We’re thrilled to announce the release of the VMware NSX Migration tool for VMware Cloud Director 1.4.2!
If you are unaware of the VMware NSX Migration for VMware Cloud Director Tool, it can help you migrate your environment from NSX for vSphere to NSX T Data Center if you are currently running VMware Cloud Director. To use this tool, you must download and configure it externally, after which it will begin and complete the migration with minimal downtime automatically.
By now, you’re likely aware that the NSX for vSphere product is no longer supported, having passed its Technical Guidance phase back in February 2021. Despite this, we understand that many of you have grown attached to the product and are hesitant to switch to NSX-T datacenter, even almost two years later.
Why should a Cloud Provider Migrate to NSX-T Datacenter?
It’s important to note that there are additional benefits that you will have after completing the migration.
- First and foremost, cloud providers will not receive any assistance in resolving issues with your NSX for vSphere environment if it is experiencing problems.
- NSX for vSphere is old and does not support any newer features you may want to use and offer to your customers.
- And most importantly, you are already losing on so many new features that are only possible to use with NSX-T datacenter.
To learn more, read the “Why should a Cloud Provider Migrate to NSX-T Datacenter?” blog.
So, do you feel any better after knowing what you were missing and thought did not exist?
I know what’s on your mind now…!
How can you migrate your VMware Cloud Director environment, backed by NSX for vSphere, to NSX-T Datacenter?
Well, the answer is VMware NSX Migration for VMware Cloud Director Tool. Just note that using the latest version, v1.4.2, will facilitate many new features, which may have been a roadblock in the earlier versions.
So what all New Features are Introduced in this Release?
On top of all the features we supported in the previous releases, these are the features we will start supporting from v1.4.2 onwards in the migration tool:
Support for IP Spaces
IP Spaces in networking are logical partitions of IP address ranges within a network infrastructure, enabling efficient management, organization, and allocation of IP addresses. They enhance control, security, and performance by isolating and segmenting network traffic. IP Spaces minimize IP conflicts, optimize address allocation, and simplify network management in complex environments, ensuring effective utilization of IP resources.
The current system lacks support for utilizing IP Space enabled Provider Gateways during migration. To address this limitation, support has been added to enable the use of IP Space enabled Provider Gateways for migration. This enhancement allows for a more seamless and efficient migration process by leveraging the capabilities of IP Space enabled Provider Gateways.
Support for Exclusion/Negated Distributed Firewall Rules
Support has been introduced for the migration of distributed firewall rules that are negated at the source/destination field. This enhancement ensures that the migration process encompasses all types of distributed firewall rules, enabling a comprehensive and seamless migration experience.
Support for Multiple Ports in Distributed Firewall Rules Service
We have introduced an update that incorporates support for the migration of distributed firewall rules containing multiple ports specified as a range or separated by a comma. This enhancement ensures a smoother and more comprehensive migration process for such rules, enabling seamless transition and better management of firewall configurations during the migration journey.
Support for Migration of VMs without NICs
The release incorporates a new feature that facilitates the smooth migration of virtual machines (VMs) even when they do not possess network interface cards (NICs). This enhancement ensures that VMs without NICs can be seamlessly transferred between different environments.
Support for SSL Passthrough in LB Application Profile
Support has been implemented for the migration of LB configurations with SSL Passthrough enabled in the application profile. With this enhancement, during the migration process, if SSL Passthrough is enabled, the HTTPS protocol will be converted to the TCP protocol, and the HTTPS Health Monitor will be changed to a TCP Health Monitor on the target side. This ensures a smooth and consistent migration of LB configurations with SSL Passthrough enabled, maintaining the integrity of the application profile settings.
Which all Existing Features are Enhanced?
Direct Network Migration Mechanism
All types of Direct Org VDC networks (dedicated/service) that are connected to a VXLAN-backed external network will undergo migration. During the migration process, these networks will be connected to an existing external network with the same name but suffixed with ‘-v2t’, which will be backed by an NSX-T segment.
Detailed V2T Assessment Report
An extra column called ‘OrgVdcToBeMigratedTogether‘ has been added to the detailed assessment report. This column will provide clear information about which Org VDCs must be migrated together due to shared network constraints. Furthermore, the migration tool has been enhanced to perform a check and verification process, ensuring that the limit of 16 Org VDCs is adhered to when employing the data center creation mechanism for migration. These enhancements improve the accuracy and compliance of the migration process, allowing for smoother and more reliable migration of Org VDCs with shared network dependencies.
Catalog Migration
YAML flag TimeoutForVappMigration: The usage of the YAML flag TimeoutForVappMigration has been improved. Previously, this flag allowed customization of the timeout for vApp migration. Now, with the enhancement, it also affects the catalog migration timeout during the cleanup process. This provides more flexibility and control over the migration process by allowing a single flag to influence both vApp and catalog migration timeouts.
vApp template migration enhanced: During the catalog migration in the cleanup process if the storage policy of the vApp template is not found in the target Org VDC, the migration tool will automatically update the storage policy of the vApp template to the default storage policy of the target NSX-T backed Org VDC. This ensures that the vApp template aligns with the storage policies in the target environment, maintaining consistency and compatibility throughout the migration process.
Support for owner info and share permission info of catalog: Support has been introduced for the migration of owner information and share permissions information of catalogs. This enhancement ensures that during the cleanup process, owner details and share permissions of catalogs are accurately migrated, preserving the ownership and access rights for the migrated catalogs.
Where can I find the Steps and a Guide?
A step-by-step guide can be found here, which is easy to understand and documented very well.
Are there any Resources to refer to?
To boost your confidence, we invite you to speak with us and hear about the numerous success stories of our partners who have successfully migrated from NSX-V to NSX-T. These partners have achieved better outcomes and rapidly monetizing their businesses by leveraging the advanced features of NSX-T.
As always, you are encouraged to continue providing feedback to help us decide how the tool should evolve. We would love to hear about your experience and suggestions in the comments section below or in the #vcd-v2t-assist channel on the VMware Cloud Provider Slack workspace or via your VMware representative.