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Vizioncore Best Practices for Migration to VMware Infrastructure 3

Tuesday, 16 January 2007 by Michel Roth

Vizioncore has released a whitepaper that details best practices for migrating to VMware's Infrastructure 3.

"VMware has released its next generation platform for server virtualization with VMware Infrastructure 3, which offers more robust functionality and features to users. However to gain all the advantages of this platform, existing virtual machines (VMs) must be migrated from ESX Server 2.X to VMware Infrastructure 3."

These migrations can involve hours of downtime per VM whether the upgrade is done on the existing hardware or the VMs are moved to a new server. Today, companies run hundreds of VMs with numerous interdependencies among the VMs, ESX Server hosts and VMFS volumes to support applications.

Scheduling migrations and cutovers can get complicated and downtime can become substantial. This white paper examines the challenges in upgrading to VMware Infrastructure and offers some insights into best practices to follow to achieve successful and smooth migrations.

visioncore's white paper details the following areas:

� Read all documentation thoroughly before you begin
� Identify each virtual machine and its associated host for migration
� Map interdependencies of virtual machines
� Create a schedule and workflow of virtual machines in required order
� Identify the method of migration
� Back-up your existing virtual machines and establish a fail-back strategy
� Always begin with a test virtual machine
� Perform migration steps in sequential order
� Manage your downtime window effectively
� Leverage automation whenever possible

Read it here.