Migrating Virtual Machines.

Question 1

ESXi Host And VM Requirements for VMotion.

Answer 1

VMotion moves the state of the VM without disrupting the user. State of the VM:

 1. Settings: Settings in "Edit Settings" tab. VMX file.
 2. Disk: VMDK and compatibility RDMs.
 3. Memory: Active memory on VM. 

Each of the three are handled differently:
Settings are easy.
Disk requires shared storage.
Memory: Copied gradually.

Host Requirements:

1. Source and destination hosts must both have access to shared storage used VM.
2. All hosts must have access to at least 1 Gbps Ethernet Adapter,
3. Source and destination must have access to the same physical network or VLAN.
4. Source and destination hosts must have VMKernel ports configured on vSS or vDS that are enabled for vMotion. (cross-swtich vMotion: vMotion from one vDS to another).
5. Host CPUs must be the same vendor and family .

VM Requirements:

1. VMs cannot have a connection to an internal switch.
2. VMs cannot connection to a virtual device with a local image mounted (CD, floppy).
3. VMs must not have CPU affinity configured.
4. If VM swap file is not accessible to the destination host, vMotion must be able to create a swap files accessible to the destination host before migration can begin.
5. IF VM has an RDM, the RDM must be accessible to the destination host as well.

Question 2

ESXi Host And VM Requirements for Storage VMotion.

Answer 2

In Storage vMotion, VM’s state doesn’t move at all. What is copied are the files that the VM is using. (?:Pg.647)

1. You can perform storage maintenance and reconfiguration without VM downtime.
2. You can redistribute storage loads without VM downtime.
3. You can evacuate physical storage without VM downtime.

Storage type independent.

Question 3

Enhanced vMotion (Cross-Host vMotion).

Answer 3

1. Can migrate a VM to a new host at the same time that the files are migrating to another datastore.
2. Perform a migration of a VM from one host to another without having shared datastore between hosts.

Question 4

Enhanced vMotion (Cross-Host vMotion) CPU Requirements.

Answer 4

CPU Feature set:

1. Host CPU vendor, family and model.
2. BIOS settings that might disable CPU features.
3. ESXi version running on the host.
4. VM’s virtual hardware version.
5. VM’s guest OS.

EVC Cluster Requirements:

1. All VMS with better feature set must be migrated off the cluster.
2. All hosts in cluster must have CPUs from the same vendor.
3. All hosts in cluster must be running ESXi 3.5U2.
4. All hosts must hardware virtualization enabled (Intel-VT or AMD-V) and AMD NoeXecute or Intel eXecute Disable enabled in BIOS.
5. All hosts in cluster must be configured for vMotion.
6. All hosts in cluster must have supported CPUs for the EVC mode you want.

Question 5

Long-Distance vMotion

Answer 5

1. Must Enterprise Plus vSphere license.
2. Latency round-trip (RTT) must be 150 ms or less.
3. Both hosts must exist in the same Layer 2 environment, same VXLAN-based technology such as NSX must be used.

Question 6

Snapshot Requirements for vMotion/Storage vMotion Migration.

Answer 6

vSphere 6.0 you can use Storage vMotion on VMs that have snapshots. Allows Storage DRS. Pg. 655.

Question 7

Migrating Virtual Machines Using vMotoin/Storage vMotion.

Answer 7

vMotion implies that VMs are powered on. Shutting VM down before migrating is cold migration.

Question 8

Migrating a VM’s Files Using Storage vMotion.

Answer 8

Storage vMotion does not move the VM state but moves the files that the VM is using, while its using them, from one physical storage area to another.

Question 9

Configuring VM Swap File Location.

Answer 9

Size is equal to available memory of the VM minus the reservation assigned to it.
Swap file created on the source host must be visible to the destination host before the migration can begin. This usually means that the VM swap file is stored in the same location with the other VM files.
Figures 17-11,17-12 and 17-13 show places swap file location can be configured.

17-11 Per Cluster.
17-12 Per Host.
17-13 Per VM.

Question 10

Migrating a Powered-Off or Suspended VM.

Answer 10

A suspended VM is still running a CPU instruction set. and must meet COU compatibility requirements as though it were being vMotioned.
Can migrate VM’s state to another host at the same time you migrate its files to another datastore.

Question 11

Utilizing Storage vMotion Techniques.

Answer 11

Can use Storage vMotion to change VMDK from thick-provisioned eager-zeroed to thin-provisioned, e.g.