Category: Virtualization

Here is a “how-to” to move VMs between ESXi hosts without vCenter and completely for FREE:
Here is the scenario:
We have two ESXi hosts: “esxi-old” and “esxi-new” like below:

We want our VMs (here webserver, devFactory and database) to be copied (or you may call it moved/migrated) to the “esxi-new” host.

 
Follow these steps carefully without skipping any:

A: On esxi-old host

1. Create a new user on ESXi host (I recommend for user name: ovfuser) follow this tutorial from buildvirtual.net
   • WARNING: Use only alphanumeric characters in the password, else you will get an error! [REF #1]
   • Assign the admin role for this ovfuser
   • Remember to remove this user once all vm copy/migration are done.
2. Turn off VMs you wish to copy
3. Edit the settings of each VM, to make sure the CD/DVD Drive is set to client device like “Fig.3”

B: On esxi-new host

1. Create a new user on ESXi host (I recommend for user name: ovfuser) follow this tutorial from buildvirtual.net
   • WARNING: Use only alphanumeric characters in the password, else you will get an error! [REF #1]
   • Assign the admin role for this ovfuser
   • Remember to remove this user once all vm copy/migration are done.
2. Create a new VM, I’ll call it “AdminEye” using debian as operation system (you can follow the tutorial from enovision.net
3. On the “AdminEye” machine, install VMWare tools (follow this tutorial from lgallardo.com NOTE to specify the correct file version when running commands)
4. Your AdminEye machine needs internet access, (follow this post to allow internet access from AdminEye, specially if your server provider forces MAC Address verification per IP (tutorial  you should adapt to your host)
   • BONUS: I got a dedicated machine (64GB RAM, 2TB drive, 32 CPU Cores Intel Xeon E5620@ 2.39Ghz) for only 72€/month from online.net (no affiliate link)
5. Install OVFTOOL from VMWare:
   • Download ovftool here (you need to register for a free vmware account)
   • Install ovhtool on debian by following this tutorial on gibni.com
6. Get the IP addresses of your ESXi hosts, or their DNS names
7. Adapt the following command and execute it on the AdminEye machine:
   

   ovftool -ds=datastore1 vi://[email protected]/devFactory vi://[email protected]/
   

8. Wait until the copy is finished…
9. BONUS: You can launch a new terminal and execute another parallel copy (remember step 7 above?)

[REF]:

• https://blog.itsnotfound.com/2013/05/esxi-copying-a-vm-between-two-hosts/
• https://andrewaphilp.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/using-ovftool-to-copy-between-hosts-without-vcenter-server/
• https://fosshelp.blogspot.fr/2013/10/how-to-install-ovftool.html
• https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/06/how-to-copy-vms-directly-between-esxi.html
• https://blog.itsnotfound.com/2013/05/esxi-copying-a-vm-between-two-hosts/