Create a migration
Configure a new migration to replicate the workload from one site to another. After a successful replication, you can migrate the workload to a remote site for running it in the destination site.
- Verify thatVMware Cloud Director Availability4.5 or later is deployed for selecting a sizing compute policy.
- Verify that you can accessVMware Cloud Director Availabilityas a tenant or as a service provider. For more information, see Accessing VMware Cloud Director Availability.
- Verify that your session is extended to the site in which the vApps or virtual machines you are about to migrate reside. For more information, see Authenticating to paired remote cloud sites.
The target recovery point objective (RPO) for a migration always is 24 hours. For information about the RPO, see Replicating workloads.
- In the left pane, choose a replication direction by clickingIncoming ReplicationsorOutgoing Replications.
- Alternatively, from the on-premisesvSphere Clienteither under theHosts and Clustersor under theVMs and Templatesinventories, right-click the virtual machine or from theActionsmenu select:
- Configure Protection
- Configure Migration
- Fast Migration
- After selecting the replication direction, initiate creating a new migration.
- To configure the migration with all migration settings, click.
- Alternatively, for one-click migration while skipping the settings, click.vSphereDR and migration betweenvCenter Serversites do not allow one-click migration.
One-click migration requires only selecting the source workloads for migration, skipping the migration settings configuration and allowing finishing the replication wizard or navigating back for configuring the settings. - To create the migration, depending on the source and destination sites complete theNew Migrationwizard.
- For on-premises site as source:
- On theSource VMspage, select the source virtual machines, then clickNext.For cloud site backed byVMware Cloud Directoras destination, optionally activate theGroup VMs to a single vApptoggle.
- On thevApp Settingspage that shows after activating theGroup VMs to a single vApptoggle from theSource VMspage, if you enter the vApp name of an already existing vApp replication the selected virtual machines become part of that replication. Optionally, when migrating multiple virtual machines change their order of boot by dragging each row and set optional boot delay between each replicated virtual machine in the resulting vApp, then clickNext.
- For cloud site backed byVMware Cloud Directoras source:
- On theSource VMs and vAppspage, select the source workloads, then clickNext.
- ForvSphereDR and migration fromvCenter Serversite tovCenter Serversite as destination:
- On theDatastorepage, select the destination datastore for placing the recovered workloads, then clickNext.
- For cloud site backed byVMware Cloud Directoras destination:
- On theDestination VDC and Storage policypage, select the destination virtual data center and the storage policy for placing the recovered workloads, then clickNext.
For seed vApps and virtual machines, theReplicator Serviceuses the storage policy of the seed.For VDCs that do not have replications to them, theQuotacolumn showsCurrently unavailable, and refreshes once every 10 minutes.
- On theSettingspage, configure the following migration settings depending on the source and destination sites, then clickNext.One-clickFast migrationskips theSettingspage directly to theReady to completepage. To configure the migration settings, click theSettingspage, or alternatively, clickBack.
Compress replication trafficFor an incoming migration to an on-premises site, to apply compression on the replication data traffic and reduce the network data traffic at the expense of CPU, leave this toggle activated.Disk ProvisioningForvSphereDR and migration betweenvCenter Serversites, select one of the following provisioning formats for the destination disk:- Thin Provision
- Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed
- Thick Provision Eager Zeroed
Delay start synchronization- To start the initial synchronization when the wizard finishes, leave this toggle deactivated.
- Alternatively, to schedule the start of the first synchronization, activate this toggle, then enter the local date and time.
VDC policy settings- VDC VM placement policy
- VDC VM sizing policy
VMware Cloud Director, optionally from the drop-down menus, select the organization VDC compute policies to apply on the recovered workloads. For more information, see VDC compute policies.If you do not select a sizing policy for the replication, thenVMware Cloud Directorautomatically applies the system default sizing policy on the destination virtual machine.Exclude disksOptionally, to select specific hard disks of the virtual machines for replicating to the destination site and reduce the replication data network traffic, activate this toggle.Configure Seed VMsFor migration to or from a cloud site backed byVMware Cloud Director, optionally, to select a previous copy of the virtual machines in the destination site and reduce the replication data network traffic, activate this toggle.- On theReplicated Diskspage that shows after activating theExclude diskstoggle from theSettingspage, deselect the disks of the selected workload to exclude from replicating, then clickNext.
- On theSeed VMpage, that shows after activating theConfigure Seed VMstoggle from theSettingspage, select a vApp or a virtual machine as a replication seed, then clickNext.
- On theReady to completepage, verify that the migration settings are correct, then clickFinish.One-click migration, once used, skips the migration settings configuration. You can still configure the migration settings, by clicking theSettingspage, or alternatively, by clickingBack.
After completing the wizard, in the Replication type column for this replication, you see a
Migration
state. You can migrate, or test, or fail over the workload to the destination site. For more information, see Migrate a replication or Test failover a replication or Failover of a replication.