Migration from DELL VxRail to Proxmox

[Abdennour]

Hi Proxmox Team,

I have a Dell VxRail cluster integrated with VMware vSphere, and I am considering migrating my virtualization infrastructure to Proxmox VE.

I would like to know whether this migration is feasible and if anyone has experience with this type of project. I would appreciate any guidance on the recommended migration steps, best practices, potential challenges, and any prerequisites I should be aware of before starting.

Our current environment consists of:

• 6-node Dell VxRail P570F cluster
• VxRail version 8
• VMware vSphere with vSAN
• Approximately 70 virtual machines (Linux and Windows)

Regards,

 

[longer]

I haven't tested this specifically, therefore this Just my 2 cent:
In case not already done, make sure to read thoroughly the wiki Migrate to Proxmox VE:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migrate_to_Proxmox_VE

Test the migration process first with a non production test VM from VMware vSphere to Proxmox VE if you have a spare server or use nested virt functionally on VMware:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2022/01/nested-proxmox-vmware-installation-in-esxi/

 

[Johannes S]

Following links are propably of interest:

• Smoother migration for WindowsVMs: https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/a-small-game-changer-for-windows-migration-to-proxmox.181582/ This is especially useful for migrations with minimal downtime as described in https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migrate_to_Proxmox_VE#Attach_Disk_&_Move_Disk_(minimal_downtime)
• Due to Mitigations for cpu security bugs recent Windows versions can be quite slow if you set the CPU type to host. Change the CPU type to the output of https://github.com/credativ/ProxCLMC/, host with disabled nested-virtualization or (if you use the same CPU in all nodes) the generic type matching your cpu model best.
• Since you already use vSAN I would expect that you have decent networking and storage hardware. Nontheless check https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Deploy...r#_recommendations_for_a_healthy_ceph_cluster to get an idea how to set everything up
• It might be worth to add another node just for quorum so you don't get into a split-brain scenario. For corosync you can also use a qdevice (see https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Cluster_Manager#_corosync_external_vote_support ) , but I'm not sure whether and how it's possible how to achieve this for ceph (the quorum for corosync and ceph are two different things)

It might be a good idea to do a proof of concept (maybe on older hardware) first and start the migration with just a part of the nodes so you still have a running fallback. It might even be worth it (if your remaining nodes have enough power ) to first start with a minimal Proxmox/Ceph cluster with three nodes and later reinstall and add your remaining vmware hosts.
I would also recommend to get a Proxmox partner on board so you avoid potential missconfigurations which will bite you in the back later and have some support if something went wrong: https://www.proxmox.com/en/partners/find-partner/all/filter

 

[J-Rod]

100% agree with the sentiment to work with a Proxmox partner.

I also might lean towards performing this migration during a hardware refresh.

Also consider whether such a migration is the best option. Perhaps a license adjustment would be less risk for the money.

 

[Abdennour]

100% agree with the sentiment to work with a Proxmox partner.

I also might lean towards performing this migration during a hardware refresh.

Also consider whether such a migration is the best option. Perhaps a license adjustment would be less risk for the money.

Thank you for your orientations

 

[DamienDye]

Hi Proxmox Team,

I have a Dell VxRail cluster integrated with VMware vSphere, and I am considering migrating my virtualization infrastructure to Proxmox VE.

I would like to know whether this migration is feasible and if anyone has experience with this type of project. I would appreciate any guidance on the recommended migration steps, best practices, potential challenges, and any prerequisites I should be aware of before starting.

Our current environment consists of:

• 6-node Dell VxRail P570F cluster
• VxRail version 8
• VMware vSphere with vSAN
• Approximately 70 virtual machines (Linux and Windows)

Regards,

Yes this is possible and we have been providing assistance as a partner. if you want to reach out to us the site is in my bio.

 

[Francois Baillargeon]

Hi Proxmox Team,

I have a Dell VxRail cluster integrated with VMware vSphere, and I am considering migrating my virtualization infrastructure to Proxmox VE.

I would like to know whether this migration is feasible and if anyone has experience with this type of project. I would appreciate any guidance on the recommended migration steps, best practices, potential challenges, and any prerequisites I should be aware of before starting.

Our current environment consists of:

• 6-node Dell VxRail P570F cluster
• VxRail version 8
• VMware vSphere with vSAN
• Approximately 70 virtual machines (Linux and Windows)

Regards,

Following what @DamienDye says, we also need to accomodate NFS as an intermediatary step between VSan and Proxmox, but it's completely doable