You can use the Migration wizard to migrate a powered-on virtual machine from one compute resource to another by using vMotion. To relocate only the disks of a powered-on virtual machine, migrate the virtual machine to a new datastore by using Storage vMotion.

Prerequisites

Verify that your hosts and virtual machines meet the requirements for migration with vMotion with shared storage.

  • Verify that your hosts and virtual machines meet the requirements for migration with vMotion. See the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
  • Verify that the storage that contains the virtual machine disks is shared between the source and target hosts. See "vMotion Shared Storage Requirements" in the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
  • For migration across vCenter Server instances, verify whether your system meets additional requirements. See "Requirements for Migration Across vCenter Servers" in the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
  • For migration of a virtual machine with NVIDIA vGPU, verify that the target ESXi host has a free vGPU slot. Also, verify that the vgpu.hotmigrate.enabled advanced setting is set to true. For more information about configuring vCenter Server advanced settings, see "Configure Advanced Settings" in the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
  • Required privilege: Resource.Migrate powered on virtual machine

Procedure

  1. Right-click the virtual machine and select Migrate.
    1. To locate a virtual machine, select a data center, folder, cluster, resource pool, host, or vApp.
    2. Click the Virtual Machines tab.
  2. Click Change compute resource only and click Next.
  3. Select a host, cluster, resource pool, or vApp to run the virtual machine, and click Next.
    Any compatibility problem appears in the Compatibility panel. Fix the problem, or select another host or cluster.

    Possible targets include hosts and fully automated DRS clusters in the same or another vCenter Server system. If your target is a non-automated cluster, select a host within the non-automated cluster.

    Important:

    If the virtual machine that you migrate has an NVDIMM device and virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have available PMem resources. Otherwise, the compatibility check fails and you cannot proceed further with the migration.

    If the virtual machine that you migrate does not have an NVDIMM device, but it has virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have available PMem resources, so that all PMem hard disks remain stored on a PMem datastore. Otherwise, all the hard disks use the storage policy and datastore selected for the configuration files of the virtual machine.

    Important: Migrating a virtual machine that has an NVDIMM device or a vPMem disk to a host that does not have the proper license fails and leaves the virtual machine in an unmanageable state for 90 seconds. You can afterwards retry the migration and select a destination host that is licensed to use PMem devices.
  4. Select a destination network for all VM network adapters connected to a valid source network and click Next.

    You can click Advanced to select a new destination network for each VM network adapter connected to a valid source network.

    You can migrate a virtual machine network to another distributed switch in the same or to another data center or vCenter Server.

  5. Select the migration priority level and click Next.
    Option Description
    Schedule vMotion with high priority

    vCenter Server attempts to reserve resources on both the source and destination hosts to be shared among all concurrent migrations with vMotion. vCenter Server grants a larger share of host CPU resources. If sufficient CPU resources are not immediately available, vMotion is not initiated.

    Schedule regular vMotion

    vCenter Server reserves resources on both the source and destination hosts to be shared among all concurrent migration with vMotion. vCenter Server grants a smaller share of host CPU resources. If there is a lack of CPU resources, the duration of vMotion can be extended.

  6. Review the page and click Finish.

Results

vCenter Server moves the virtual machine to the new host or storage location.

Event messages appear in the Events tab. The data displayed on the Summary tab shows the status and state throughout the migration. If errors occur during migration, the virtual machines revert to their original states and locations.