Migrating Workloads using VMware vCenter Converter Standalone– P2V, V2V and C2C

Migration is a process when customer moves their services and data from one infrastructure to another. This can be from on-premises to on-premises or cloud based infrastructure. The source workload can be directly installed on physical hardware or virtualised using any hypervisor. VMware vCenter Converter Standalone (VMware Converter) is one tool that can be used to migrate the workloads from physical/virtual form into VMware based Virtual environment(P2V/V2V). VMware Converter can also convert Hyper-V VMs to VMware VMs as well as cloud based VM/instance to VMware VM format while migrating the VM to VMware environment. In this blog we will see how we can migrate Microsoft Azure Cloud based Virtual Machine(VM) to VMware Cloud on AWS. This process is very similar for migrating the VM from any other cloud to VMware Cloud on AWS. VMware Cloud on AWS is a managed cloud offering that provides dedicated VMware vSphere-based Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) solution hosted on AWS's global infrastructure. By re-hosting virtual workloads to VMware Cloud on AWS, customers can quickly migrate their workload from other cloud providers or aging on-premises infrastructure and legacy virtualization stacks to the latest VMware stack deployed on AWS. VMware Converter can be downloaded from VMware site. It can be installed on supported guest operating systems to convert and migrate them to VMware Cloud on AWS. VMware converter can be installed to migrate local machine in local installation option or it can convert remote workload as a client-server installation option. VMware Converter can also be used to migrate powered on or powered off VMs. Refer to the documentation for the components that are installed in both the options, local installation option and client-server installation option.

In this section let us focus on the detailed process that we followed to migrate Azure based Virtual Machine to VMware Cloud on AWS. The requirements to install and migrate using VMware Converter are documented here. We need network connectivity between the source and target environment to start the replication with required ports open. We have used a route-based VPN to establish the network between Azure and VMware Cloud on AWS. Dedicated private connectivity like AWS Direct Connect can also be used in case of migration from on-premises or collocated facility to VMware Cloud on AWS. Direct Connect provides high bandwidth, low latency dedicated connection between VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC and the customer datacenter.

We followed below high-level steps to migrate Azure Virtual Machine to VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC:

• Create VPN endpoint on Azure

• Connect Azure VPN to VMware Cloud on AWS VPN

• Install VMware Converter on Azure Virtual Machine

• Connect VMware Converter to VMware cloud on AWS vCenter

• Start the replication

Create VPN endpoint on Azure

Login to Azure management portal

Open Virtual Network Gateway from Azure services and click Create.

Create Azure Virtual Private Gateway with below configuration.

Create Azure Virtual Network for the VPN.

Click Review and Create.

Click Next

Verify the Azure Virtual Network Gateway is created.

Next lets create Azure Local Network Gateway.

Create Azure Local Network Gateway with below configuration.

Configure the remote (Configured in VMware Cloud on AWS) ASN number and BGP Peering IP for the VPN.

Click Next.

Click Review and Create.

Verify that the Azure Local Network Gateway is created.

Navigate to Azure Virtual Network Gateway created earlier.

Navigate to Connections and Click Add.

Add the below configurations and select the Azure Local Network Gateway previously created.

Configure the Pre-shared Key and Enable BGP. Click OK.

Verify that the Connection is added to Azure Virtual Network Gateway.

Please refer to the configuration for the Azure Virtual Network Gateway.

Connect Azure VPN to VMware Cloud on AWS VPN

Open VMware Cloud on AWS console.

Navigate to the SDDC.

Click Networking and Security tab within Target SDDC.

Click VPN on the left hand pane.

To change the ASN on VMware Cloud on AWS click Edit Local ASN.

Click Add VPN.

Below is the configuration that we used. Record BGP IP and ASN for Azure VPN gateway from Azure portal.

Once the VPN is created, Navigate to Gateway Firewall.

Create needed inbound and outbound firewall rules for Management network to communicate over VPN connection. Add the VM local IP addresses and ports (902 & 443) in the services. Click Publish.

Install VMware Converter on Azure Virtual Machine

Install VMware Converter in the VM to be migrated. Click next.

Click Next.

Agree to the License terms and Click Next.

Click next.

Select Local installation to migrate the VM. Click Next.

Click Next.

Click Install to begin the installation.

Click Finish to start the VMware Converter.

Connect VMware Converter to VMware cloud on AWS vCenter

Click Convert Machine.

Select the local machine from the drop down. Click Next.

Provide the details for the target VMware Cloud on AWS vCenter.

Click Ignore on SSL Security warning page.

Select the folder to migrate the VM and click Next.

Select the compute-ResourcePool to migrate the VM. Click Next.

Make any changes needed to the Virtual hardware. Ensure selection of correct destination network. Click Next.

Verify the summary and click Finish.

Start the replication and Migrate

Replication of the VM will be initiated.

Verify that the migration is completed successfully.

Power ON the VM in Target vCenter.

Once the migration is completed, Post migration tasks need to be performed.

Some of the post migration tasks are listed below.

• Turn off the source VMs.

• Turn on the target VMs.

• Verify the network that is selected for the VMs.

• Change the IP and DNS settings as per environment.

• Install the VMware tools for better experience.