You must download and run the VMware Migration Assistant on your source vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller to prepare it for migration from Windows to a vCenter Server appliance. If your deployment of vCenter Server has an external Update Manager that runs on Windows, download and run the VMware Migration Assistant on the source Windows machine.Update Manager prepares the Update Managerserver and database for migration from Windows to the vCenter Server appliance.

The VMware Migration Assistant performs the following tasks on the source Windows machine where you run it:

  1. Discovers the source deployment type.
  2. Runs pre-checks on the source.
  3. Reports errors that must be addressed before starting the migration.
  4. Provides information for the next steps in the migration process.
Ensure that the VMware Migration Assistant window remains open during the migration process. Closing the VMware Migration Assistant causes the migration process to stop.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. In the vCenter Server appliance installer package, locate the directory that contains VMware Migration Assistant.
  2. Copy the VMware Migration Assistant folder to the source Windows machine where either one of the following components runs:
    • Update Manager
    • Platform Services Controller
    • vCenter Server
    Caution: If Update Manager runs on a different Windows machine than any other of the vCenter Server components that you are migrating, run VMware Migration Assistant on the Update Manager source machine first. If you do not run VMware Migration Assistant on the Update Manager source machine first, the VMware Migration Assistant on vCenter Server may fail.
  3. Run the VMware Migration Assistant on the Windows machine.
    • For the GUI, double-click VMware-Migration-Assistant.exe
    • For the CLI, enter: VMware-Migration-Assistant.exe -p <password of [email protected]>

      To list all the available input parameters, enter: VMware-Migration-Assistant.exe --help.

    Important: Leave the Migration Assistant window open until you finish the upgrade or the migration process of your vCenter Server deployment.
    The VMware Migration Assistant runs pre-upgrade checks and prompts you to resolve any errors it finds before proceeding with the migration.

Results

When the pre-checks are finished and any errors are addressed, your source system is ready for migration.

What to do next

To begin the migration process, follow the VMware Migration Assistant instructions.

For detailed migration steps, see one of the following.