To migrate virtual machines with vMotion, the virtual machine must meet certain network, disk, CPU, USB, and other device requirements.

The following virtual machine conditions and limitations apply when you use vMotion:

  • The source and destination management network IP address families must match. You cannot migrate a virtual machine from a host that is registered to vCenter Server with an IPv4 address to a host that is registered with an IPv6 address.
  • Using 1 GbE network adapters for the vMotion network might result in migration failure, if you migrate virtual machines with large vGPU profiles. Use 10 GbE network adapters for the vMotion network.
  • If virtual CPU performance counters are enabled, you can migrate virtual machines only to hosts that have compatible CPU performance counters.
  • You can migrate virtual machines that have 3D graphics enabled. If the 3D Renderer is set to Automatic, virtual machines use the graphics renderer that is present on the destination host. The renderer can be the host CPU or a GPU graphics card. To migrate virtual machines with the 3D Renderer set to Hardware, the destination host must have a GPU graphics card.
  • You can migrate virtual machines with USB devices that are connected to a physical USB device on the host. You must enable the devices for vMotion.
  • You cannot use migration with vMotion to migrate a virtual machine that uses a virtual device backed by a device that is not accessible on the destination host. For example, you cannot migrate a virtual machine with a CD drive backed by the physical CD drive on the source host. Disconnect these devices before you migrate the virtual machine.
  • You cannot use migration with vMotion to migrate a virtual machine that uses a virtual device backed by a device on the client computer. Disconnect these devices before you migrate the virtual machine.
  • You can migrate virtual machines that use Flash Read Cache if the destination host also provides Flash Read Cache. During the migration, you can select whether to migrate the virtual machine cache or drop it, for example, when the cache size is large.