You can transfer data from an existing vCenter Server Appliance external database to the embedded PostgreSQL database in use by version 6.7 of the vCenter Server Appliance.
Both the Windows-based vCenter Server upgrade and vCenter Server Appliance migration procedures let you copy the minimum amount of data needed to be operational, minimizing downtime. You can then copy the remaining data from the external database to the embedded PostgreSQL database in the background, preserving your deployment's historical event and performance data.
You can migrate the following types of data from an external database to the embedded PostgreSQL database in use by version 6.7 of the vCenter Server Appliance.
- Configuration data
- This is the minimum type of data you must transfer from your existing vCenter Server Appliance external database to upgrade or migrate to a functioning vCenter Server Appliance. This data can be transferred in a reasonably short amount of time, minimizing downtime during the upgrade to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.
- Configuration and historical data
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In addition to the configuration data, you can choose to transfer historical data such as usage statistics, events, and tasks. The vCenter Server Appliance installer gives you the option to copy both the configuration and historical data at once, or to copy only the configuration data during the upgrade process. You can then choose to copy the historical data in the background after you start your new vCenter Server.
Attention: If you choose to copy all data and once, you cannot start vCenter Server until all of the data has been transferred to the embedded PostgreSQL database within vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.
- Configuration, historical, and performance metrics data
- This is the largest amount of data you can choose to transfer to vCenter Server Appliance. As with the configuration and historical data, you can choose to copy only the configuration data during the upgrade process, and then copy the historical and performance data in the background after the upgrade or migration to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 is complete.
You can transfer historical data after the upgrade or migration from the following vCenter Server versions and external databases to the embedded PostgreSQL database within
vCenter Server Appliance.
| vCenter Server Versions | Databases | vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 Support for Data Transfer |
|---|---|---|
| vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 | External Oracle database | Supported |
| Embedded PostgreSQL database | Not supported | |
| vCenter Server for Windows 6.0 | External Oracle or MS SQL database | Supported |
| Embedded PostgreSQL database | Not supported | |
| vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 | Embedded PostgreSQL database | Not supported |
| vCenter Server for Windows 6.5 | External Oracle or MS SQL database | Supported |
| Embedded PostgreSQL database | Not supported |
Monitor and Manage Historical Data Migration
You can monitor and mange the background migration of historical data using the
vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface. You can perform the following data management tasks:
- Monitor the progress of the data migration.
- Pause the data import.
- Cancel the data import.
Important: If you cancel the data import, the historical data will not be imported to the embedded PostgreSQL database. You cannot recover the data once you cancel the operation. If you do cancel the import, and wish to import the historical data at a later time, you must restart the upgrade or migration process from Stage 1 of the GUI installer.
