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Migrating to Nutanix with the Nutanix Move Tool

Stephanie R.
Updated

Learn how to perform a migration with the Move software. Nutanix provides a tool called Nutanix Move that allows migrations from other environments to AHV.

NOTE: OVHcloud provides services for which you are responsible, concerning their configuration and management. It is therefore your responsibility to ensure that they work properly.

This guide is designed to assist you as much as possible with common tasks. However, we recommend reaching out to the OVHcloud Professional Services team if you encounter difficulties or have any doubts about managing, using, or setting up a service on a server.

Some options, such as the use of compression or dedupilcation, require specific licenses provided by Nutanix through OVHcloud. Please contact OVHcloud Sales for more information.

Finally, if the procedure involves a VMware on OVHcloud service, the intervention of OVHcloud Professional Services is mandatory.

Some options, such as the use of compression or deduplication, require specific licenses provided by Nutanix through OVHcloud. Please contact OVHcloud Sales for more information.

 

Requirements

  • A Nutanix cluster in your OVHcloud account
  • Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
  • You must be connected to the cluster via Prism Central
  • A connection to an environment other than Nutanix

 

Nutanix Move Overview

Nutanix Move is a tool that allows virtual machine migrations from VMware ESXI, Hyper-V, Azure, and AWS to AHV.

It can also be used to migrate from Nutanix AHV to AWS.

This software works on a virtual machine whose sources are available on the Nutanix website with a customer account.

For optimal use, we recommend installing Nutanix Move as close as possible to the destination.

The Nutanix Move software is the only software that communicates between the source and the destination.

Note: It is strongly discouraged to use Nutanix Move with virtual machines on a Windows Server running Active Directory or Microsoft Exchange. It is best to migrate as recommended by Microsoft.

For VMs that use databases in Microsoft SQL, it is best to stop the database service when completing a migration.

Ensure that the original virtual machine is compatible with the destination Nutanix environment.

 

Instructions

We will look at how to migrate between a remote environment on Hyper-V to an OVHcloud Nutanix environment.

The source and the destination are on two interconnected private networks through an IPSEC VPN.

 

Preparing the original virtual machines before migration

The virtual machine must be in the list of supported virtual machines in the compatibility matrix for the migration to work.

Log in to the Nutanix Accounting Matrix site to verify the compatibility of the source machines with the destination environment on Nutanix.

 

Specificity of virtual machines on LINUX

Some virtual machines will not start correctly after migration via Nutanix Move.
Check the compatibility list as it is likely that the SCSI driver is not supported and needs to be changed with the PCI driver.
In this case, you will need to follow this procedure to change the disk controller of a Virtual Machine after the virtual machine is migrated.

 

Specificity of the Microsoft environment

Microsoft does not provide the SCSI adapter and network card Virtio drivers. These drivers must be installed before migration. These drivers are available on the Nutanix website with a customer account.

Note: Microsoft Windows 2008 is no longer supported by Microsoft or Nutanix. However, you can install older Virtio drivers and attempt a migration.

Login to the Nutanix website with a customer account to download the VIRTIO drivers.

Enter your user name in Email, your password in Password, and click Log In.

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Click the Download link that suits your needs.

For our example, we will download the driver for amd64.

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From a Windows virtual machine in the Hyper-V environment, double-click Nutanix-VirtIO-1.1.7-amd64.

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Read the license terms and conditions, accept them by ticking the box, and then click Install.

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Click Finish to complete the installation without having to restart the virtual machine.

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Installing Move on the Nutanix Cluster

Downloading and importing sources

Retrieve the file in qcow2 format from this site: Download link for Nutanix Move.

Sign in with an account registered with Nutanix.

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Click Download to the right of Move QCOW2 file for AHV.

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Import the downloaded image from Nutanix Move into the cluster. For more information on importing images, see our guide on importing images. 

 

Installing the Move virtual machine

Create a virtual machine from the Move image.

From Prism Central, open the main menu by clicking on the button in the top left-hand corner.

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Click VMs in the menu.

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Click Create VM.

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Type Nutanix Move in the Name field.

Choose the 2 vCPU, 2 Cores, and 8 GB options in the VM Properties fields and click Next.

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Click Attach Disk.

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Choose the Disk, Clone from Image, and move-4.3.0.qcow2 options and click Save.

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Click on Attach to Subnet.

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Choose the network in Subnet, make sure it is connected in Network Connection State, and click Save.

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Click Next.

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Leave the default time zone options and click Next.

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Click Create VM to complete the installation of the Nutanix Move virtual machine.

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Select the Nutanix Move virtual machine and click the Actions menu.

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Click Power On in the Actions menu to start the virtual machine.

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The virtual machine is started and an IP address is obtained if a DHCP server is operational on that network.

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This installation of Nutanix Move is done on a network that has a DHCP server, but it is possible to configure the virtual machine on a network without a DHCP server.

 

Configuring Nutanix Move

Logging in to the web interface and creating environments for migration

Connect to the IP address of the Nutanix Move virtual machine through a web browser in HTTPS, as follows: https://IPaddressNutanixMove/.

Read the license conditions, accept them and click Continue.

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Click OK to continue.

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Select and confirm a password in the fields provided, then click Set Password to validate the creation of the Nutanix Move password.

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Type the password in Password and click Log In to log into the Nutanix Move web interface.

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Click + Add Environment.

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Choose Nutanix AOS.

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Enter the following information:

  • PRISM-CENTRAL-DESTINATION in the Environment Name field
  • the private IP address of Prism Central in the Nutanix Environment field
  • a Prism Central administration account in the Username field
  • the account password in the Password field

Click ADD to add the Prism Central environment.

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Click Add Environment.

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Choose Microsoft Hyper-V.

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Enter the following information:

  • HyperV-SOURCE in the Environment Name field
  • the private IP address of the Hyper-V server in the Hyper-V Server/Cluster field
  • a Hyper-V administration account in the Username field
  • the password for this account in the Password field

Click ADD to add the Hyper-V environment.

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Both migration environments appear in the top left-hand corner.

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Creating a migration plan

We will create a migration plan from the two environments created previously.

The source will be the Hyper-V server, and the destination will be the Nutanix cluster.

Click Create a Migration Plan.

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Choose a name in the Plan Name field and click Proceed.

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Enter the following information:

  • HyperV-SOURCE in the Select a Source field
  • PRISM-CENTRAL-DESTINATION in the Hyper-V Server/Cluster field
  • the CLUSTER name in the Target Cluster field
  • the name of the destination container in the Target Container field

Then click Next to continue to the next step.

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Select the virtual machines you want to migrate from the Hyper-V environment to AOS by clicking on the + icon to the left of the VM.
Click Next to continue creating the migration plan.

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Choose the network in Target Network and click Next.

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Click Next to confirm the migration.

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Click Save to save the migration plan without running it.

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Launching the migration

After the migration plan is created, you can manually launch it.

Check the box next to the desired migration plan.

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On the Actions menu, click Start.

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The migration is in progress. The Status column gives you information on the status of the migration.

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Finalizing the migration

Check the status of the migration by hovering over the In Progress status.
A window with the information Ready to Cutover N should appear, listing the number of VMs that can be migrated.

Click In Progress to start the completion process.

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Select all the VMs by ticking the VM Name box then click Cutover.

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Click Continue.

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Wait a few moments while it completes.

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The migration is complete when Completed appears in the Migration Status column.

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Log into Prism Central to view the three migrated VMs that are present and running.

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Changing the Disk Controller on a Linux Virtual Machine

If the virtual machine does not start properly after the migration, it may be due to a bad disk controller in the virtual machine configuration. In this case, it should be changed by following this procedure:

Go to the main menu of Prism Central and click on VMs.

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Make sure the virtual machine is turned off.

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Return to the main menu and click Images.

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Click Add Image.

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Select VM Disk as the Image Source. Type a name in Search by VM Name and click +.

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Type a name in the Image Name field and click Next.

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Select Place image on source VM's cluster and click Save.

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The image created from the virtual machine appears after a few moments.

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Open the main menu and click VMs.

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Check the box to the left of the virtual machine.

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Open the Actions menu and choose Update.

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Click on the trash can icon next to the CDROM drive.

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Click on the trash can icon next to the disk drive.

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Click Attach Disk.

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Select:

  • Disk In Type
  • Select Clone from image
  • Enter the name of the image created in Image
  • Select PCI as the Bus type and click Save

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Click Next.

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Click Next.

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Click Save.

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The disk controller has been modified and the virtual machine boots properly.

 

Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Nutanix or Hosted Private Cloud guides. You can also explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.

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