What is V2V migration?
Virtual machine migration technology makes server virtualization more convenient. Popular virtualization tools such as VMware, Xen, hyperv, and KVM currently have their own migration components. Migrating servers can save users money on management, maintenance, and upgrades.
V2V migration is the process of moving the operating system and data between virtual machines while accounting for host level differences and dealing with different virtual hardware. The virtual machine is moved from one physical machine’s VMM to another physical machine’s VMM. The two VMM can be of the same or different types. VMware, for example, migrates to KVM, or KVM migrates to VMware. There are various methods for moving virtual machines from one VM host system to another.
What are the V2V migration tools?
Since version 2.0, Microsoft’s Hyper-v has supported dynamic migration technology. A running virtual machine can be moved from one Hyper-v physical host to another using dynamic migration without interrupting service or allowing downtime, and the memory in the migrated virtual machine is pre-copied to the destination host. When the dynamic migration begins, the administrator or script controls and selects the target computer. Users will not notice that the system is being migrated while using it.
Xenmotion is a XenServer feature that allows running virtual machines to be moved from one XenServer host to another without causing downtime. This means that the moved virtual machine can be accessed at any time during the migration process. The primary goal of Xenmotion is to make the end user unaware of the extremely brief interruption of the application during planned server maintenance, thereby making the entire service process normal and smooth.
Vmotion is realized by VMware’s online migration. The real-time solution from Vmotion is distinguished by its own Cluster File System, VMFS. Furthermore, it supports NFS. Vmotion encapsulates the entire virtual machine, including its state, in several files and stores them in shared storage such as San / NAS. The memory and running state are copied from the source to the target via a high-speed network during the migration process.
But if you want to migrate VMware VMs to XenServer, what tool should you choose?
Data migration between two different virtual platforms can be quite complicated due to differences in hypervisor type, product versions, and a variety of other factors to consider. As a result, migrating existing workloads to a different platform can often take several months, especially when the number of virtual machines to be migrated is large.
Is there an all-in-one solution that can help simplify such things to realize V2V always in an easier way? Which takes only couple of days instead of couple of months to finish the migrations?
The answer is yes. You can simply use Cross-Platform Recovery in Vinchin Backup & Recovery, which allows you to easily migrate virtual machines between two different virtual platforms. Simply back up the critical workloads in VMware, and uses Vinchin full VM restore or instant VM restore to recover the VMs to XenServer host, your critical workloads are migrated successfully. It allows you to cross-platform recover virtual machines in batches as well, not only save your manpower but also shorten migration period from months to days.