Essential Guide for VMware Virtualization Migration Users: Seamless Cloud Platform Migration Solution

Following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware and subsequent subscription model reforms that significantly increased enterprise operational costs, more businesses are exploring key questions such as “how to migrate from VMware virtualization to other platforms” and “what to consider when migrating from VMware virtualization to other platforms.” Migration from VMware to other platforms involves not just technical changes but also requires attention to risk management during the process, including data integrity, business continuity, and performance optimization. Selecting appropriate VMware migration tools and referring to detailed VMware migration operation guides can help enterprises avoid potential migration risks and ensure a seamless transition. This article focuses on the cloud computing solution for migration from VMware to ZStack Cloud, exploring how to achieve seamless migration through scientific planning and efficient execution.

Why Is Cloud Computing One of the Preferred Solutions for VMware Migration?

Cloud computing, as a preferred path for migration from VMware virtualization to ZStack Cloud, has become a focal point for enterprises due to its cost efficiency and technical continuity. Below are two key aspects of its advantages:

Cost Revolution

VMware’s subscription model reforms have significantly increased annual expenses for enterprises, with virtualization costs surging several-fold or even tenfold for many businesses. In contrast, ZStack Cloud’s private cloud platform offers flexible pricing models, allowing enterprises to choose between perpetual licensing or subscription-based options based on actual needs, significantly reducing long-term operational costs. This cost advantage frees up budgets for innovation and business expansion.

Technical Continuity

Migration from VMware virtualization to ZStack Cloud does not require a complete overhaul of existing IT architecture. ZStack Cloud is fully compatible with VMware virtual machine formats (e.g., VMDK), enabling seamless migration of existing virtual machines. Additionally, its management interface design closely resembles VMware vCenter, preserving administrators’ familiar workflows and reducing the learning curve. This technical continuity ensures enterprises can quickly adapt to the new platform during migration, minimizing operational risks.

Four Steps to Achieve Seamless Cloud Migration

Migration from VMware to ZStack Cloud requires a scientifically phased approach. The following four stages help enterprises effectively manage VMware migration risks, ensuring efficiency and stability:

Assessment Phase

The first step is a comprehensive evaluation of the existing VMware environment. Enterprises can use automated scanning tools to analyze cluster configurations, virtual machine dependencies, and storage architecture (e.g., conversion requirements from VMFS to distributed storage). ZStack Cloud provides compatibility lists to help enterprises quickly identify hardware and software adaptability, ensuring thorough preparation before migration. This phase typically takes about one week, laying a solid foundation for subsequent steps.

POC Validation

Before full migration, a small-scale proof-of-concept (POC) is recommended. Enterprises can migrate 10% of non-critical workloads to test the new platform’s performance, such as whether network latency remains below 0.1ms or high availability (HA) failover times are under 30 seconds. ZStack Cloud’s V2V migration feature enables quick validation, ensuring the post-migration environment meets business requirements. The POC phase typically takes two weeks, providing data support for full migration.

Phased Migration

To minimize migration risks, a phased migration strategy is advised. Virtual machines and data can be migrated to ZStack Cloud in stages based on business priorities. ZStack Cloud supports live migration, enabling virtual machine transfers without service interruption—ideal for critical business scenarios. Phased migration typically takes 4 to 8 weeks, depending on environment scale and complexity.

Optimization Phase

After migration, enterprises should continuously optimize cloud platform performance and resource allocation. ZStack Cloud supports elastic scaling, automatically adjusting resources based on business peaks. Additionally, it offers cloud-native capabilities like container and microservices integration, further enhancing IT flexibility. This phase continues throughout the cloud platform’s lifecycle, ensuring enterprises benefit from efficient cloud infrastructure.

Recommended Cloud Migration Solutions

For enterprises using VMware vSphere, vSAN, or networking, operations, and container components, ZStack Cloud offers comprehensive cloud computing solutions. The platform not only replaces VMware’s virtualization features but also provides private cloud, hybrid cloud, and cloud-native capabilities suitable for various scenarios, including:

• High-performance operation of critical business systems and databases
• Rapid deployment of development and testing environments
• Backup and disaster recovery solutions
• Support for AI, big data, and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads

ZStack Cloud delivers exceptional performance through high-performance distributed storage and GPU passthrough technologies. For example, its Vhost+RDMA technology achieves over a million IOPS for 4K random read/write operations, meeting high-load application demands. Additionally, ZStack Cloud supports seamless upgrades and cross-version hot updates, ensuring enterprises always benefit from the latest technological innovations.

ZStack Cloud Features

ZStack Cloud provides organizational structure management, ticket management, independent permission management, three-tier separation, and project-based access control. It supports flexible organizational structures, enabling role-based permissions and project-level independent computing and resource management. ZStack Cloud also facilitates multi-tenant, multi-data center, and hybrid cloud management, seamlessly integrating with PaaS platforms and CMP multi-cloud management for a unified IT resource management experience. These features make it widely applicable in industries like finance, manufacturing, and retail, accelerating digital transformation.

ZStack: Let Every Company Have Its Own Cloud

ZStack is a company focused on cloud infrastructure, dedicated to providing enterprises with simple, intelligent, and scalable cloud solutions. Its core product, ZStack Cloud private cloud platform, covers over 95% of VMware virtualization management features while introducing innovations like distributed storage, GPU passthrough, and automated operations. These characteristics make it an ideal choice for migration from VMware to ZStack Cloud, helping enterprises achieve both cost optimization and business flexibility.

ZStack’s product portfolio extends beyond virtualization to include private cloud, hybrid cloud, hyper-converged infrastructure, and container cloud solutions. With broad compatibility for mainstream hardware and robust support for enterprise applications, ZStack serves over 4,000 global customers across retail, finance, manufacturing, and other industries. Whether running AI workloads or managing traditional IT systems, ZStack provides a stable and reliable cloud platform to accelerate digital transformation.

FAQ

What are the most common risks in cross-platform migration from VMware virtualization?
Cross-platform migration from VMware may face compatibility issues, data loss, and business disruptions. Using ZStack Cloud’s V2V migration tools and backup features can effectively mitigate these risks, ensuring a seamless migration process.

How to choose suitable VMware virtualization migration tools?
When selecting VMware migration tools, prioritize compatibility, live migration support, and ease of use. ZStack Cloud offers an intuitive UI and automated migration features, simplifying the migration process from VMware to ZStack Cloud.

How long does migration from VMware virtualization to ZStack Cloud take?
Migration time varies by environment scale. Small environments may complete in weeks, while complex environments may require 4 to 8 weeks. Referencing ZStack’s VMware migration operation guides helps enterprises create phased migration plans to shorten the cycle.

How to ensure performance optimization after migration?
After migrating to ZStack Cloud, enterprises can optimize performance through resource monitoring and elastic scaling features. Regularly check network latency and storage performance to ensure the cloud platform meets business needs.

How can testing help mitigate VMware virtualization migration risks?
Enterprises can validate new platform performance and compatibility through POC testing before migration. ZStack Cloud’s monitoring tools help quickly verify migration results, reducing VMware migration risks.