrade the Platform Services Controller appliance to the version 6.7 appliance before migrating the vCenter Server instances to appliances.

When migrating vCenter Server Appliance instances in a mixed platform environment with a Platform Services Controller instance on Windows, you migrate the Platform Services Controller to an appliance before upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance instances to version 6.7.

Important: Concurrent migrations of Platform Services Controller instances are not supported. You must migrate the instances in a sequence. See Upgrade or Migration Order and Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments for more details.

GUI tasks for migrating a Platform Services Controller instance from Windows to an appliance:

  1. Download and Mount the vCenter Server Appliance Installer ISO file on a network virtual machine or physical server from which you want to perform the migration.
  2. Download and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source Windows Machine.
    Note: If you are migrating a vCenter Server system that uses an external instance of Update Manager that runs on a separate Windows machine, first run Migration Assistant on the Update Manager machine.
  3. Assemble the Required Information for Migrating vCenter Server from Windows to an Appliance for each Platform Services Controller or vCenter Server instance.
  4. Deploy the OVA File for Migrating to a Platform Services Controller Appliance.
  5. Set Up the Target Platform Services Controller Appliance
  6. Deploy the OVA File for the Target vCenter Server Appliance with an External Platform Services Controller
  7. Set Up the Target vCenter Server Appliance
Important: The user name you use to log in to the physical machine from which you want to run the GUI installer, the path to the vCenter Server Appliance installer, and values, including the passwords, must contain only ASCII characters. Extended ASCII and non-ASCII characters are unsupported.

For each node to be migrated, the installer:

  • Deploys a new target appliance.
  • Exports the required files from the source Platform Services Controller or vCenter Server instance.
  • Copies the required files to the target appliance for migration.
  • Runs the migration process on the target appliance as indicated in the Summary.
  • Imports and updates the files and settings of the source Platform Services Controller or vCenter Server instance to the new appliance.