vSphere Migration

Update 2
VMware vSphere 6.0
VMware ESXi 6.0
vCenter Server 6.0
vSphere Migration

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at:

https://docs.vmware.com/

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to

docfeedback@vmware.com

VMware, Inc.
3401 Hillview Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94304
www.vmware.com

©
Copyright 2019 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information.

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 Contents

About vSphere Migration 5

Updated Information 6

1 System Requirements for Migrating vCenter Server Deployments to vCenter Server

Appliance Deployments 7

2 vCenter Server Appliance Requirements 9

vCenter Server Appliance Hardware Requirements 9
vCenter Server Appliance Storage Requirements 10
Software Included in the vCenter Server Appliance 11
vCenter Server Appliance Software Requirements 11
vCenter Server Appliance Database Requirements 11
vSphere Web Client Software Requirements 12
Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller 12

3 Pre-migration Checks 18

4 Known Limitations 20

5 Preparing for Migration 21

Moving Update Manager to a New Host Machine When Migrating vCenter Server to vCenter Server
Appliance 21
Move the Update Manager Server and Database to a New Host Machine 22
Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network 25
Synchronize ESXi Clocks with a Network Time Server 25
Preparing vCenter Server Certificates for Migration 25
Preparing vCenter Server Databases for Migration 26
Prepare an Oracle Database for Migration 27
Prepare a Microsoft SQL Server Database for Migration 28
Prepare Managed ESXi Hosts for Migration 29
Host Upgrades and Certificates 30
Change the Certificate Mode 31
Install the Client Integration Plug-In 31
Required Information for Migrating vCenter Server and vCenter Single Sign-On from Windows to an
Appliance 32

6 Migration of vCenter Server with an Embedded vCenter Single Sign-On to an Appliance

36

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vSphere Migration

Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer 37

Copy and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source vCenter Server Instance 38
Migrate vCenter Server with an Embedded vCenter Single Sign-On to an Appliance 39

7 Migration of vCenter Server with an External vCenter Single Sign-On to an Appliance

43
Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer 45
Copy and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source vCenter Server Instance 45
Migrate an External vCenter Single Sign-On instance to a Platform Services Controller appliance 46
Migrate vCenter Server to an Appliance 50

8 After Migrating vCenter Server 54

Check vCenter Server Instance Upgrade or Migration 54
Verify Your vCenter Server Appliance Migration Is Successful 55
Log in to vCenter Server Appliance by Using the vSphere Web Client 55

9 Troubleshooting 57
View Migration Assistant Logs and Status Files 57

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About vSphere Migration
®
The vSphere Migration guide provides information about migrating VMware vCenter Server to vCenter
Server Appliance.

To move to the current version of vSphere by performing a fresh installation that does not preserve
existing configurations, see the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation. To upgrade your vSphere
environment, see vSphere Upgrade. For information about Migration Assistant and answers to frequently
asked questions, see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2146439.

Intended Audience
This information is intended for anyone who plans to migrate from earlier versions of vSphere. The
information is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with
virtual machine technology and data center operations.

VMware Technical Publications Glossary

VMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For
definitions of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation, go to http://www.vmware.com/
support/pubs.

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Updated Information

vSphere Migration is updated with each release of the product or when necessary.

This table provides the update history of the vSphere Migration.

Revision Description

EN-002232-01 n Added information about port 9123 in Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller.
n Updated the steps for preparing the Microsoft SQL Server database in Prepare a Microsoft SQL Server
Database for Migration.
n Updated steps in Prepare Managed ESXi Hosts for Migration.

EN-002232 Initial release.

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System Requirements for
Migrating vCenter Server
Deployments to vCenter Server
Appliance Deployments 1
Your source and target systems must meet specific software and hardware requirements before you can
migrate a vCenter Server or a vCenter Single Sign-On deployment to a vCenter Server Appliance or
Platform Services Controller appliance.

Source System
n Synchronize the clocks on all machines running the source vCenter Server services. See
Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network.

n Verify that the system network name of the machines running the target vCenter Server services are
valid, and are reachable from other machines in the network.

n Verify that the host name of the virtual machine or physical server from which you are migrating
vCenter Server complies with RFC 1123 guidelines.

n If your vCenter Server service is running using a user account other than the Local System account,
verify that the user account in which the vCenter Server service is running has the following
permissions:

n Member of the Administrators group

n Log on as a service

n Act as part of the operating system (if the user is a domain user)

n If your vCenter Server service is running using a service user account for access to the vCenter
Server database and you run Migration Assistant under a different account, the Migration Assistant
account must have the Replace a process level token permission.

n Verify that the LOCAL SERVICE account has read permission on the folder in which vCenter Server
is installed and on the HKLM registry.

n Verify that the connection between the virtual machine or physical server and the domain controller is
working.

n Verify that the source vCenter Server instance or vCenter Single Sign-On instance on Windows have
a default gateway. If there is no default gateway, the migration will fail.

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vSphere Migration

n Verify that the source vCenter Server instance or vCenter Single Sign-On instance on Windows does
not use a DHCP IP address as its system network name.

Important Migration from a source Windows machine using a DHCP IP Address as its system
network name to an appliance is not supported.

Target System
n Your target system must meet specific software and hardware requirements for vCenter Server
Appliance. See Chapter 2 vCenter Server Appliance Requirements.

n When you use Fully Qualified Domain Names, make sure that the machine you use for deploying the
vCenter Server Appliance and the target ESXi host or vCenter Server instance are on the same DNS
server.

n Synchronize the clocks of all target virtual machines on the vSphere network before beginning
migration. Unsynchronized clocks might result in authentication problems and can cause the
migration to fail or prevent the vCenter Server services from starting. See Synchronizing Clocks on
the vSphere Network.

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vCenter Server Appliance
Requirements 2
You can migrate the vCenter Server Appliance on an ESXi host 5.5 or later. Your system must also meet
specific software and hardware requirements.

When you use Fully Qualified Domain Names, make sure that the machine you use for deploying the
vCenter Server Appliance and the ESXi host are on the same DNS server.

Before you migrate the vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance, synchronize the clocks of all virtual
machines on the vSphere network. Unsynchronized clocks might result in authentication problems and
can cause the installation to fail or prevent the vCenter Server Appliance services from starting. See
Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n vCenter Server Appliance Hardware Requirements

n vCenter Server Appliance Storage Requirements

n Software Included in the vCenter Server Appliance

n vCenter Server Appliance Software Requirements

n vCenter Server Appliance Database Requirements

n vSphere Web Client Software Requirements

n Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server Appliance Hardware Requirements

When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, you can select to deploy an appliance that is suitable for
the size of your vSphere environment. The option that you select determine the number of CPUs and the
amount of memory that the appliance will have.

The hardware requirements such as number of CPUs and memory depend on the size of your vSphere
inventory.

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vSphere Migration

Table 2-1. Hardware Requirements for VMware vCenter Server Appliance

Small Medium
Tiny Environment Environment Large
Environment (up to 100 (up to 400 Environment (up
(up to 10 Hosts, Hosts, 1,000 Hosts, 4,000 to 1,000 Hosts,
Platform Services 100 Virtual Virtual Virtual 10,000 Virtual
Resources Controller Machines) Machines) Machines) Machines)

Number of CPUs 2 2 4 8 16

Memory 2 GB RAM 8 GB RAM 16 GB RAM 24 GB RAM 32 GB RAM

Important For vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller, you must add
the hardware requirements for Platform Services Controller to the hardware requirements for vCenter
Server Appliance depending on the size of your environment.

vCenter Server Appliance Storage Requirements

When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, the host on which you deploy the appliance must meet
minimum storage requirements. The required storage depends not only on the size of the vSphere
environment, but also on the disk provisioning mode.

The storage requirements depend on the deployment model that you select to deploy.

Table 2-2. vCenter Server Minimum Storage Requirements Depending On the Deployment
Model

External
Platform
Services
vCenter Server Appliance with an vCenter Server Appliance with an Controller
Embedded Platform Services Controller External Platform Services Controller Appliance

Default Storage Default Storage Default Storage

Size Large Storage Size Size Large Storage Size Size

Tiny environment 120 GB 700 GB 120 GB 700 GB 30 GB

(up to 10 hosts,
100 virtual
machines)

Small 150 GB 700 GB 150 GB 700 GB 30 GB

environment (up
to 100 hosts,
1,000 virtual
machines)

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vSphere Migration

External
Platform
Services
vCenter Server Appliance with an vCenter Server Appliance with an Controller
Embedded Platform Services Controller External Platform Services Controller Appliance

Default Storage Default Storage Default Storage

Size Large Storage Size Size Large Storage Size Size

Medium 300 GB 800 GB 300 GB 800 GB 30 GB

environment (up
to 400 hosts,
4,000 virtual
machines)

Large 450 GB 900 GB 450 GB 900 GB 30 GB

environment (up
to 1,000 hosts,
10,000 virtual
machines)

Software Included in the vCenter Server Appliance

The vCenter Server Appliance is a preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine optimized for running
vCenter Server and associated services.

The vCenter Server Appliance package contains the following software:

n SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Update 3 for VMware, 64-bit edition

n PostgreSQL

n vCenter Server 6.0 and vCenter Server 6.0 components.

vCenter Server Appliance Software Requirements

The VMware vCenter Server Appliance can be migrated only on hosts that are running ESXi version 5.0
or later.

You can migrate the vCenter Server Appliance only by using the Client Integration Plug-In, which is an
HTML installer for Windows that you can use to connect directly to an ESXi 5.0.x, ESXi 5.1.x, ESXi 5.5.x,
or ESXi 6.0 host and migrate the vCenter Server Appliance on the host.

Important You cannot migrate the vCenter Server Appliance by using the vSphere Client or the vSphere
Web Client. During the migration of the vCenter Server Appliance you must provide various inputs, such
as operating system and vCenter Single Sign-On passwords.

vCenter Server Appliance Database Requirements

The vCenter Server Appliance requires a database to store and organize server data.

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vSphere Migration

Each vCenter Server Appliance instance must have its own database. When you migrate vCenter Server
to vCenter Server Appliance the database is migrated to an internal PostgreSQL database, which
supports up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines.

vSphere Web Client Software Requirements

Make sure that your browser supports the vSphere Web Client.

The vSphere Web Client 6.0 requires Adobe Flash Player 16 or later. The latest Adobe Flash Player
version for Linux systems is 11.2. Therefore, the vSphere Web Client cannot run on Linux platforms.

VMware has tested and supports the following guest operating systems and browser versions for the
vSphere Web Client. For best performance, use Google Chrome.

Table 2-3. Supported Guest Operating Systems and Minimum Browser Versions for the
vSphere Web Client

Operating system Browser

Windows Microsoft Internet Explorer 10.0.19 and later.

Mozilla Firefox 34 and later.
Google Chrome 39 and later.

Mac OS Mozilla Firefox 34 and later.

Google Chrome 39 and later.

Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services

Controller
The vCenter Server system both on Windows and in the appliance, must be able to send data to every
managed host and receive data from the vSphere Web Client and the Platform Services Controller
services. To enable migration and provisioning activities between managed hosts, the source and
destination hosts must be able to receive data from each other.

Ports Required for Communication Between Components

If a port is in use or is blacklisted, the vCenter Server installer displays an error message. You must use
another port number to proceed with the installation. There are internal ports that are used only for inter-
process communication.

VMware uses designated ports for communication. Additionally, the managed hosts monitor designated
ports for data from vCenter Server. If a firewall exists between any of these elements, the installer opens
the ports during the installation or upgrade process. For custom firewalls, you must manually open the
required ports. If you have a firewall between two managed hosts and you want to perform source or
target activities, such as migration or cloning, you must configure a means for the managed hosts to
receive data.

Note In Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and later, firewall is enabled by default.

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vSphere Migration

If you configured a custom port when you installed the source vCenter Server instance, revert to default
port values before you proceed with the migration.

Table 2-4. Ports Required for Communication Between Components

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for Communication

22 TCP/UDP System port for SSHD. Appliance deployments No

of
Important This port must be open
n vCenter Server
during the migration to an appliance. The
migration process establishes an SSH n Platform Services
connection to transfer the data from the Controller
existing to the new appliance.

80 TCP vCenter Server requires port 80 for direct Windows installations No

HTTP connections. Port 80 redirects and appliance
requests to HTTPS port 443. This deployments of
redirection is useful if you accidentally n vCenter Server
use http://server instead of https://server. n Platform Services
WS-Management (also requires port 443 Controller
to be open).
If you use a Microsoft SQL database that
is stored on the same virtual machine or
physical server as the vCenter Server,
port 80 is used by the SQL Reporting
Service. When you install or upgrade
vCenter Server, the installer prompts you
to change the HTTP port for vCenter
Server. Change the vCenter Server
HTTP port to a custom value to ensure a
successful installation or upgrade.

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and
Platform Services Controller installations
on Windows.

88 TCP Active Directory server. Windows installations No

and appliance
deployments of
Platform Services
Controller

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vSphere Migration

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for Communication

389 TCP/UDP This port must be open on the local and Windows installations n vCenter Server to
all remote instances of vCenter Server. and appliance Platform Services
This is the LDAP port number for the deployments of Controller
Directory Services for the vCenter Server Platform Services n Platform Services
group. If another service is running on Controller Controller to
this port, it might be preferable to remove Platform Services
it or change its port to a different port. Controller
You can run the LDAP service on any
port from 1025 through 65535.
If this instance is serving as the Microsoft
Windows Active Directory, change the
port number from 389 to an available port
from 1025 through 65535.

443 TCP The default port that the vCenter Server Windows installations n vCenter Server to
system uses to listen for connections and appliance vCenter Server
from the vSphere Web Client. To enable deployments of n vCenter Server to
the vCenter Server system to receive n vCenter Server Platform Services
data from the vSphere Web Client, open Controller
n Platform Services
port 443 in the firewall. Controller n Platform Services
The vCenter Server system also uses Controller to vCenter
port 443 to monitor data transfer from Server
SDK clients.
This port is also used for the following
services:
n WS-Management (also requires port
80 to be open)
n Third-party network management
client connections to vCenter Server
n Third-party network management
clients access to hosts

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and
Platform Services Controller installations
on Windows.

514 UDP vSphere Syslog Collector port for Windows installations No

vCenter Server on Windows and vSphere and appliance
Syslog Service port for vCenter Server deployments of
Appliance n vCenter Server

Important You can change this port n Platform Services

number during the vCenter Server and Controller
Platform Services Controller installations
on Windows.

636 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On LDAPS Windows installations vCenter Server to
and appliance Platform Services
deployments of Controller
Platform Services
Controller

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vSphere Migration

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for Communication

902 TCP/UDP The default port that the vCenter Server Windows installations No
system uses to send data to managed and appliance
hosts. Managed hosts also send a deployments of
regular heartbeat over UDP port 902 to vCenter Server
the vCenter Server system. This port
must not be blocked by firewalls between
the server and the hosts or between
hosts.
Port 902 must not be blocked between
the vSphere Client and the hosts. The
vSphere Client uses this port to display
virtual machine consoles

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server
installations on Windows.

1514 TCP/UDP vSphere Syslog Collector TLS port for Windows installations No
vCenter Server on Windows and vSphere and appliance
Syslog Service TLS port for vCenter deployments of
Server Appliance n vCenter Server

Important You can change this port n Platform Services

number during the vCenter Server and Controller
Platform Services Controller installations
on Windows.

2012 TCP Control interface RPC for vCenter Single Windows installations n vCenter Server to
Sign-On and appliance Platform Services
deployments of Controller
Platform Services n Platform Services
Controller Controller to vCenter
Server
n Platform Services
Controller to
Platform Services
Controller

2014 TCP RPC port for all VMCA (VMware Windows installations n vCenter Server to
Certificate Authority) APIs and appliance Platform Services
deployments of Controller
Important You can change this port
Platform Services n Platform Services
number during the Platform Services
Controller Controller to vCenter
Controller installations on Windows.
Server

2020 TCP/UDP Authentication framework management Windows installations n vCenter Server to

and appliance Platform Services
Important You can change this port
deployments of Controller
number during the vCenter Server and
n vCenter Server n Platform Services
Platform Services Controller installations
n Platform Services Controller to vCenter
on Windows.
Controller Server

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vSphere Migration

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for Communication

5480 TCP vCenter Server Appliance Web user Appliance deployments No

interface (HTTPS) of
n vCenter Server
n Platform Services
Controller

6500 TCP/UDP ESXi Dump Collector port Windows installations No

and appliance
Important You can change this port
deployments of
number during the vCenter Server
vCenter Server
installations on Windows.

6501 TCP Auto Deploy service Windows installations No

and appliance
Important You can change this port
deployments of
number during the vCenter Server
vCenter Server
installations on Windows.

6502 TCP Auto Deploy management Windows installations No

and appliance
Important You can change this port
deployments of
number during the vCenter Server
vCenter Server
installations on Windows.

7444 TCP Secure Token Service Windows installations n vCenter Server to

and appliance Platform Services
deployments of Controller
Platform Services n Platform Services
Controller Controller to vCenter
Server

9123 TCP Migration Assistant port Windows installations Source vCenter Server
and appliance or vCenter Single Sign-
deployments of On to target vCenter
vCenter Server Server Appliance or
Platform Services
Controller

9443 TCP vSphere Web Client HTTPS Windows installations No

and appliance
deployments of
vCenter Server

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vSphere Migration

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for Communication

11711 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On LDAP - For backward

compatibility with
vSphere 5.5 only.
vCenter Single Sign-On
5.5 to Platform Services
Controller 6.0

11712 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On LDAPS - For backward

compatibility with
vSphere 5.5 only.
vCenter Single Sign-On
5.5 to Platform Services
Controller 6.0

Custom Ports
If you configured custom ports for Auto Deploy or vSphere ESXi Dump Collector, these custom ports are
migrated to the configuration of the target vCenter Server Appliance. For example, if you configured Auto
Deploy to use port 6545, the configuration is migrated to the target vCenter Server Appliance. Other
custom ports are not supported in the vCenter Server Appliance.

To configure the vCenter Server system to use a different port to receive vSphere Web Client data, see
the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.

For more information about firewall configuration, see the vSphere Security documentation.

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Pre-migration Checks 3
When you migrate vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-On on Windows to an appliance, the installer
does a pre-check, for example, to verify that enough space is available on the source machine, and
verifies that the external database, if any, can be successfully accessed.

Source Environment Checks

When you migrate vCenter Single Sign-On (version 5.5), the vCenter Single Sign-On is included as part
of the Platform Services Controller.

If your vCenter Server service is running in a service user account for access to the vCenter Server
database and you run Migration Assistant under a different account, the Migration Assistant account must
have the Replace a process level token permission.

The pre-migration checker performs checks for the following aspects of the source environment:

n Network connections

n Internal and external port availability

n Administrator privileges on the Windows machine

n Any credentials that you enter

n Supported product and version

n Administrator privilege for launching Migration Assistant

n Migration Assistant port availability

n Export directory space and permission requirements

n System name validity

n Inventory size compatibility

n External vCenter Single Sign-On version

n vCenter Single Sign-On and vCenter Server certificate compatibility

n NTP server validity

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vSphere Migration

Target Environment Checks

The pre-migration checker performs checks for the following aspects of the target environment:

n Network connections

n Target vCenter Server IP address

n Minimum processor requirements

n Minimum memory requirements

n Minimum disk space requirements

n Permissions on the selected install and data directory

n Internal and external port availability

n Administrator privileges on the target host

n Any credentials that you enter

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Known Limitations 4
The current release of Migration Assistant has several known limitations.

The following list contains features or actions that are currently not supported:

n vSphere Update Manager is not migrated. If you use Update Manager in your environment, there are
more steps you must perform to manually move Update Manager to a new destination machine. See
Moving Update Manager to a New Host Machine When Migrating vCenter Server to vCenter Server
Appliance.

n Local Windows OS users and groups are not migrated to the SLES OS of the vCenter Server
Appliance 6.0. If you assigned vCenter Server permissions to any Local Windows OS users and
groups, remove the permissions assignments before the migration. You can re-create Local OS users
and groups on the SLES OS of the vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 after the migration.

n The migration process migrates only one network adapter settings to the target vCenter Server
Appliance. If the hostname of the source vCenter Server resolves to multiple IP addresses across
multiple network adapters, you have the option to select which IP address and network adapter
settings to migrate. After the migration, you can add the rest of the network adapters and settings to
the target vCenter Server Appliance.

n Migration of deployments that use custom ports for services other than Auto Deploy, Update
Manager, and vSphere ESXi Dump Collector are not supported.

n After the migration, the source vCenter Server is turned off and cannot be turned on to avoid network
ID conflicts with the target vCenter Server Appliance. After the source vCenter Server is turned off, all
solutions that are not migrated become unavailable.

n You cannot use the source virtual machine display name as a display name for the target appliance.
You can change the display name after the migration is complete. For more information, see https://
kb.vmware.com/kb/1029513.

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Preparing for Migration 5
Before beginning to migrate any type of vCenter Server deployment to an appliance, you must complete
the preparation tasks.

Preparation tasks:.

n Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network

n Preparing vCenter Server Databases for Migration

n Prepare Managed ESXi Hosts for Migration

n Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

n Copy and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source vCenter Server Instance

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Moving Update Manager to a New Host Machine When Migrating vCenter Server to vCenter Server
Appliance

n Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network

n Preparing vCenter Server Certificates for Migration

n Preparing vCenter Server Databases for Migration

n Prepare Managed ESXi Hosts for Migration

n Install the Client Integration Plug-In

n Required Information for Migrating vCenter Server and vCenter Single Sign-On from Windows to an
Appliance

Moving Update Manager to a New Host Machine When

Migrating vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance
When you intend to migrate your vCenter Server that runs on Windows to a vCenter Server Appliance, if
your vCenter Server deployment uses Update Manager, additional steps might be required to move
Update Manager to a new host machine manually.

You must move the Update Manager server and database in the following cases:

n Update Manager 5.5, vCenter Server and vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 run on the same machine.

n Update Manager 5.5, and vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 run on the same machine.

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vSphere Migration

If Update Manager 5.5 runs on a different machine than vCenter Server 5.5 and vCenter Single Sign-On
5.5, after vCenter Server successfully migrates to vCenter Server Appliance, upgrade Update Manager.

vCenter Server Deployment Uses Embedded Update Manager

If Update Manager, vCenter Server, and vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 run on the same machine, or if
Update Manager 5.5 and vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 run on the same machine, perform the following
steps:

1 Move the Update Manager Server and Database to a New Host Machine.

2 Migrate vCenter Server 5.5 or vCenter Single Sign-On to an appliance. See Chapter 6 Migration of
vCenter Server with an Embedded vCenter Single Sign-On to an Appliance and Chapter 7 Migration
of vCenter Server with an External vCenter Single Sign-On to an Appliance

3 Upgrade Update Manager to the same version as the target vCenter Server Appliance, and connect
Update Manager to the target vCenter Server Appliance. For more information on how to upgrade
Update Manager, see the vSphere Update Manager documentation.

vCenter Server Deployment Uses External Update Manager

If Update Manager runs on a different machine than vCenter Server 5.5 and vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5,
perform the following steps:

1 Migrate vCenter Server 5.5 or vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 to an appliance. See Chapter 6 Migration
of vCenter Server with an Embedded vCenter Single Sign-On to an Appliance and Chapter 7
Migration of vCenter Server with an External vCenter Single Sign-On to an Appliance

2 Upgrade Update Manager to the same version as the target vCenter Server Appliance, and connect
Update Manager to the target vCenter Server Appliance. For more information on how to upgrade
Update Manager, see the vSphere Update Manager documentation.

Move the Update Manager Server and Database to a New Host

Machine
Before migrating a vCenter Server instance that runs on Windows to vCenter Server Appliance, if your
vCenter Server deployment uses embedded Update Manager, you must first move Update Manager to a
new host machine.

Prerequisites

Create a virtual machine of have a physical server with a compatible version of Windows for installing
Update Manager. For more information, see Supported host operating systems for VMware vCenter
Server installation (including vCenter Update Manager and vRealize Orchestrator) (2091273).

Procedure

1 On the source machine, stop the VMware vSphere Update Manager Service.

2 On the source machine, stop the VMware vSphere Update Manager UFA Service.

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vSphere Migration

3 Depending on whether the Update Manager database is on the same machine as the Update
Manager server, or on a different machine, perform the following steps:

u If the Update Manager database and the Update Manager server run on the same source
machine:

a On the source machine, back up the Update Manager database.

b On the destination machine, copy the Update Manager database backup, and restore the
database.
u If the Update Manager database and the Update Manager server run on different machines,
move to the next step.

4 On the destination machine, create DSN to point to the Update Manager database.

For more information about how to create DSN, see Installing and Administering VMware vSphere
Update Manager.

5 On the source machine, in the Start Menu, either in the Run Box or the Search box, type regedit
and press Enter.

The Microsoft Registry Editor opens.

6 In the Microsoft Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node

\VMware, Inc.\VMware Update Manager.

The Microsoft Registry Editor contains the configuration values for Update Manager that you need for
the move of the Update Manager server and database to a new host machine.

7 On the destination machine, start the installing of the Update Manager server of the same version as
the Update Manager server instance on the source machine.

a On the vCenter Server Information page, perform the following:

n In the vCenter IP Address/Name text box, enter the VCServer registry value from the source
machine.

n In the HTTP Port text box, enter the VCServerPort registry value from the source machine.

n In the user name text box, enter the VCUserName registry value from the source machine.

n Enter the vCenter Server password that you use as an administrator.

b On the Database Options page, from the Data Source Name drop-down menu, select the DSN
you created in step 4.

c (Optional) On the Database Information page, enter user name and password for the database.

Note The database password is required only if the DSN does not use Windows authentication.

A Database re-initialization warning dialog box opens.

d On the Database re-initialization warning dialog box, select the option Do not overwrite, leave
my existing database in place.

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vSphere Migration

e On the VMware vSphere Update Manager Port Settings page, perform the following:

n From the drop-down menu, select the IP address or host name of your Update Manager
instance.

n In the SOAP Port text box, enter the SoapPort registry value from the source machine.

n In the Web Port text box, enter the WebPort registry value from the source machine.

n In the SSL Port text box, enter the WebSSLPort registry value from the source machine.

n Depending on your source proxy settings, you have one of the following options:

n If the source machine registry value UseProxy is 1, select the check box Yes, I have
Internet connection and I want to configure proxy settings now, and enter the
ProxyPassword, ProxyPort, ProxyServer, ProxyUserName registry values from the
source machine.

n If the source machine registry value UseProxy is 0, proceed to the next step.

f On the Destination Folder page, enter the InstallPath and PatchStore registry values from the
source machine if you want to use the same paths as on the source machine, or set different
paths for the destination machine.

8 On the source machine, copy the data folder of Update Manager.

The default directory where Update Manager data is stored is C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware

Update Manager\Data. For a custom location of the Update Manager data folder, see the
PatchStore registry value.

9 (Required) If you used a custom SslVerifyDownloadCertificate registry value on your Update Manager
source machine, make the same customization on the destination machine.

10 If you modified the jetty-vum-ssl.xml or vci-integrity.xml files on the source machine, make
the same modification on these files on the destination machine.

The default location of the jetty-vum-ssl.xml and vci-integrity.xml files is C:\Program

Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Update Manager\.

11 If you used custom certificates on the source machine, move them to the destination machine.

You can use VMware vSphere Update Manager Utility to set your new certificates. For more
information about how to use VMware vSphere Update Manager Utility, see Reconfiguring VMware
vSphere Update Manager documentation.

12 Uninstall Update Manager from the source machine.

For more information about uninstalling the Update Manager server, see Installing and Administering
VMware vSphere Update Manager documentation.

You have installed an exact replica of your Update Manager environment on the new destination
machine.

What to do next

Start the migration process for vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance.

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vSphere Migration

Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network

Verify that all components on the vSphere network have their clocks synchronized. If the clocks on the
machines in your vSphere network are not synchronized, SSL certificates, which are time-sensitive, might
not be recognized as valid in communications between network machines.

Unsynchronized clocks can result in authentication problems, which can cause the installation to fail or
prevent the vCenter Server Appliance vpxd service from starting.

Verify that any Windows host machine on which vCenter Server runs is synchronized with the Network
Time Server (NTP) server. See the Knowledge Base article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1318.

To synchronize ESXi clocks with an NTP server, you can use the Host Client. For information about
editing the time configuration of an ESXi host, see vSphere Single Host Management.

Synchronize ESXi Clocks with a Network Time Server

Before you install vCenter Server or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, make sure all machines on
your vSphere network have their clocks synchronized.

This task explains how to set up NTP from the vSphere Client. You can instead use the vicfg-ntp vCLI
command. See the vSphere Command-Line Interface Reference.

Procedure

1 Start the vSphere Client, and connect to the ESXi host.

2 On the Configuration tab, click Time Configuration.

3 Click Properties, and click Options.

4 Select NTP Settings.

5 Click Add.

6 In the Add NTP Server dialog box, enter the IP address or fully qualified domain name of the NTP
server to synchronize with.

7 Click OK.

The host time synchronizes with the NTP server.

Preparing vCenter Server Certificates for Migration

You must verify that your vCenter Server certificates are prepared before you start the migration process.

Certificate Files Location

The vCenter Server certificate files are located at %ProgramData%\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter
\SSL

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vSphere Migration

Supported Certificate Types

If your environment uses any of the supported certificate types, you can continue with the migration. The
migration process proceeds normally and preserves your certificates.

n Your rui.crt file contains the entire chain including the leaf certificate. You can create this type of
certificate by deploying and using the VMware SSL Certificate Automation Tool, seehttp://
kb.vmware.com/kb/2057340.

n Your rui.crt file contains the leaf certificate and the corresponding cacert.pem is available to
validate the rui.crt.

Unsupported Certificate Types

If your environment uses any of the unsupported certificate types, you must prepare your certificates
before you can proceed with the migration process proceeds.

n Your rui.crt contains only the leaf certificate, the cacert.pem is missing or invalid, and
cacert.pem is not added to the Windows trust store.

Get the Certificate Authority certificate, including all intermediate certificates, and create a
cacert.pem file, or replace the vCenter Server certificates with any of the supported formats.

n Your rui.crt contains only the leaf certificate and the cacert.pem is missing or invalid, but the
cacert.pem is added to the Windows trust store.

Get the Certificate Authority certificate, including all intermediate certificates from the Windows trust
store and create cacert.pem. Use OpenSSL to verify the certificate by running verify -CAfile
cacert.pem ru.crt command

For more information about vSphere security certificates, see the vSphere Security documentation.

Preparing vCenter Server Databases for Migration

The vCenter Server Appliance instance requires a database to store and organize server data. Ensure
your source vCenter Server database is prepared for migration to the target vCenter Server Appliance.

Each vCenter Server Appliance instance must have its own database. The bundled PostgreSQL
database that is included in the vCenter Server Appliance supports up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual
machines.

Important If you are using an external database for vCenter Server Appliance, it is converted to an
embedded PostgreSQL database during the migration.

To ensure your database is prepared for migration:

n Verify that passwords are current and not set to expire soon.

n For vCenter Server 5.5, run the cleanup scripts to remove any unnecessary data in the vCenter
Server database using the steps for your database. For details see:

n Prepare an Oracle Database for Migration,

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vSphere Migration

n Prepare a Microsoft SQL Server Database for Migration

n Verify that you have backed up your database. See your database documentation.

n Verify that vCenter Server can communicate with the local database.

During the migration of vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance, the installer:

1 Exports the vCenter Server database.

2 Copies exported data to the target vCenter Server Appliance.

3 Starts the PostgreSQL service to import the source database data.

4 Upgrades the database schema to be compatible with the target vCenter Server Appliance.

5 Starts the target vCenter Server Appliance services.

When you configure the target vCenter Server Appliance, you initialize and configure using the imported
database with the old schema. You have a choice of migration options:

1 Core data

2 Performance and other historical data

Prepare an Oracle Database for Migration

Ensure that you have the necessary credentials, and that you complete any necessary cleanup or other
preparation before migrating your Oracle database from Windows to an embedded PostgreSQL database
in the appliance.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have confirmed basic interoperability before preparing your Oracle database for migration.

Verify that you have backed up your database. For information about backing up the vCenter Server
database, see the Oracle documentation.

Procedure

1 Verify that passwords are current and not set to expire soon.

2 Ensure that you have login credentials, the database name, and the database server name that the
vCenter Server database is to use.

Look in the ODBC system for the connection name of the database source name for the vCenter
Server database.

3 Use the Oracle SERVICE_NAME instead of SID to verify that your Oracle database instance is
available.

n Log in to the database server to read from the alert log: $ORACLE_BASE/diag/rdbms/
$instance_name/$INSTANCE_NAME/trace/alert_$ INSTANCE_NAME.log.

n Log in to the database server to read from the Oracle Listener status output.

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vSphere Migration

n If you have the SQL*Plus client installed, you can use tnsping for the vCenter Database
instance. If the tnsping command does not work the first time, retry it after waiting a few
minutes. If retrying does not work, restart the vCenter Database instance on the Oracle server
and then retry tnsping to ensure it is available.

4 Verify that the JDBC driver file is included in the CLASSPATH variable.

5 Verify that permissions are set correctly.

6 Either assign the DBA role or grant the required permissions to the user.

7 For vCenter Server 5.5, run the cleanup script.

a Locate the cleanup_orphaned_data_Oracle.sql script in the ISO image and copy it to the Oracle
server.

b Log in to a SQL*Plus session with the vCenter Server database account.

c Run the cleanup script.

@pathcleanup_orphaned_data_Oracle.sql

The cleanup process purges unnecessary and orphaned data that is not used by any vCenter Server
component.

8 Make a full backup of the vCenter Server database.

Your database is prepared for the vCenter Server migration to vCenter Server Appliance.

Prepare a Microsoft SQL Server Database for Migration

Ensure that you have the necessary credentials, and that you complete any necessary cleanup or other
preparation before migrating your Microsoft SQL Server database on Windows to an embedded
PostgreSQL database appliance.

Important You cannot use Integrate Windows for your authentication method if the vCenter Server
service is running under the Microsoft Windows built-in system account.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have backed up your database. For information about backing up the vCenter Server
database, see the Microsoft SQL Server documentation.

Procedure

1 Verify that passwords are current and not set to expire soon.

2 Verify that JDK 1.6 or later is installed on the vCenter Server machine.

3 Verify that the sqljdbc4.jar file is added to the CLASSPATH variable on the machine where
vCenter Server Appliance is to be migrated.

If the sqljdbc4.jar file is not installed on your system, the vCenter Server Appliance installer
installs it.

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vSphere Migration

4 Verify that your system database source name is using the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10 or
11 driver.

5 For vCenter Server 5.5, run the cleanup script.

a Locate the cleanup_orphaned_data_MSSQL.sql script in the ISO image and copy it to a

location accessible by the Microsoft SQL server.

b Log in to your database.

n For Microsoft SQL Server Express, open a command prompt.

n For Microsoft SQL Server, log in to a Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio session as
the vCenter Server database user.

c Run the cleanup script.

For Microsoft SQL Server Express, run:

sqlcmd -E -S localhost\VIM_SQLEXP -d VIM_VCDB -i path/
cleanup_orphaned_data_MSSQL.sql
For Microsoft SQL Server: run the cleanup_orphaned_data_MSSQL.sql contents.
Make sure that you are connected to the database used by vCenter Server.

The cleanup script cleans any unnecessary data in your vCenter Server database.

6 Make a full backup of the vCenter Server database.

Your database is prepared for the vCenter Server migration to vCenter Server Appliance.

Prepare Managed ESXi Hosts for Migration

You must prepare the ESXi hosts that are managed by your vCenter Server installation before migrating it
from Windows to an appliance.

Prerequisites

To migrate vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-On from Windows to an appliance, your source and
target ESXi hosts must meet the migration requirements.

n ESXi hosts must be at version 5.5 or greater. If your ESXi hosts are at an earlier version than 5.5,
upgrade them to 5.5. Read and follow all best practices when upgrading your hosts to ESXi 5.5.

n The target ESXi host must not be in lockdown or maintenance mode.

Procedure

1 If you have Custom or Thumbprint certificates, see Host Upgrades and Certificates to determine your
preparatory steps.

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vSphere Migration

2 If you have vSphere HA clusters, SSL certificate checking must be enabled.

If certificate checking is not enabled when you upgrade, vSphere HA fails to configure on the hosts.
a Select the vCenter Server instance in the inventory panel.

b Select the Manage tab and the General subtab.

c Verify that the SSL settings field is set to vCenter Server requires verified host SSL
certificates.

Your ESXi hosts are ready for vCenter Server upgrade.

Host Upgrades and Certificates

If you upgrade an ESXi host to ESXi 6.0 or later, the upgrade process replaces the self-signed
(thumbprint) certificates with VMCA-signed certificates. If the ESXi host uses custom certificates, the
upgrade process retains those certificates even if those certificates are expired or invalid.

If you decide not to upgrade your hosts to ESXi 6.0 or later, the hosts retain the certificates that they are
currently using even if the host is managed by a vCenter Server system that uses VMCA certificates.

The recommended upgrade workflow depends on the current certificates.

Host Provisioned with If your host is currently using thumbprint certificates, it is automatically
Thumbprint Certificates assigned VMCA certificates as part of the upgrade process.

Note You cannot provision legacy hosts with VMCA certificates. You must
upgrade those hosts to ESXi 6.0 later.

Host Provisioned with If your host is provisioned with custom certificates, usually third-party CA-
Custom Certificates signed certificates, those certificates remain in place during upgrade.
Change the certificate mode to Custom to ensure that the certificates are
not replaced accidentally during a certificate refresh later.

Note If your environment is in VMCA mode, and you refresh the

certificates from the vSphere Web Client, any existing certificates are
replaced with certificates that are signed by VMCA.

Going forward, vCenter Server monitors the certificates and displays

information, for example, about certificate expiration, in the vSphere Web
Client.

Hosts Provisioned with Hosts that are being provisioned by Auto Deploy are always assigned new
Auto Deploy certificates when they are first booted with ESXi 6.0 or later software. When
you upgrade a host that is provisioned by Auto Deploy, the Auto Deploy
server generates a certificate signing request (CSR) for the host and
submits it to VMCA. VMCA stores the signed certificate for the host. When
the Auto Deploy server provisions the host, it retrieves the certificate from
VMCA and includes it as part of the provisioning process.

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vSphere Migration

You can use Auto Deploy with custom certificates.

Change the Certificate Mode

In most cases, using VMCA to provision the ESXi hosts in your environment is the best solution. If
corporate policy requires that you use custom certificates with a different root CA, you can edit the
vCenter Server advanced options so that the hosts are not automatically provisioned with VMCA
certificates when you refresh certificates. You are then responsible for the certificate management in your
environment.

You can use the vCenter Server advanced settings to change to thumbprint mode or to custom CA mode.
Use thumbprint mode only as a fallback option.

Procedure

1 Select the vCenter Server that manages the hosts and click Configure.

2 Click Advanced Settings, and click Edit.

3 In the Filter box, enter certmgmt to display only certificate management keys.

4 Change the value of vpxd.certmgmt.mode to custom if you intend to manage your own certificates,
and to thumbprint if you temporarily want to use thumbprint mode, and click OK.

5 Restart the vCenter Server service.

Install the Client Integration Plug-In

You must install the Client Integration Plug-in before you migrate to the vCenter Server Appliance.

Prerequisites

Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer.

Procedure

1 In the vCenter Server Appliance installer, navigate to the vcsa directory and double-click VMware-
ClientIntegrationPlugin-6.0.0.exe.

The Client Integration Plug-in installation wizard appears.

2 On the Welcome page, click Next.

3 Read and accept the terms in the End-User License Agreement and click Next.

4 (Optional) Change the default path to the Client Integration Plug-in installation folder, and click Next.

5 On the Ready to Install the Plug-in page of the wizard, review the information and click Install.

6 After the installation completes, click Finish.

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vSphere Migration

Required Information for Migrating vCenter Server and

vCenter Single Sign-On from Windows to an Appliance
The vCenter Server migration wizard prompts you for the deployment and migration information when
migrating a vCenter Server instance or a vCenter Single Sign-On instance from Windows to an appliance.
It is a best practice to keep a record of the values that you entered in case you must power off the
appliance and restore the source installation.

You can use this worksheet to record the information that you need for migrating a vCenter Server
instance with an embedded vCenter Single Sign-On, vCenter Server instance with an external vCenter
Single Sign-On, or an external vCenter Single Sign-On from Windows to an appliance.

Important The user name that you use to log in to the machine from which you want run the GUI
installer, the path to the vCenter Server Appliance installer, and your values including the passwords,
must contain only ASCII characters. Extended ASCII and non-ASCII characters are unsupported.

Local OS users existing on source Windows machine are not migrated to the target vCenter Server
Appliance and must be recreated after migration is complete. If any local OS user names are used to log
in to the vCenter Single Sign-On, you must recreate them and reassign permissions in the Platform
Services Controller appliance.

If the source vCenter Server machine is joined to an Active Directory domain, the account you use must
have permissions to rejoin the machine to the domain. For more information, see http://
kb.vmware.com/kb/2146454

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vSphere Migration

Table 5-1. Information Required for Migrating vCenter Server from Windows to vCenter
Server Appliance

Required Information Default Value Your Entry

Required source vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-

vCenter Server or On IP address or FQDN
vCenter Single Sign-On
vCenter Single Sign-On administrator administrator@vsphere.local
migration data
user name

Password of the vCenter Single Sign-On

administrator

Migration Assistant port number

vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-

On version

IP address or FQDN of the source ESXi

host on which the source vCenter Server
or vCenter Single Sign-On resides

Source ESXi host user name with

administrative rights on the source ESXi
host

Source ESXi host password

Migrate performance & other historical Disabled by default

data

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vSphere Migration

Required Information Default Value Your Entry

Required target vCenter IP address or FQDN of the target ESXi

Server Appliance data host or vCenter Server instance to which
you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance
to migrate the source vCenter Server

User name with administrative privileges

for the target ESXi host. or vCenter
Server instance, data center or data
center folder, and resource pool of an
ESXi host or DRS cluster to which to
migrate the source installation

Password for the target ESXi host. or

vCenter Server instance, data center or
data center folder, and resource pool of
an ESXi host or DRS cluster

vCenter Single Sign-On password

vCenter Single Sign-On domain name

vCenter Single Sign-On site name

Target vCenter Server Appliance name

Password of the root user

vCenter Server Appliance size. Tiny (up to 20 hosts, 400

The options vary depending on the size virtual machines)
of your vSphere environment.
n Tiny (up to 20 hosts, 400 virtual
machines)
n Small (up to 150 hosts, 3,000 virtual
machines)
n Medium (up to 300 hosts, 6,000
virtual machines)
n Large (up to 1,000 hosts, 10,000
virtual machines)

Name of the datastore on which the new

version of the vCenter Server Appliance
is deployed

Enable or disable thin disk mode. Disabled by default

Join or do not participate in the VMware Join the CEIP

Customer Experience Improvement
Program (CEIP).
For information about the CEIP, see the
Configuring Customer Experience
Improvement Program section in vCenter
Server and Host Management.

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vSphere Migration

Required Information Default Value Your Entry

Temporary network for IP address version IPv4

communication
IP address allocation method Static
between the source
vCenter Server or
vCenter Single Sign-on
and the target vCenter
Server Appliance

Important The

IP address or port
group of the temporary
network must be on the
same subnet as the
source vCenter Server
or vCenter Single Sign-
on. Verify that the
default gateway, IP
address, and subnet
mask match with the
port group that you
select. The port group
that you select should
be able to acquire the
source vCenter Server
or vCenter Single Sign-
on IP address.

Static assignment Network address

settings
Subnet mask

Network gateway

Network DNS servers, separated with

commas

Enable or disable SSH Disabled by default

Migration Assistant port number 9123 or the port number that

is shown in the Migration
Assistant console

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Migration of vCenter Server with
an Embedded vCenter Single
Sign-On to an Appliance 6
You can migrate a vCenter Server instance with an embedded vCenter Single Sign-On to a vCenter
Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller appliance.

When you migrate from vCenter Server with an embedded vCenter Single Sign-On (version 5.5) on
Windows to vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller appliance, the
entire installation is migrated at the same time.

If vCenter Inventory Service, vSphere Web Client, vSphere Auto Deploy, or vSphere ESXi Dump
Collector are installed on a different machine than the source vCenter Server with an embedded vCenter
Single Sign-On, these components are migrated to the target vCenter Server Appliance.

Figure 6-1. vCenter Server 5.5 with Embedded vCenter Single Sign-On Before and After
Migration

vCenter Server 5.5

with Embedded
vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5

vCenter Inventory Service

vCenter Server Appliance 6.0
with Embedded Platform
vSphere Web Client Services Controller 6.0

vCenter Server vCenter Server

vCenter Single Sign-On Platform Services Controller

Windows OS Appliance

Important The user name that you use to log in to the machine from which you want run the GUI
installer, the path to the vCenter Server Appliance installer, and your values including the passwords,
must contain only ASCII characters. Extended ASCII and non-ASCII characters are unsupported.

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vSphere Migration

The installer:

n Deploys a new target appliance.

n Exports the required files from the source vCenter Server.

n Copies the required files to the new vCenter Server Appliance.

n Runs the migration process on the new vCenter Server Appliance as specified in the Summary.

n Imports and updates the files and settings of the source vCenter Server installation to the new
vCenter Server Appliance.

Prerequisites

Assemble the Required Information for Migrating vCenter Server and vCenter Single Sign-On from
Windows to an Appliance.

Procedure

1 Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

Download the .iso installer for the vCenter Server Appliance and Client Integration Plug-in.

2 Copy and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source vCenter Server Instance
You must Copy and run the VMware Migration Assistant on your source vCenter Server or vCenter
Single Sign-On to prepare it for migration from Windows to an appliance.

3 Migrate vCenter Server with an Embedded vCenter Single Sign-On to an Appliance

You can use the Client Integration Plug-In to migrate a vCenter Server 5.5.x that uses the embedded
vCenter Single Sign-On instance to a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 with an embedded Platform
Services Controller.

Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

Download the .iso installer for the vCenter Server Appliance and Client Integration Plug-in.

Prerequisites

Create a My VMware account at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/.

Procedure

1 Download the vCenter Server Appliance installer from the VMware Web site at https://
my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.

2 Confirm that the md5sum is correct.

See the VMware Web site topic Using MD5 Checksums at http://www.vmware.com/download/
md5.html.

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vSphere Migration

3 Mount the ISO image to a Windows virtual machine or physical server different from the source
vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-On. Mount the ISO image to the Windows virtual machine or
physical server on which you want to install the Client Integration Plug-In to migrate to the vCenter
Server Appliance.

If you are using a Windows virtual machine, you can configure the ISO image as a datastore ISO file
for the CD/DVD drive of the virtual machine by using the vSphere Web Client. See vSphere Virtual
Machine Administration.

Copy and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source

vCenter Server Instance
You must Copy and run the VMware Migration Assistant on your source vCenter Server or vCenter Single
Sign-On to prepare it for migration from Windows to an appliance.

You run the VMware Migration Assistant on your source vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-On to:

1 Discover the source deployment type.

2 Run pre-checks on the source.

3 Report errors that must be addressed before starting the migration.

4 Provide information for the next steps in the migration process.

Important Ensure that the Migration Assistant window remains open during the migration process.
Closing the Migration Assistant causes the migration process to stop.

Prerequisites

n Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

n If your vCenter Server service is running in a service user account for access to the vCenter Server
database and you run Migration Assistant under a different account, the Migration Assistant account
must have the Replace a process level token permission.

Procedure

1 Navigate to the migration-assistant directory of the vCenter Server Appliance installer package
and copy the migration-assistant folder to the source vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-On
instance.

2 Start Migration Assistant

n Double-click VMware-Migration-Assistant.exe

n From the command line run VMware-Migration-Assistant.exe --help to launch Migration

Assistant and display the help options.

The VMware Migration Assistant runs pre-migration checks and prompts you to resolve any errors it
finds before proceeding with the migration.

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vSphere Migration

3 Enter the user name and password of a user who has administrative privileges on the vCenter Server
instance, for example, the administrator@vsphere.local user

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

What to do next

Follow the VMware Migration Assistant instructions to start migration.

Remember Leave the Migration Assistant window open until you complete the migration.

Migrate vCenter Server with an Embedded vCenter Single

Sign-On to an Appliance
You can use the Client Integration Plug-In to migrate a vCenter Server 5.5.x that uses the embedded
vCenter Single Sign-On instance to a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 with an embedded Platform Services
Controller.

Prerequisites

n If you plan to deploy the target vCenter Server Appliance on an ESXi host, verify that the ESXi host is
not in lockdown or maintenance mode

n If you plan to deploy the target vCenter Server Appliance on a DRS cluster of a vCenter Server
inventory, verify that the cluster contains at least one ESXi host that is not in lockdown or
maintenance mode.

n If you plan to assign a static IP address in the temporary network settings of the appliance, verify that
you have configured the forward and reverse DNS records for the IP address.

n If you plan to assign a DHCP IP address in the temporary network settings of the new appliance,
verify that the ESXi host on which you want to deploy the new appliance is in the same network as
the ESXi host on which the existing vCenter Server runs.

n If you plan to assign a DHCP IPv4 address in the temporary network settings of the new appliance,
verify that the ESXi host on which you want to deploy the new appliance is connected to at least one
network that is associated with a port group which accepts MAC address changes. Consider the
default security policy of a distributed virtual switch, which is to reject MAC address changes. For
information about how to configure the security policy for a switch or port group, see vSphere
Networking.

Procedure

1 In the software installer directory, double-click vcsa-setup.html.

2 Wait up to three seconds for the browser to detect the Client Integration Plug-in and allow the plug-in
to run on the browser when prompted.

3 On the Home page, click Migrate.

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vSphere Migration

4 Review the Introduction page to understand the migration process and click Next.

5 Read and accept the license agreement, and click Next.

6 Connect to the target server on which you want to deploy the vCenter Server Appliance.

Option Steps

You can connect to an ESXi host 1 Enter the FQDN or IP address of the ESXi host.
on which to deploy the 2 Enter the HTTPS port of the ESXi host.
appliance. 3 Enter the user name and password of a user with administrative privileges on the ESXi
host, for example, the root user.
4 Click Next.
5 Verify that the certificate warning displays the SHA1 thumbprint of the SSL certificate
that is installed on the target ESXi host, and click Yes to accept the certificate
thumbprint.

You can connect to a vCenter 1 Enter the FQDN or IP address of the vCenter Server instance.
Server instance and browse the 2 Enter the HTTPS port of the vCenter Server instance.
inventory to select an ESXi host 3 Enter the user name and password of user with vCenter Single Sign-On administrative
or DRS cluster on which to privileges on the vCenter Server instance, for example, the
deploy the appliance. If you administrator@vsphere.local user.
select a DRS cluster, verify that
4 Click Next.
the cluster is not set to Fully
5 Verify that the certificate warning displays the SHA1 thumbprint of the SSL certificate
Automated DRS for the duration
that is installed on the target vCenter Server instance, and click Yes to accept the
of the deployment.
certificate thumbprint.
6 Select the data center or data center folder that contains the ESXi host or DRS cluster
on which you want to deploy the appliance, and click Next

Note You must select a data center or data center folder that contains at least one
ESXi host that is not in lockdown or maintenance mode.
7 Select the ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the appliance, and
click Next

7 (Optional) Acknowledge the warning message, if any, by clicking Yes.

8 On the Set up virtual machine page, enter a name for the new vCenter Server Appliance, set the
password for the root user, and click Next.

The password must contain at least eight characters, a number, uppercase and lowercase letters,
and a special character, for example, an exclamation mark (!), hash key (#), at sign (@), or brackets
(()).

Note The root password of the old appliance is not transferred to the new upgraded appliance.

9 (Optional) Select the Enable SSH check box to enable SSH connection to the vCenter Server
Appliance.

10 On the Connect to source page, enter the details for the source vCenter Server instance, and click
Next.

a Enter the IP address or FQDN.

b Enter the user name and password of a user who has administrative privileges on the vCenter
Server instance, for example, the administrator@vsphere.local user.

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vSphere Migration

c Enter the Migration Assistant Port you received in the Migration Assistant instructions.

d (Optional) Select Performance and other historical data if you want to migrate this data.

By default only the core inventory and configuration data is migrated. Select the check box to
migrate all vCenter Server performance and historical data such as stats, events, alarms, and
tasks. Not migrating this data reduces the amount of overall downtime.

11 (Optional) Acknowledge the warning message, if any, by clicking Yes.

12 If the source vCenter Server is a member of an Active Directory domain, provide the credentials to
join the target vCenter Server Appliance to the domain.

13 On the Select appliance size page of the wizard, select the vCenter Server Appliance size for the
vSphere inventory size and click Next.

Option Description

Tiny (up to 10 hosts, 100 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 120 GB of disk space.

Small (up to 100 hosts, 1,000 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 150 GB of disk space.

Medium (up to 400 hosts, 4,000 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 300 GB of disk space.

Large (up to 1,000 hosts, 10,000 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 450 GB of disk space.

Tiny (up to 10 hosts, 100 VMs, large Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 700 GB of disk space.
storage)

Small (up to 100 hosts, 1,000 VMs, Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 700 GB of disk space.
large storage)

Medium (up to 400 hosts, 4,000 VMs, Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 800 GB of disk space.
large storage)

Large (up to 1,000 hosts, 10,000 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 900 GB of disk space.

14 From the list of available datastores, select the location where all the virtual machine configuration
files and virtual disks will be stored and, optionally, enable thin provisioning by selecting Enable Thin
Disk Mode.

15 On the Set up temporary network page, set up the network settings.

The IP address or the FQDN of the appliance is used as a system name. It is recommended to use
an FQDN. However, if you want to use an IP address, use static IP address allocation for the
appliance, because IP addresses allocated by DHCP might change.

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vSphere Migration

Option Action

Choose a Select the network to which to connect the new appliance temporarily.
network Verify that the temporary network provides connectivity between the source vCenter Server and the target
vCenter Server Appliance.
The networks displayed in the drop-down menu depend on the network settings of the target server. If you are
deploying the appliance directly on an ESXi host, non-ephemeral distributed virtual port groups are not
supported and are not displayed in the drop-down menu.

Important If you want to assign a temporary IPv4 address with DHCP allocation, you must select a network
that is associated with a port group which accepts MAC address changes.

Network Select how to allocate the IP address of the appliance.

type n Static

You are prompted to enter the IP address and network settings.

n DHCP

A DHCP server is used to allocate the IP address. Select this option only if a DHCP server is available in
your environment.

If you use an IP address as a system name, you cannot change the IP address and update the DNS
settings after deployment.

16 Review the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page and choose if you
want to join the program.

For information about the CEIP, see the Configuring Customer Experience Improvement Program
section in vCenter Server and Host Management.

17 On the Ready to complete page, review the settings for the vCenter Server Appliance migration and
click Finish to complete the process.

The source vCenter Server is migrated from Windows to an appliance. The source vCenter Server is
powered off and the new appliance starts.

The source vCenter Single Sign-On is migrated from Windows to an appliance. The old vCenter Single
Sign-On on Windows is powered off and the new appliance starts.

What to do next

Verify that your migration to an appliance was successful. For verification steps, see Verify Your vCenter
Server Appliance Migration Is Successful.

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Migration of vCenter Server with
an External vCenter Single Sign-
On to an Appliance 7
You can migrate a vCenter Server with an external vCenter Single Sign-On to an appliance.

When you migrate from vCenter Server with an external vCenter Single Sign-On (version 5.5) on
Windows to vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller appliance, you
migrate in two steps.

1 First you migrate the vCenter Single Sign-On instance from Windows to an appliance.

2 Next you migrate the vCenter Server instance from Windows to an appliance.

Important Concurrent migrations of vCenter Single Sign-On instances are not supported. You must
migrate the instances in a sequence. If you have multiple vCenter Single Sign-On nodes, first you must
migrate all vCenter Single Sign-On nodes to Platform Services Controller appliances before you start the
migration of vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance.

If vCenter Inventory Service, vSphere Web Client, vSphere Auto Deploy, or vSphere ESXi Dump
Collector are installed on a different machine than the source vCenter Server with an embedded vCenter
Single Sign-On, these components are migrated to the target vCenter Server Appliance.

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vSphere Migration

Figure 7-1. vCenter Server 5.5 with External vCenter Single Sign-On Before and After
Migration

External vCenter External Platform

Single Sign-On 5.5 Services Controller 6.0

vCenter Single Sign-On Platform Services Controller

Windows OS Appliance

vCenter Server 5.5

vCenter Inventory Service

vSphere Web Client vCenter Server Appliance 6.0

vCenter Server vCenter Server

Windows OS Appliance

Important The user name that you use to log in to the machine from which you want run the GUI
installer, the path to the vCenter Server Appliance installer, and your values including the passwords,
must contain only ASCII characters. Extended ASCII and non-ASCII characters are unsupported.

For each node to be migrated, the installer:

n Deploys a new target appliance.

n Exports the required files from the source vCenter Single Sign-On instance.

n Copies the required files to the target appliance for migration.

n Runs the migration process on the target appliance as specified in the Summary.

n Imports and updates the files and settings of the source vCenter Single Sign-On instance to the new
appliance.

Prerequisites

Assemble the Required Information for Migrating vCenter Server and vCenter Single Sign-On from
Windows to an Appliance.

Procedure

1 Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

Download the .iso installer for the vCenter Server Appliance and Client Integration Plug-in.

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vSphere Migration

2 Copy and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source vCenter Server Instance
You must Copy and run the VMware Migration Assistant on your source vCenter Server or vCenter
Single Sign-On to prepare it for migration from Windows to an appliance.

3 Migrate an External vCenter Single Sign-On instance to a Platform Services Controller appliance
You can use the Client Integration Plug-In to migrate an external vCenter Single Sign-On instance to
a Platform Services Controller appliance.

4 Migrate vCenter Server to an Appliance

You can use the Client Integration Plug-In to migrate a vCenter Server 5.5.x to a vCenter Server
Appliance 6.0 with an embedded Platform Services Controller

Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

Download the .iso installer for the vCenter Server Appliance and Client Integration Plug-in.

Prerequisites

Create a My VMware account at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/.

Procedure

1 Download the vCenter Server Appliance installer from the VMware Web site at https://
my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.

2 Confirm that the md5sum is correct.

See the VMware Web site topic Using MD5 Checksums at http://www.vmware.com/download/
md5.html.

3 Mount the ISO image to a Windows virtual machine or physical server different from the source
vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-On. Mount the ISO image to the Windows virtual machine or
physical server on which you want to install the Client Integration Plug-In to migrate to the vCenter
Server Appliance.

If you are using a Windows virtual machine, you can configure the ISO image as a datastore ISO file
for the CD/DVD drive of the virtual machine by using the vSphere Web Client. See vSphere Virtual
Machine Administration.

Copy and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source

vCenter Server Instance
You must Copy and run the VMware Migration Assistant on your source vCenter Server or vCenter Single
Sign-On to prepare it for migration from Windows to an appliance.

You run the VMware Migration Assistant on your source vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-On to:

1 Discover the source deployment type.

2 Run pre-checks on the source.

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vSphere Migration

3 Report errors that must be addressed before starting the migration.

4 Provide information for the next steps in the migration process.

Important Ensure that the Migration Assistant window remains open during the migration process.
Closing the Migration Assistant causes the migration process to stop.

Prerequisites

n Download the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

n If your vCenter Server service is running in a service user account for access to the vCenter Server
database and you run Migration Assistant under a different account, the Migration Assistant account
must have the Replace a process level token permission.

Procedure

1 Navigate to the migration-assistant directory of the vCenter Server Appliance installer package
and copy the migration-assistant folder to the source vCenter Server or vCenter Single Sign-On
instance.

2 Start Migration Assistant

n Double-click VMware-Migration-Assistant.exe

n From the command line run VMware-Migration-Assistant.exe --help to launch Migration

Assistant and display the help options.

The VMware Migration Assistant runs pre-migration checks and prompts you to resolve any errors it
finds before proceeding with the migration.

3 Enter the user name and password of a user who has administrative privileges on the vCenter Server
instance, for example, the administrator@vsphere.local user

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

What to do next

Follow the VMware Migration Assistant instructions to start migration.

Remember Leave the Migration Assistant window open until you complete the migration.

Migrate an External vCenter Single Sign-On instance to a

Platform Services Controller appliance
You can use the Client Integration Plug-In to migrate an external vCenter Single Sign-On instance to a
Platform Services Controller appliance.

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vSphere Migration

Prerequisites

n If you plan to deploy the new Platform Services Controller on an ESXi host, verify that the ESXi host
is not in lockdown or maintenance mode

n If you plan to deploy the Platform Services Controller on a DRS cluster of a vCenter Server inventory,
verify that the cluster contains at least one ESXi host that is not in lockdown or maintenance mode.

n If you plan to assign a static IP address in the temporary network settings of the appliance, verify that
you have configured the forward and reverse DNS records for the IP address.

n If you plan to assign a DHCP IP address in the temporary network settings of the new appliance,
verify that the ESXi host on which you want to deploy the new appliance is in the same network as
the ESXi host on which the existing vCenter Server runs.

n If you plan to assign a DHCP IPv4 address in the temporary network settings of the new appliance,
verify that the ESXi host on which you want to deploy the new appliance is connected to at least one
network that is associated with a port group which accepts MAC address changes. Consider the
default security policy of a distributed virtual switch, which is to reject MAC address changes. For
information about how to configure the security policy for a switch or port group, see vSphere
Networking.

Procedure

1 In the software installer directory, double-click vcsa-setup.html.

2 Wait up to three seconds for the browser to detect the Client Integration Plug-in and allow the plug-in
to run on the browser when prompted.

3 On the Home page, click Migrate.

4 Review the Introduction page to understand the migration process and click Next.

5 Read and accept the license agreement, and click Next.

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vSphere Migration

6 Connect to the target server on which you want to deploy the Platform Services Controller.

Option Steps

You can connect to an 1 Enter the FQDN or IP address of the ESXi host.
ESXi host on which to 2 Enter the HTTPS port of the ESXi host.
deploy the appliance. 3 Enter the user name and password of a user with administrative privileges on the ESXi host,
for example, the root user.
4 Click Next.
5 Verify that the certificate warning displays the SHA1 thumbprint of the SSL certificate that is
installed on the target ESXi host, and click Yes to accept the certificate thumbprint.

You can connect to a 1 Enter the FQDN or IP address of the vCenter Server instance.
vCenter Server instance 2 Enter the HTTPS port of the vCenter Server instance.
and browse the inventory 3 Enter the user name and password of user with vCenter Single Sign-On administrative
to select an ESXi host or privileges on the vCenter Server instance, for example, the administrator@vsphere.local user.
DRS cluster on which to
4 Click Next.
deploy the appliance.
5 Verify that the certificate warning displays the SHA1 thumbprint of the SSL certificate that is
installed on the target vCenter Server instance, and click Yes to accept the certificate
thumbprint.
6 Select the data center or data center folder that contains the ESXi host or DRS cluster on
which you want to deploy the appliance, and click Next

Note You must select a data center or data center folder that contains at least one ESXi host
that is not in lockdown or maintenance mode.
7 Select the ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the appliance, and click
Next

7 (Optional) Acknowledge the warning message, if any, by clicking Yes.

8 On the Set up virtual machine page, enter the Platform Services Controller name, set the password
for the root user, and click Next.

The password must contain at least eight characters, a number, uppercase and lowercase letters,
and a special character, for example, an exclamation mark (!), hash key (#), at sign (@), or brackets
(()).

9 (Optional) Select the Enable SSH check box to enable SSH connection to the vCenter Server
Appliance.

10 On the Connect to source page, enter the details for the source vCenter Single Sign-On instance, and
click Next.

a Enter the IP address or FQDN.

b Enter the user name and password of a user who has administrative privileges on the vCenter
Single Sign-On instance, for example, the administrator@vsphere.local user.

c Enter the Migration Assistant Port you received in the Migration Assistant instructions.

11 (Optional) Acknowledge the warning message, if any, by clicking Yes.

12 If the source vCenter Single Sign-On is a member of an Active Directory domain, provide the
credentials to join the target Platform Services Controller to the domain.

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vSphere Migration

13 On the Select appliance size page of the wizard, click Next.

The target Platform Services Controller appliance is deployed with 2 CPUs, 2 GB of memory and 30
GB of disk space.

14 From the list of available datastores, select the location where all the virtual machine configuration
files and virtual disks will be stored and, optionally, enable thin provisioning by selecting Enable Thin
Disk Mode.

15 On the Set up temporary network page, set up the network settings.

The IP address or the FQDN of the appliance is used as a system name. It is recommended to use
an FQDN. However, if you want to use an IP address, use static IP address allocation for the
appliance, because IP addresses allocated by DHCP might change.

Option Action

Choose a Select the network to which to connect the new appliance temporarily.
network Verify that the temporary network provides connectivity between the source vCenter Server and the target
vCenter Server Appliance.
The networks displayed in the drop-down menu depend on the network settings of the target server. If you are
deploying the appliance directly on an ESXi host, non-ephemeral distributed virtual port groups are not
supported and are not displayed in the drop-down menu.

Important If you want to assign a temporary IPv4 address with DHCP allocation, you must select a network
that is associated with a port group which accepts MAC address changes.

Network Select how to allocate the IP address of the appliance.

type n Static

You are prompted to enter the IP address and network settings.

n DHCP

A DHCP server is used to allocate the IP address. Select this option only if a DHCP server is available in
your environment.

If you use an IP address as a system name, you cannot change the IP address and update the DNS
settings after deployment.

16 Review the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page and choose if you
want to join the program.

For information about the CEIP, see the Configuring Customer Experience Improvement Program
section in vCenter Server and Host Management.

17 On the Ready to complete page, review the settings for the vCenter Single Sign-On migration and
click Finish to complete the process.

The source vCenter Single Sign-On is migrated from Windows to an appliance. The old vCenter Single
Sign-On on Windows is powered off and the new appliance starts.

What to do next

Verify that your migration to an appliance was successful. For verification steps, see Verify Your vCenter
Server Appliance Migration Is Successful.

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vSphere Migration

For the new Platform Services Controller appliance to replicate infrastructure data with other Platform
Services Controller instances, you must migrate or upgrade all joined vCenter Single Sign-On instances
within the vCenter Single Sign-On domain to the same version.

After you migrate all joined vCenter Single Sign-On instances, you can migrate the vCenter Server
instances within the vCenter Single Sign-On domain. For information on migrating vCenter Server
instances to appliances, see

Migrate vCenter Server to an Appliance

You can use the Client Integration Plug-In to migrate a vCenter Server 5.5.x to a vCenter Server
Appliance 6.0 with an embedded Platform Services Controller

Prerequisites

n If you plan to deploy the target vCenter Server Appliance on an ESXi host, verify that the ESXi host is
not in lockdown or maintenance mode

n If you plan to deploy the target vCenter Server Appliance on a DRS cluster of a vCenter Server
inventory, verify that the cluster contains at least one ESXi host that is not in lockdown or
maintenance mode.

n If you plan to assign a static IP address in the temporary network settings of the appliance, verify that
you have configured the forward and reverse DNS records for the IP address.

n If you plan to assign a DHCP IP address in the temporary network settings of the new appliance,
verify that the ESXi host on which you want to deploy the new appliance is in the same network as
the ESXi host on which the existing vCenter Server runs.

n If you plan to assign a DHCP IPv4 address in the temporary network settings of the new appliance,
verify that the ESXi host on which you want to deploy the new appliance is connected to at least one
network that is associated with a port group which accepts MAC address changes. Consider the
default security policy of a distributed virtual switch, which is to reject MAC address changes. For
information about how to configure the security policy for a switch or port group, see vSphere
Networking.

Procedure

1 In the software installer directory, double-click vcsa-setup.html.

2 Wait up to three seconds for the browser to detect the Client Integration Plug-in and allow the plug-in
to run on the browser when prompted.

3 On the Home page, click Migrate.

4 Review the Introduction page to understand the migration process and click Next.

5 Read and accept the license agreement, and click Next.

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vSphere Migration

6 Connect to the target server on which you want to deploy the vCenter Server Appliance.

Option Steps

You can connect to an ESXi host 1 Enter the FQDN or IP address of the ESXi host.
on which to deploy the 2 Enter the HTTPS port of the ESXi host.
appliance. 3 Enter the user name and password of a user with administrative privileges on the ESXi
host, for example, the root user.
4 Click Next.
5 Verify that the certificate warning displays the SHA1 thumbprint of the SSL certificate
that is installed on the target ESXi host, and click Yes to accept the certificate
thumbprint.

You can connect to a vCenter 1 Enter the FQDN or IP address of the vCenter Server instance.
Server instance and browse the 2 Enter the HTTPS port of the vCenter Server instance.
inventory to select an ESXi host 3 Enter the user name and password of user with vCenter Single Sign-On administrative
or DRS cluster on which to privileges on the vCenter Server instance, for example, the
deploy the appliance. If you administrator@vsphere.local user.
select a DRS cluster, verify that
4 Click Next.
the cluster is not set to Fully
5 Verify that the certificate warning displays the SHA1 thumbprint of the SSL certificate
Automated DRS for the duration
that is installed on the target vCenter Server instance, and click Yes to accept the
of the deployment.
certificate thumbprint.
6 Select the data center or data center folder that contains the ESXi host or DRS cluster
on which you want to deploy the appliance, and click Next

Note You must select a data center or data center folder that contains at least one
ESXi host that is not in lockdown or maintenance mode.
7 Select the ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the appliance, and
click Next

7 (Optional) Acknowledge the warning message, if any, by clicking Yes.

8 On the Set up virtual machine page, enter a name for the new vCenter Server Appliance, set the
password for the root user, and click Next.

The password must contain at least eight characters, a number, uppercase and lowercase letters,
and a special character, for example, an exclamation mark (!), hash key (#), at sign (@), or brackets
(()).

Note The root password of the old appliance is not transferred to the new upgraded appliance.

9 (Optional) Select the Enable SSH check box to enable SSH connection to the vCenter Server
Appliance.

10 On the Connect to source page, enter the details for the source vCenter Server instance, and click
Next.

a Enter the IP address or FQDN.

b Enter the user name and password of a user who has administrative privileges on the vCenter
Server instance, for example, the administrator@vsphere.local user.

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vSphere Migration

c Enter the Migration Assistant Port you received in the Migration Assistant instructions.

d (Optional) Select Performance and other historical data if you want to migrate this data.

By default only the core inventory and configuration data is migrated. Select the check box to
migrate all vCenter Server performance and historical data such as stats, events, alarms, and
tasks. Not migrating this data reduces the amount of overall downtime.

11 (Optional) Acknowledge the warning message, if any, by clicking Yes.

12 If the source vCenter Server is a member of an Active Directory domain, provide the credentials to
join the target vCenter Server Appliance to the domain.

13 On the Select appliance size page of the wizard, select the vCenter Server Appliance size for the
vSphere inventory size and click Next.

Option Description

Tiny (up to 10 hosts, 100 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 120 GB of disk space.

Small (up to 100 hosts, 1,000 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 150 GB of disk space.

Medium (up to 400 hosts, 4,000 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 300 GB of disk space.

Large (up to 1,000 hosts, 10,000 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 450 GB of disk space.

Tiny (up to 10 hosts, 100 VMs, large Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 700 GB of disk space.
storage)

Small (up to 100 hosts, 1,000 VMs, Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 700 GB of disk space.
large storage)

Medium (up to 400 hosts, 4,000 VMs, Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 800 GB of disk space.
large storage)

Large (up to 1,000 hosts, 10,000 VMs) Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 900 GB of disk space.

14 From the list of available datastores, select the location where all the virtual machine configuration
files and virtual disks will be stored and, optionally, enable thin provisioning by selecting Enable Thin
Disk Mode.

15 On the Set up temporary network page, set up the network settings.

The IP address or the FQDN of the appliance is used as a system name. It is recommended to use
an FQDN. However, if you want to use an IP address, use static IP address allocation for the
appliance, because IP addresses allocated by DHCP might change.

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vSphere Migration

Option Action

Choose a Select the network to which to connect the new appliance temporarily.
network Verify that the temporary network provides connectivity between the source vCenter Server and the target
vCenter Server Appliance.
The networks displayed in the drop-down menu depend on the network settings of the target server. If you are
deploying the appliance directly on an ESXi host, non-ephemeral distributed virtual port groups are not
supported and are not displayed in the drop-down menu.

Important If you want to assign a temporary IPv4 address with DHCP allocation, you must select a network
that is associated with a port group which accepts MAC address changes.

Network Select how to allocate the IP address of the appliance.

type n Static

You are prompted to enter the IP address and network settings.

n DHCP

A DHCP server is used to allocate the IP address. Select this option only if a DHCP server is available in
your environment.

If you use an IP address as a system name, you cannot change the IP address and update the DNS
settings after deployment.

16 Review the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page and choose if you
want to join the program.

For information about the CEIP, see the Configuring Customer Experience Improvement Program
section in vCenter Server and Host Management.

17 On the Ready to complete page, review the settings for the vCenter Server Appliance migration and
click Finish to complete the process.

The source vCenter Server is migrated from Windows to an appliance. The source vCenter Server is
powered off and the new appliance starts.

What to do next

Verify that your migration to an appliance was successful. For verification steps, see Verify Your vCenter
Server Appliance Migration Is Successful.

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After Migrating vCenter Server 8
After you migrate to vCenter Server Appliance, consider the post-migration options and requirements.

n You can review the migration logs. See View Migration Assistant Logs and Status Files.

n Complete any component reconfigurations that might be required for changes during upgrade.

n Verify that you understand the authentication process and identify your identity sources.

n Upgrade any additional modules that are linked to this instance of vCenter Server Appliance, such as
vSphere Update Manager.

n Optionally, upgrade or migrate the ESXi hosts in the vCenter Server Appliance inventory to the same
version as the vCenter Server Appliance instance.

For more information about configuring the vCenter Server Appliance, see vSphere Installation and
Setup, vSphere Upgrade, and vCenter Server Appliance Configuration guides.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Check vCenter Server Instance Upgrade or Migration

n Verify Your vCenter Server Appliance Migration Is Successful

n Log in to vCenter Server Appliance by Using the vSphere Web Client

Check vCenter Server Instance Upgrade or Migration

You can check the target vCenter Server Appliance to determine if it is migrated from a vCenter Server on
Windows or from vCenter Server Appliance.

Procedure

u Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance shell and run the following command:

install-parameter upgrade.source.platform

The command returns the platform of the source vCenter Server instance, for example windows.

What to do next

Verify Your vCenter Server Appliance Migration Is Successful

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vSphere Migration

Verify Your vCenter Server Appliance Migration Is

Successful
You can verify the success of your vCenter Server Appliance migration.

You must be logged into migrated vCenter Server instance. If you created a reference of required
information, you can use it to validate the migration success.

Procedure

1 Verify that the IP address is correct.

2 Verify that the Active Directory registration has not changed.

3 Verify the Network registration is correct.

4 Verify the Domain is correct.

5 Verify the certificates are valid.

6 Verify the inventory data is correctly migrated.

a Review the events history.

b Review the performance charts.

c Review the users, permissions, and roles.

If the post-upgrade or post-migration configuration conforms to your required information or CLI template
reference and expectations, the vCenter Server upgrade or migration is complete.

What to do next

You can troubleshoot unexpected behavior by reviewing logs.

Log in to vCenter Server Appliance by Using the vSphere

Web Client
Log in to vCenter Server Appliance by using the vSphere Web Client to manage your vSphere inventory.

Prerequisites

In vSphere 6.0, the vSphere Web Client is installed as part of the vCenter Server Appliance deployment.
This way, the vSphere Web Client always points to the same vCenter Single Sign-On instance.

Procedure

1 Open a Web browser and enter the URL for the vSphere Web Client:
https://vceneter_server_ip_address_or_fqdn/vsphere-client.

2 Enter the credentials of a user who has permissions on vCenter Server, and click Login.

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vSphere Migration

3 If a warning message about an untrusted SSL certificate appears, select the appropriate action based
on your security policy.

Option Action

Ignore the security warning for this Click Ignore.

login session only.

Ignore the security warning for this Select Install this certificate and do not display any security warnings for this
login session, and install the default server and click Ignore.
certificate so that the warning does Select this option only if using the default certificate does not present a security
not appear again. problem in your environment.

Cancel and install a signed certificate Click Cancel and ensure that a signed certificate is installed on the vCenter Server
before proceeding. system before you attempt to connect again.

The vSphere Web Client connects to all the vCenter Server Appliance systems on which the specified
user has permissions, allowing you to view and manage your inventory.

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Troubleshooting 9
The vSphere Migration troubleshooting topics provide solutions to problems that you might encounter
during the vCenter Server migration process.

For information about rolling back a migration, see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2146453

This chapter includes the following topics:

n View Migration Assistant Logs and Status Files

View Migration Assistant Logs and Status Files

You can use Migration Assistant log files and status files to troubleshoot migration failures.

If the migration fails, Migration Assistant generates a log file bundle on your desktop.

Procedure

1 Navigate to your desktop folder and open the VMware-MA-logs-time-of-migration-attempt.zip

file, where time-of-migration-attempt displays the year, month, date, hour, minutes, and seconds of
the migration attempt.

2 Retrieve the log files from the .zip file on your desktop.

3 Retrieve other log files and status files.

Table 9-1. Log and status files locations on the source vCenter Server or vCenter Server
Single Sign-On

File Location

Migration Assistant log file %temp%\migration-assistant.log

Pre-check log file %temp%\vcsMigration\UpgradeRunner.log

Pre-check component log files %temp%\vcsMigration

\CollectRequirements_ComponentName.log

Export log file %temp%\vcsMigration\UpgradeRunner.log

Export component log files %temp%\vcsMigration\Export_ComponentName.log

Status file %temp%\UpgradeRunnerExportOutput.json

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vSphere Migration

Table 9-2. Log and status files locations on the target vCenter Server Appliance or Platform
Services Controller

File Location

Log files /var/log/vmware/upgrade/UpgradeRunner.log

/var/log/vmware/upgrade/upgrade-requirements.log

Domain join log file /tmp/lwidentity.join.log

Export log files /var/log/vmware/upgrade/UpgradeRunner.log

/var/log/vmware/upgrade/upgrade-export.log

First boot component log files /var/log/firstboot/ComponentName-

firstboot.py_##_stdout.log
/var/log/firstboot/ComponentName-
firstboot.py_##_stderr.log

Import log files /var/log/vmware/upgrade/UpgradeRunner.log

/var/log/vmware/upgrade/upgrade-import.log

Precheck status file /var/log/vmware/upgrade/prechecks.json

Export status file /var/log/vmware/upgrade/export.json

First boot status file /var/log/vmware/firstbootStatus.json

Import status file /var/log/vmware/upgrade/import.json

What to do next

Examine the log files to determine the cause of failure.

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