Question

Moving VMs from one AHV Cluster to another AHV cluster

  • 2 April 2022
  • 5 replies
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I was intially told I could use Move to take VMs from old Cluster to New Cluster but alas Move does not move from AHV to AHV, this I find very bizarre as that should be more simple than moving esxi to ahv!

So, I have been told to use Data Protection failover - this seems complicated and needs VMs to be stopped and restarted  - I came across Live Migration using Leap - ah ha that looks like a good option but still apears complex.  Do I really need 2 Prism Central instances?  Could I add the second cluster to my exisiting Prism Central then use the Migrate function to move some VMs or is the limitation of different harware still the gotcha?

Does anyone have any ideas how I can do this “easily” and “quickly” my boss ain’t a happy man as information from Nutanix has been misleading or downright incorrect.

Any help appreciated.


5 replies

Hi @Eric-The_Viking , the latest Move versions (4.5.0 onwards)  now allows migration between AHV to AHV clusters. Probably a little too late for you but hope it helps in the future :) 

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Nutanix-Move-v4_7:top-ahv-to-ahv-vm-migration-c.html

Would recommend going through release notes for any known issues: (Move 4.7 at the time of writing this) 

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Release-Notes-Nutanix-Move-v4_7_0:Release-Notes-Nutanix-Move-v4_7_0

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Thank you Rohan, are you able to tell me when V6 is available as a LTS path, according to the advance video V6 allows AHV to AHV.  I have 70 VMs to move every way so far seems extremely long winded or only easy if I want to fail the whole set oup over at the same time, which I don’t.  A department at a time is what I want to do.  I can drag and drop in VMware why wasn’t this in eatlier versions of AHV?

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Hello @Eric-The_Viking 

If you are looking for a easy way out, the best possible way is to setup a DR solution using Protection domain and create replication between source and target for the specific VM and then failover the VM to the target cluster. This will ensure minimal downtime.

More details: Is it possible to live migrate a VM from one AHV cluster to another AHV cluster?

Let me know, if you have more queries.

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Hells bells this should have been so easy, but it is problematic because some instructions say use a policy, then when you get part way through it says ah ha, you need V6 on one cluster!  or you need 2 Prism Centrals…  Why is it not supported to add new cluster into old cluster and just drop the nodes or both clusters into the same Prism Central and do the move there?  If you can move from ESX to AHV so simply (that is yet to be tested) why can AHV to AHV not be done simply too?

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Hello Eric,

Starting AOS 5.19, to live migrate VMs between AHV clusters, we have the "Cross-Cluster Live Migration (CCLM)" feature available. This feature is part of Leap on Prism Central and will help you live migrate VMs between AHV clusters. You can find more information on this at the link: Cross-Cluster Live Migration

Please ensure you are meeting all the requirements for Leap and CCLM, requirements are shared at the link below.

CCLM Requirements – Cross-Cluster Live Migration Requirements

Leap Requirements – Leap Requirements

One of the primary requirements is to have identical CPU feature set on both clusters, if it doesn't match then the live migration will fail.

If you feel above option to be complicated, we can use option of moving VM disks between two AHV Clusters. Refer to KB: 4707

Referenece Link: How to move VM disks between two AHV Clusters

Let me know, if you have any further queries.

Rohan 

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