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AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI workloads to IBM Cloud VPC migration with RMM

AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI workloads to IBM Cloud VPC migration with RMM

The RackWare Management Module (RMM) migration solution provides a seamless virtual-to-virtual replatforming from other cloud service providers (AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI (bare metal)) to IBM Cloud® virtual server instances. Use the intuitive GUI to move the OS, application, and data from other cloud service providers to IBM Cloud VPC instances.

The following steps show you how to complete a migration from AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI to IBM Cloud VPC.

Supported operating systems

  • RHEL 8.x, 9.x
  • CentOS Stream 9
  • Debian 11, 12
  • Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, 24.04
  • Rocky Linux 8, 9
  • Fedora CoreOS 40
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise server 12, 15,
  • Windows 2016, 2019, 2022

The Convert LVM feature is only supported for RHEL 7.x and RHEL 8.x

Architecture diagram

This diagram shows the architecture that you create with the guide.

Architecture
Architecture diagram

This diagram is applicable for bare metal to bare metal, bare metal to virtual server, and virtual server to virtual server in AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI workloads to IBM Cloud VPC migration.

Order RMM

The RMM tool is available in the IBM Cloud catalog. After you order, a virtual server with RMM software is installed into your VPC of choice. The RMM server has a public IP address for reachability and a default login.

If a public IP address is not attached to the RMM server, then its 'Reserved IP' address can be used to access RMM server with bastion host.

  1. Order the RMM server from the IBM Cloud catalog.
  2. After you order, log in to the RMM server.
  3. In the RMM server, change the default password, create users, and create an SSH key.
  4. Upload the SSH key to IBM Cloud VPC.

Bring Your Own License (BYOL) from RackWare

Purchase the license that is required for migration to IBM Cloud directly from RackWare. Complete the following steps to get a license:

  1. Order your license from RackWare.

  2. Run the following command on the RMM CLI to generate a preinstall file:

    rwadm relicense

  3. After the preinstall file is generated, send a license generation request to the RackWare licensing team with the following information:

    • RMM License (subject line)
    • Company name
    • License count
    • Preinstall file (attached)
    • Purchase order (attached)

  4. Install the license.

    a. After a valid license is received, download the license file and place it in /etc/rackware. Restart the services to apply the license by running the following command:

    rwadm restart

    b. Verify the license by running the following command:

    rw rmm show

Establish connectivity between source server and IBM Cloud VPC

Your source and target need to be able to reach each other and also the RMM. You can establish connectivity over the public internet by using public IP addresses.

  • Have port 22 open with SSH accessible to RMM server
  • Public interface

Set up and provision VPC and virtual server instance

You can set up the target server manually or with the RMM auto-provision feature.

Option 1: Manual

The RMM solution handles only the OS, application, and data movement. It does not set up a VPC on the target side. Therefore, you must set up the IBM Cloud VPC infrastructure. At a bare minimum, you need to set up a VPC, subnets, and virtual server instances. For more information about setting up the VPC infrastructure, see Getting started with Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

  1. Create a VPC.

  2. Create subnets.

  3. Order a virtual server instance.

    • SSH key
    • Operating system name (Linux or Windows and their respective versions)
    • Security groups
    • Secondary volume (optional)

    Encrypted volumes are not supported.

Option 2: Auto-provision

Setting up a cloud user

  1. Log in to the RackWare web console.
  2. In the RackWare web console, go to Configuration > Clouduser.
  3. When you add a cloud user, enter a name and select IBM Cloud VPC for the Cloud Provider. Select the region where you want to auto-provision the virtual server instance, and enter your IBM Cloud API key.
  4. Click Add.

Creating a wave and replication

A wave contains a single host or multiple hosts that are to be migrated. For this migration, you need to create one or more waves, provide information about the hosts in the wave, and then start the wave.

  1. In the RackWare web console, go to Replication > Waves.
  2. When you create a wave, select Target Type as Autoprovision.
  3. Enter source and target details.

If source machine has a Linux operating system and it has a boot volume greater than 100 GB, then leave the ‘Provision disk’ textbox empty and select Convert to LVM option. This selection creates a disk of the required size and converts all eligible volumes to LVM on the target. In case of Windows, no action is required. It is handled automatically by RMM.

  1. After you enter your source and target information, you need to provide your IBM Cloud VPC information.
  2. From the edit option in the Actions menu of your source, select the IBM Cloud VPC Options tab, enter the relevant information, and click Modify.
  3. Run the replication.

Ensure that your VPC, subnet, and other necessary cloud components are set up before you add a cloud user in RMM.

Assigning the environment to wave

  1. In the RackWare web console, go to Replication > Waves.
  2. Select the wave that needs to be migrated.
  3. On the Wave Detail page, select the Autoprovision option as Not configured.
  4. Select your cloud user for the Environment, enter the region where the virtual server instance needs to be provisioned, and apply the changes.

Auto-provision feature is not available if target is VPC bare metal. The user needs to select Existing System as the target type in this case.

Prepare source and target servers

There are a few things that need to be done on the source and target server for the migration to work. The RMM server needs to SSH into the servers; thus, the RMM public SSH keys need to be copied onto both the source and target servers. If the source server has both public and private interfaces, host routes need to be added to direct the communication between the servers over the transit gateway path. Complete the following steps to prepare your relevant servers.

Linux systems

  1. Copy the RMM SSH public key to both the source and target servers.
  2. If your compute resource has both public and private IP addresses, the host level route needs to be added for it to work properly. Run the following command on your classic compute resources for the operating system:
ip route add <destination_network> via <Gateway_address> dev <private_ethernet_interface>

Windows systems

  1. Copy the RMM SSH public key to both the source and target servers.

  2. You need to download the SSH key utility. You can download it from the RMM server: <https://<RMM_IP>/windows/RWSSHDService_x64.msi>

    <RMM_IP> is the IP address of your RMM server.

  3. The user is SYSTEM, and you need to key in the RMM SSH key to authenticate for both the source and target servers.

  4. If your compute resource has both public and private IP addresses, the host level route needs to be added for it to work properly. Run the following command on your classic compute resources for the operating system:

route ADD <destination_network> MASK <subnet_mask> <gateway_ip> <metric_cost>

If you use the auto-provision feature, you don't need to set up a target. Only the friendly name for the target server is required.

Set up RMM waves

You can migrate the servers over one by one or run simultaneous migrations. If you are doing multiple, simultaneous migrations, download the CSV template from the RMM server and complete the appropriate fields.

  1. Log in to the RMM server.
  2. Create a Wave and define the Wave name.
  3. If multiple hosts are to be migrated, download the template, complete the appropriate fields, and then upload the template.
  4. Select the Wave name to enter source and target information.
  5. Select the "+" sign.
  6. Add source IP address or FQDN and add source username.
  7. Target Type = Existing system
  8. Sync Type = Direct sync
  9. Add a target IP address or FQDN.
  10. Add a target-friendly name, and add a target username.
  11. Start the migration.

The username field for Linux environments is root. The username field for Windows environments is SYSTEM.

Validate your migration

After your server migration, validate your compute resources. The following list is not exhaustive, but suggests some of the items to validate:

  1. Access the target server.
  2. Check partitions and volumes.
  3. Check the applications.
  4. Install any test application in the target server.
  5. Check networking routes.
  6. Check or update your yum repos, application settings, and configuration file.
  7. Check or update application or operating system licenses.
  8. Remove the RMM SSH key.