New Import Wizard Available for Migrating VMware ESXi Based Virtual Machines

[Valacer]

However, this is not a problem for the respective guest OS.

This is the target format of the disk and has no impact on the migration

I have no good experience with the emulated LSI controllers.
Since these are Linux or BSD images, it is best to use the VirtIO controller. Linux and BSD already include the driver.

Before you spend too much time troubleshooting, simply use the tried and tested method.
- migrate vSphere VM to NFS share (Storage vMotion)
- mount same NFS Share on PVE
- create PVE VM and attach VMDK to the new VM
- shutdown on vSphere
- power on, on PVE
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migrate_to_Proxmox_VE#Attach_Disk_.26_Move_Disk_.28minimal_downtime.29

Thanks for the reply.

The linux VM's move across just fine, this isn't a networking issue. And so I dont understand why I need to make NFS shares/partitions, however as I type this I think I get what you are driving at, make a 'shell' of the VM in PVE and then just move the disk across with NFS and map the newly moved esxi disk to the new PVE VM?

Even if this did work, its a lot of effort to move that many VM's across. What the decs are trying to do is awesome, but it clearly still needs some work.

And thanks again for the reply. Appreciate the effort and certainly helps new users.

EDIT - also when you say "Since these are Linux or BSD images, it is best to use the VirtIO controller. Linux and BSD already include the driver." This is the default controller in all four installs of PVE i have. Why would it be the default if it causes headaches?

 

[azra1l]

Hi there,

i am still new to proxmox and esxi.

we plan to migrate an existing esxi host to proxmox, which includes several ubuntu & windows VM's which we really need to keep going.
it's an old PRIMERGY RX2530 M1, currently running on ESXi 7.0.3.

2 questions:

if i install proxmox, will this only replace the host operating system and keep the datastore and the included vm's in place?

as i understand from this post, the wizard can import vm's from a running esxi through it's api? or can it also import vm's from an already existing datastore on the same host?

 

[dpearceFL]

This ist the same. ESXi ist the Hypervisor of vSphere Product Bundle.

ESXi is usually used for the Free version. vSphere is the paid version of VMware's hypervisor.

Anyone know if the migration tools works for VMs using the paid vSphere?

 

[ksb]

ESXi is usually used for the Free version. vSphere is the paid version of VMware's hypervisor.

Anyone know if the migration tools works for VMs using the paid vSphere?

ESXi is the name of the hypervisor, regardless which license you have.

The migration tool doesn't need any functionality from the paid version. So yes, it works.

 

[Falk R.]

if i install proxmox, will this only replace the host operating system and keep the datastore and the included vm's in place?

No, the VMFS Filesystem is Properitary and Linux has only a ReadOnly Driver for VMFS.

as i understand from this post, the wizard can import vm's from a running esxi through it's api? or can it also import vm's from an already existing datastore on the same host?

The Tool imports only from a Running ESXi, when you have only this 1 Server, you can use your Backup or a NFS Share as migration Medium.

 

[azra1l]

No, the VMFS Filesystem is Properitary and Linux has only a ReadOnly Driver for VMFS.

The Tool imports only from a Running ESXi, when you have only this 1 Server, you can use your Backup or a NFS Share as migration Medium.

ok, if i have 2 proxmox servers, can i easily transfer vm's between them?

 

[Falk R.]

Ok, then it’s all easy.

 

[cust0m]

Is there a way to troubleshoot the following further?

When I want to add an ESXi storage via "Datacenter -> Storage -> Add -> ESXi", I always get the following error:
create storage failed: storage 'esxi' is not online (500)

I have of course checked the credentials, the ESXi server can be reached via the IP and I have also activated the "Skip Certificate Verification" option.

 

[Falk R.]

Is there a way to troubleshoot the following further?

When I want to add an ESXi storage via "Datacenter -> Storage -> Add -> ESXi", I always get the following error:
create storage failed: storage 'esxi' is not online (500)

I have of course checked the credentials, the ESXi server can be reached via the IP and I have also activated the "Skip Certificate Verification" option.

Is there any Router or Firewall between the Servers?

 

[caballeroalba]

Hi,

first, thanks for this tool.

I have a problem when i add the storage:



any fix?

Best regards.

 

[Gilberto Ferreira]

Tried twice and get error twice.
pve-esxi-import 6.0.1
pve 8.1.10
ESXi 6.7 and later (VM version 14)

 

[titodj]

I have a new install, I have only changed the repositories and update the system but I don't have the option to add ESXi to my storage although the migration tool is installed.

What am I missing? (I rebooted the server, and then try turning it off and back on)

Thanks!!

 

[eadm]

I have a new install, I have only changed the repositories and update the system but I don't have the option to add ESXi to my storage although the migration tool is installed.

What am I missing?

Thanks!!


View attachment 65779

the needed reboot of the proxmox server

 

[mmccarn]

ESXi is usually used for the Free version. vSphere is the paid version of VMware's hypervisor.

Anyone know if the migration tools works for VMs using the paid vSphere?

Import is more reliable but slower if I point it at vSphere (vCSA 6.7) instead of directly at a host (ESXi 6.7).

Import speed from a host was 3GB/min, but prior to pve-esxi-import-tools 0.6.1 the import errored at around 14GB transferred (there are lots of posts here about that issue)

After updating pve-esxi-import-tools to v0.6.1 (and rebooting the host), my import seems to be working (it's currently at 70Gb transferred) but the speed has dropped to about 2GB/min.

Imports directly from vSphere have been reliable for me but data transfer is only about 1GB/min.

(my entire network is 1Gbit)

To setup vSphere:
- point the ESXi storage to the vSphere server by name or IP
- use "administrator@vsphere.local" and the correct password

 

[titodj]

!the needed reboot of the proxmox server

Thanks.

I did.

Rebooted and then try turn it off and back on.
But that did not fix it.

I actually remove it (apt remove pve-esxi-import-tools) Purge, reinstall it, and reboot it and still don't have the option to add the ESXi storage...

 

[jlauro]

Thanks.

I did.

Rebooted and then try turn it off and back on.
But that did not fix it.

I actually remove it (apt remove pve-esxi-import-tools) Purge, reinstall it, and reboot it and still don't have the option to add the ESXi storage...

I think there are 2 or 3 other critical packages. Have you tried:
apt dist-upgrade

 

[Reislin24]

I have a new install, I have only changed the repositories and update the system but I don't have the option to add ESXi to my storage although the migration tool is installed.

What am I missing? (I rebooted the server, and then try turning it off and back on)

Thanks!!


View attachment 65779

I am having the same issue. No updates available, have rebooted the server twice (just to make sure), and still a no-go.

 

[Falk R.]

It’s an option to upgrade ESXi to 7.0 or 8.0?

 

[Reislin24]

I am having the same issue. No updates available, have rebooted the server twice (just to make sure), and still a no-go.

NVM...my bad. Stupid user error. I had left the same browser windows running during the reboots, and the web page was never fully refreshed when on the Storage menu item. Once I closed and reopened browser...bingo the ESXi option is there.

 

[t.lamprecht]

This solved a lot. I was able to to do two full offline imports after this update. My esxi is 6.7 just for reference. Before this update I never had a successful import at all.

Thanks for your feedback, that's what we hoped for.

We even found a few other edge cases that got fixed in version 0.7.0 which just got added to the repos.

In that version we also expose a new virtual .version file in the user space filesystem. This can be used to ensure that one is indeed running the latest version by comparing the output of

cat /run/pve/import/esxi/STORAGE_ID/mnt/.version (replace STORAGE_ID with the ID of your ESXi storage)

with

/usr/libexec/pve-esxi-import-tools/esxi-folder-fuse -v (or apt show pve-esxi-import-tools)

Reminder, you can ensure the new version is used by temporarily disable that Storage in PVE's storage management, or unmount it manually via fusermount -u /run/pve/import/esxi/STORAGE_ID/mnt/ and the browse the storage content directory on the web UI again.