VMware Virtual Machine Migration: Technical Analysis of the 3 Key Steps

With the adjustments to VMware’s subscription model, Increase in user costs，the demand for migrating VMware virtual machines has become increasingly urgent. This document provides an in-depth analysis of the three key steps in the VMware to ZStack virtual machine migration process: pre-migration preparation, execution and monitoring during migration, and post-migration validation and enablement. It also details the technical aspects, best practices, and risk mitigation methods for each step, leveraging ZStack’s technology. The goal is to help users seamlessly transition from VMware to ZStack, from evaluation to implementation, ensuring a smooth, efficient, and secure migration with minimal business disruption.

Current Background and Challenges

Broadcom’s significant adjustments to subscription models and product portfolios have made VMware migration a hot topic in the industry. Many users are now facing steep cost increases for renewals or the need to discontinue legacy products.

VMware virtual machine migration has shifted from “planning” to “urgent implementation,” becoming an unavoidable task for enterprise IT operations.

Virtual machine migration is not a simple “copy-paste” operation but a complex engineering project involving computing, storage, networking, security, and other considerations. It requires meticulous planning and professional technical support.

Pre-Migration: Comprehensive Preparation and Risk Assessment

Inventory and Asset Assessment

Toolchain Application: Use tools like VMware to ZStack to export a detailed list of VMware virtual machines, including CPU, memory, and storage configurations. Compare this with ZStack’s resource pool capacity for preliminary evaluation.

Business Mapping: Create a “virtual machine – application – dependencies” topology diagram (recommended tools: Visio/ProcessOn) to fully understand the business system architecture and interdependencies.

Priority Matrix: Classify migration batches based on “business impact level × data sensitivity” and develop a detailed migration sequence and plan to guide subsequent steps.

Environment Setup and Pre-Validation

Test Sandbox Construction: Deploy an independent migration test sandbox, typically using existing x86 servers to build a 3-node cluster for simulating the production environment.

Pre-Migration Testing: Select 3-5 representative virtual machines (e.g., Windows domain controllers, Linux database servers) for V2V migration testing to verify boot success rates and application compatibility. Thorough testing at this stage is critical to ensure the new system’s integrity, stability, reliability, and business continuity. Only after rigorous validation can the new system meet “production-grade” requirements.

Contingency Plans and Rollback Strategies

Backup Strategy: Before formal migration, take full snapshots or complete backups of all VMware to ZStack virtual machines and store the backup data on independent and reliable NAS devices or other storage media to prevent data loss.

Rollback Process: Develop a detailed and actionable “Emergency Rollback Manual” specifying the steps to revert to the source virtual machines in case of issues during migration or after the new system goes live (e.g., IP switching between old and new clusters). A quick rollback minimizes business disruption risks.

During Migration: Efficient Execution and Real-Time Monitoring

Migration Batches and Time Window Management

Non-Core Business Migration: Schedule during weekday nights (22:00–6:00) with no more than 20 virtual machines per batch to minimize impact on daily operations.

Core Business Migration: Schedule core business systems for weekends with on-site support from application teams to ensure prompt response to emergencies. Properly arranging downtime windows (typically during non-peak hours) can significantly reduce business impact.

Automated Migration Tools in Practice

ZStack Migration Tool Technical Process: The ZStack migration tool (e.g., ZStack Migration Tool) provides guidelines for importing VMware to ZStack OVF templates, configuring network mappings (mapping VMware port groups to ZStack virtual networks), and initiating online migration via the UI.

Agentless Migration Benefits: Agentless mode is key to smooth migration. It supports agentless replication from VMware environments, copying virtual machines via the VMware VADP interface through a relay machine. Benefits include no intrusion into customer operations, reduced risks, and snapshot data retrieval via VMware-to-ZStack interfaces without entering virtual machines.

V2V Migration Service: The V2V migration service offers online and offline migration options, supporting either managing first and then migrating or direct V2V migration. The entire process can be monitored and managed through an intuitive UI.

Real-Time Monitoring and Issue Identification

Key Metrics Monitoring: During migration, monitor real-time metrics such as migration speed (target ≥100MB/s), data validation (via automated scripts comparing MD5 values pre- and post-migration), and cluster load (CPU utilization <75%, network bandwidth usage <80%).

Alert Thresholds: Configure smart alert thresholds (e.g., pausing tasks and triggering manual intervention if the failure rate exceeds 5%) to promptly address potential issues and prevent fault escalation.

Post-Migration: Validation and Team Enablement

Multi-Dimensional Validation Criteria

Functional Validation: Conduct comprehensive functional tests on virtual machines in the new platform, including OS driver compatibility and simulated user operations (e.g., e-commerce order submissions, OA approval workflows).

Performance Benchmark Comparison: Compare CPU, memory, storage IOPS, and other performance metrics of the top 5 resource-intensive virtual machines before and after migration to ensure the new platform meets or exceeds production requirements. In real-world cases, some enterprises achieved performance parity with VMware-to-ZStack environments for CPU-intensive transactions and passed rigorous production-grade stress tests.

Operational System Transition

Monitoring Platform Migration: Smoothly transition from VMware vRealize Operations to ZStack’s built-in monitoring system, configuring custom alert policies for unified and efficient operations management.

Script Migration: Convert existing PowerShell scripts to Python scripts based on ZStack APIs to automate and streamline operational tasks.

User Training and Knowledge Retention

Quick Reference Guide Creation: Develop a “ZStack Operations Quick Reference Guide” mapping common VMware-to-ZStack operations (e.g., “create virtual machine,” “configure snapshots”) to their ZStack equivalents, helping IT teams quickly adapt to the new platform.

Post-Migration Review and Knowledge Base Updates: Regularly hold post-migration review meetings to summarize typical issues encountered (e.g., missing drivers for older Linux kernels) and update the “Migration Knowledge Base” to accumulate and share practical insights for future IT planning.

ZStack: Empowering Every Enterprise with Its Own Cloud

Brand Introduction: ZStack, a leading cloud computing company, is committed to providing innovative, efficient, and reliable cloud infrastructure products and solutions.

Core Capabilities: ZStack offers comprehensive full-stack hyper-converged infrastructure, including virtualized computing, storage, management, container management, networking and security, data protection, and migration. Its self-developed hyper-converged native virtualization ELF has been validated in production environments by top clients in finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and other industries for performance, stability, and reliability.

Role as an AI Product Provider: ZStack not only focuses on delivering cutting-edge infrastructure solutions but also actively explores and integrates artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, striving to be a trusted AI product provider that supports customers in digital transformation and intelligent upgrades.

Market Position and Practices: As a leader in the domestic hyper-converged software market, ZStack has successfully assisted multiple industries in completing VMware-to-ZStack migrations, accumulating extensive practical experience and providing reliable, production-validated solutions and technical insights.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: During VMware to ZStack virtual machine migration, how does ZStack’s technical process ensure business continuity and minimize downtime?

A1: ZStack ensures business continuity during VMware to ZStack virtual machine migration through advanced technical processes. It employs agentless migration and online incremental data synchronization, allowing source VMware-to-ZStack virtual machines to remain online for most of the data transfer. Additionally, by controlling task concurrency, intelligent scheduling, and precise time window management, downtime is reduced to minutes, enabling smooth and “unnoticeable” transitions.

Q2: After migrating VMware to ZStack virtual machines, how does ZStack validate the new system’s performance to ensure it meets production-grade requirements?

A2: Post-migration, ZStack validates the new system’s performance through multi-dimensional criteria, including functional tests (e.g., OS driver compatibility, application testing) and rigorous performance benchmarks (e.g., CPU, memory, storage IOPS). This ensures the new platform meets or exceeds the performance and stability of the original VMware-to-ZStack environment for production workloads.

Q3: For enterprises seeking VMware to ZStack solutions, what unique technical processes and experience can ZStack provide?

A3: ZStack offers unique technical processes and extensive experience for enterprises migrating from VMware to ZStack. It provides fully self-developed hyper-converged infrastructure and virtualization products, supports multiple CPU architectures and local hardware, and delivers comprehensive IT infrastructure capabilities. With numerous successful cases across finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and other industries, ZStack provides reliable, production-validated technical processes and solutions.