¶ About Migrating Virtual Machines
Have you decided to transition to our IaaS Cloud for your environment but still have some VMs running on different platforms? No problem at all. Our seamless migration process allows you to easily move your virtual machines from your existing VMware or Hyper-V environment to our IaaS Cloud. By following these simple steps, you can complete the migration in just a few minutes and start leveraging the full power of our cloud services without any disruption.
Let’s get started with the migration process so you can experience the advantages of our IaaS Cloud right away.
¶ Before you Start
To complete the actions below, you must have:
- Exported your VM from VMware or Hyper-V, ideally in an OVA or OVF file format.
- Downloaded the qemu-img tool.
- An IaaS Cloud account registered. For more information, skip to our Registration tutorial.
- A user with the permissions to create new resources. For more information, read our Accounts chapter.
¶ Getting Started
¶ Converting VM Files
First, we need to prepare the VM files by converting them into the correct format before importing them into our IaaS Cloud. To do this, you will need the qemu-img tool mentioned earlier. Follow these easy steps:
1. Extract the qemu-img-win-x64-2_3_0.zip file and move your VM files in the same folder:
2. If you compiled the VM files into an OVA or OVF file, extract them. If not, simply move the virtual disk file into the same folder.
3. Next, open your command line and navigate to the folder containing the extracted files.
4. Now, we need to convert the disk file into QCOW2 format using one of the following commands:
For VMDK (VMware) files:
qemu-img.exe convert -f vmdk -O qcow2 your-disk-file.vmdk disk1.qcow2
For VHD/VHDX (Hyper-V) files:
qemu-img.exe convert -f vhdx -O qcow2 your-disk-file.vhdx disk1.qcow2
Make sure to replace your-disk-file with the actual name of your disk file.
5. Once the command has finished executing, you will have a disk1.qcow2 file in your folder.
If your OVA/OVF file contains multiple disk files, you can repeat the previous steps and adjust the name of the output .qcow2 file for each disk accordingly.
¶ Uploading Disk File into the Cloud
After the disk1.qcow2 file is prepared, you can proceed with the migration process by uploading the VM into your IaaS Cloud. First, log into your admin account and then follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Images → Templates on the left navigation bar.
2. Click on the Register template from URL button in the top row:
If your disk file is relatively small (less than 1 GB), you can use the Upload Template from Local button for a quicker and simpler workflow.
3. Then you have to specify the following parameters:
- URL where the disk file is hosted.
- Name for the template.
- Short Description of the template.
- Zone where the template will be hosted.
The template and your instance later must be in the same zone, so choose the zone where you plan to deploy your VM.
- KVM as the Hypervisor.
- QCOW2 as the Format.
- OS type of your initial VM.
- Optionally, you can define Userdata and other options.
4. Click on OK to register and create the template.
¶ Create new VM from Template
Once the template is created and ready, you can create your new VM from it. Follow these steps to proceed:
1. Navigate to Compute → Instances on the left navigation bar.
2. Click on the Add instance button in the top row:
3. First, select the same deployment Zone as the one used for your newly created template in the previous step.
4. Next, navigate to the My Templates tab and select your imported template from the list.
5. Now, select a compute offering that meets your needs. If possible, choose one with specifications similar to your previous VM. You can find more information about that in our service offerings.
You always have the option to adjust your service offering later on, easily increasing or decreasing your instance's performance. For a detailed step-by-step guide, skip to the Changing Service Offerings chapter.
6. Optionally, select an additional Data disk. If nothing is selected, you will receive an standard 8GB root disk.
7. Now, you need to select or create a new Network.
8. You can select an SSH key pair, which you must create beforehand. This step is optional, but we highly recommend SSH key pairs for added security and ease of access.
9. Click on Advanced mode if you want configure User Data and Affinity Groups.
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Finally, you can configure some last details and give your instance a Name and Group. You can also decide whether your instance should start right after creation or not.
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Click on Launch instance to create your instance.
The instance should be marked as Stopped. If you selected Start instance in the previous step, the virtual machine should shortly switch from Starting to Running. For more information, skip to the chapter Starting & Stopping Instances.
¶ Adding additional Disks
If your VM has additional disks besides the already migrated root disk, you can upload and attach these disks to the running instance. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Storage → Volumes on the left navigation bar.
2. Click on the Upload volume from URL button in the top row:
If your disk file is relatively small (less than 1 GB), you can use the Upload volume from local button for a quicker and simpler workflow.
3. Then you have to specify the following parameters:
- URL where the disk file is hosted.
- Name for the volume.
- Short Description of the volume.
- Zone where the volume will be hosted.
- QCOW2 as the Format.
- Appropriate Disk offering.
- Optionally, the volume can be assigned to a specific Domain and Account.
4. Click on OK to upload and create the volume.
5. Once the volume is uploaded and in the Allocated state, select it from the list view.
6. Click on Attach disk in the top right action block:
7. First, choose the instance you want to attach the volume to by selecting the VM ID.
8. Optionally, assign a Device ID to map the volume to the guest OS. If no Device ID is informed, the next available ID will be chosen.
9. Finally, click on OK to attach the volume to the instance.
¶ Conclusion
Congratulations! You've completed your first VM migration to our IaaS Cloud platform. In this tutorial, you successfully converted your VM files into the QCOW2 format, uploaded your VM disk file to the cloud, created a new VM instance from the template, and added additional storage volumes to your instance.
These steps are your initial gateway into leveraging the powerful capabilities of our cloud infrastructure. This tutorial serves as an excellent starting point for your journey within our IaaS Cloud, but there's much more to explore. We encourage you to delve into our other Tutorials or explore specific chapters from our comprehensive Overview to further enhance your cloud experience.
If you have any questions or encounter issues, please don't hesitate to contact our support team. We're here to assist you every step of the way. Enjoy your journey with our IaaS Cloud and make the most out of its robust features!