Migrate VMware virtual machines and View desktops to a new SAN

Learn how to move VMware data from an old storage array to a new one using storage vMotion and Rebalancing for VMware View desktops.

I spend a lot of time doing storage migrations to new storage arrays because the company I work for sells storage arrays. It's actually not too difficult, and sometimes you can even do it without downtime.



Here's a list of some of the things to check before you start VMware's vSphere storage vMotions. I also address how to move VMware View desktops.

The basics

In order to use storage vMotion to migrate virtual machines (VMs) to a new array, you need to zone your ESXi servers to both arrays. I'm not going to cover that in detail in this article, but essentially you need to make sure the hosts can see datastores from both the old and the new array. You also need to have at least an Enterprise vSphere license; any license lower than that doesn't offer you the ability to do storage vMotion while the VMs are powered on. If you have all of that and no Raw Device Mappings (RDMs), you can go ahead and just storage vMotion your VMs to the datastores on the new array. 

Steps to storage vMotion:

1. Bring up vCenter using the vSphere client or the web client.
2. Right-click the VM you're planning to move and click Migrate.
3. Choose to migrate to a new datastore.
4. Choose the datastore on the new array you'd like to move it to.
5. Click OK or Finish and watch as the task progresses.

It's pretty simple, albeit somewhat tedious depending on how many VMs you have and the size of the hard disks. The question I get asked at least twice last week is: How do you migrate VMs with raw device mappings? These are luns that are connected directly to the VM instead of going through Virtual Machine File System (VMFS). There are two types of RDMs: physical and virtual. Read VMware KB article 2009226 to learn about the differences between the two RDMs. For the purpose of this article, you just need to know that you can't storage vMotion a physical RDM, only a virtual. You can get around this, but it requires a reboot of the VM. I also recommend only doing one at a time, so you don't confuse which RDM belongs to which VM.

Steps to convert from a physical RDM to a virtual RDM:

1. Right-click the VM and click Edit Settings.
2. Click the hard disk labeled Raw Device Mapping.
3. Record the SCSI device it's using, because you will need to re-add it to that device later. You might even want to take note of the size of the hard disk, so you can be sure you're re-adding the right one back later.
4. Remove the hard disk and delete it entirely. This will not remove data from the hard disk -- it simply deletes the pointer.
5. Click OK.
6. After that task is complete, go back into Edit Settings and add a hard disk.
7. Add an RDM, but this time choose virtual mode. 
8. Make sure you're adding the correct RDM to the original SCSI device.
9. Power on the VM and ensure the disk shows up within the operating system.

After you convert it to a virtual RDM, you can storage vMotion the VM. If you don't change anything, it will simply remove the pointer from the original datastore and move it to the new one. However, sometimes you don't want to have to deal with RDMs anymore. If the application you're running on that VM supports it, you can storage vMotion the RDM to a Virtual Machine Disk format (VMDK) on one of the new datastores with no downtime. When doing a storage vMotion, you need to follow the steps above, but instead of leaving the format to be "same as the original," you need to change it to either thin or thick provisioned.  After you do that and choose a new datastore, it will convert your hard drive to a VMDK file from an RDM.
The last caveat I've run into is when the environment has VMware View (Horizon View) desktops. You should never storage vMotion linked clone desktops. There is a rebalance feature in the View Administrator that can be used to move the desktops to the new datastores. For more information, read the VMware View documentation and VMware KB article 1028754.

Steps to follow to move virtual desktops:

1. Ensure your end users are logged out of their desktops. During the rebalance, you will get the option to either force them off or have it wait to move the VM until after they choose to log off.  It's up to you how you do this, but I recommend just getting it done so you don't remove the old array and lose that desktop. 
2. Make sure your users have saved all their data to persistent disks if necessary.
3. Log in to View Administrator (View Connection Server).
4. Click the pool(s) you want to migrate.
5. In the pool, click vCenter settings and change the datastores to the datastores on the new array (make sure to remove the checks next to the datastores on the old array). This will not affect the current desktops that have been provisioned.
6. When you're ready, go back into the pool and under the View Composer drop-down box select Rebalance.
7. In the Rebalance wizard, choose to force users to log off (if you like) and fill out the other options if you like. You can leave the defaults, though.
8. You'll see the desktops go into Maintenance Mode, and then they will migrate to the new datastores. If you have them set up to power on automatically in the pool settings, you'll see them become available again after they've finished migrating. If they only say provisioned, they are not set up to power on automatically. You either need to change that or power them on manually.

If you have any questions, comments, or other helpful hints about this process, please feel free to leave them in the comments section.
Also read: Virtualizing the Enterprise, a Special Feature from TechRepublic and ZDNet



Migrate VMware virtual machines and View desktops to a new SAN - TechRepublic