Moving a vSAN cluster from one vCenter Server to another
I have running vSAN enabled cluster on DEMOVCSA08.ads.com vCenter
Now I am going to migrate on new vCenter DEMOVCSA01,
Both vCenter are running the same version 8.0, always choose target vCenter either same version as source or later.
Phase 1
Perform Pre check
Collect vSAN network list
esxcli vsan network list
Run below command one member ESXI host to get vSAN cluster
esxcli vsan cluster get
It is important to note the number of cluster members listed here.
esxcli vsan health cluster list
There is some alert with my vSAN due to resource limitation. I keep down member node and run with limited member.
Phase 2
Preparation of the target vCenter instance
The target vCenter must have at least the same build level as the source vCenter or higher.
2. Register all licenses for vCenter, vSAN and ESXi in target vCenter
3. Connect to Active-Directory if that connection existed in the source vCenter
4. Create a datacenter object on target site
5. Create a cluster object on target site and enable vSAN
6. Enable HA and DRS (manual or semi-automatic mode) [optional]
7. Configure deduplication and compression according to source vCenter settings
Note-: If encryption was enabled on the source side, the target vCenter must also be connected to the KMS and a trust must be established with the identical cluster ID.
Phase 3
Migrate storage policies.
Export storage policies
Check policies in use
There can be a large number of storage policies in a vSAN cluster. However, only the ones that are actually in use in my Lab.
esxcli vsan debug object list | grep spbmProfileId | sort | uniq
Only policies that have been applied to an object will be returned.
You can export all policies with a PowerCLI command.
Get-SpbmStoragePolicy | Export-SpbmStoragePolicy -FilePath C:\temp\
This command exports all policies as XML files. File name equals the policy name. For example SP-ErasureCoding-R5.xml.
Phase 4
Export of vDS configuration
We now export the vDistributed Switch (vDS) settings from the source cluster.
Networking > select vDS > Settings > Export Configuration
The configuration of the switch will be downloaded to the client as a ZIP archive.
b. Import of vDS configuration
In the target vCenter, select Datacenter > Distributed Switch > Import Distributed Switch.
We’ll import the previously exported ZIP file. In the import dialog, do not select the option “Preserve original distributed switch port group identifiers“.
Phase 5.
Capture uplink and Portgroup details that will be required later when you will add ESXI host to vDS on target vCenter
