sneakernet migration of VM to other host

[hb020]

(have searched, found contradicting info, not sure how to proceed, so I ask here)

My problem:
* I have a large VM with its disks hosted on a large local disk (10TB+) on a 8.3 PVE host
* I would like to migrate that VM to another 8.3 PVE host, with minimal downtime.

As a consequence, the migration is best done via sneakernet, as copying data will be way too long.

Under ESXi, I would do the following:

• move the vmx file to the disk
• shut down VM
• detach VM
• detach storage
• move physical disk to new host
• attach storage
• attach VM
• start VM

Question:

How should I proceed with PVE? I know I must make sure the ID of the VM is not existing on the target, but outside of that I'm not sure about the exact steps.
Is there a guide somewhere?

 

[leesteken]

Backup the VM using the Proxmox web GUI to a single file (zstd for example) on a directory storage. Bring the file to a directory storage on the other Proxmox and use restore (from the web GUI, you can also chose a different ID if you want).

 

[hb020]

That would mean copying the data, and with 10+TB (I have VMs up to 16TB), that could take days. I am looking for a solution without copying the data.

 

[leesteken]

That would mean copying the data, and with 10+TB (I have VMs up to 16TB), that could take days. I am looking for a solution without copying the data.

You're right and I missed that you want to physically move the drive. Move the drive but also bring the VM configuration files (from the /etc/pve/qemu-server/ directory) for the VMs that you are moving and copy those after installing the disk (and configuring it as a storage with the same name as before) on the other Proxmox.

 

[hb020]

Thanks.
"configuring it as a storage with the same name as before" sounds reasonable. Maybe tweaking the config files could get me around that, but I'll manage.
Looks easy enough. Will try.

 

[leesteken]

Looks easy enough. Will try.

People end up in this scenario when they reinstall Proxmox and are left with the virtual disks on other drives but no VM configurations. More than one thread about this on this forum about people trying to recreate the configuration files from memory. If you make sure to bring them along, you should be fine. And you can indeed edit them to match network and storage of the other Proxmox if necessary.