---
name: virtualization-solutions-migration-tutorial
title: Migrating VMware Cloud Foundation (VCFaaS) workloads to IBM Cloud virtual servers for VPC
description: Migrate VMware VMware Cloud Foundation as a Service (VCFaaS) Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) workloads to IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC using a Transit Gateway private connection.
last-updated: 2026-07-21
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/virtualization-solutions?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Migrating VMware Cloud Foundation (VCFaaS) workloads to IBM Cloud virtual servers for VPC
{: #virt-sol-vcfaas-vpc-migration-tutorial-overview}
{: toc-content-type="tutorial"}
{: toc-services="OpenShift Virtualization, VMware"}
{: toc-completion-time="60m"}

Migrate VMware VMware Cloud Foundation as a Service (VCFaaS) Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) workloads to IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC using a Transit Gateway private connection.
{: shortdesc}

## Migrating virtual servers to IBM Cloud VPC: A step-by-step tutorial
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-overview-objectives}

Learn how to migrate virtual servers to IBM Cloud VPC using a transit gateway, with a tutorial covering VPC setup, virtual server migration, and disk.
{: shortdesc}

The following objectives are covered in the following tutorial.

- Create a VPC and the resources that it needs.
- Set up IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions instance with a Microsoft Windows® virtual server and an RHEL virtual server to use as migration examples.
- Build a private connection between IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions and VPC through a Transit Gateway (TGW).
- Move your virtual server disks into VPC block storage volumes.
- Create virtual servers from the migrated disks.

Some VMware configuration steps, such as connecting your environment to VPC through a Transit Gateway, are different.
{: note}

The virtual servers that are part of this tutorial have the following constraints:

- They have a single disk size of less than 250 GB.
- They are not Bring Your Own License (BYOL).
- They access the internet to download the necessary packages to start the migration.

The following diagram illustrates what you build with this tutorial.

![Virtualization Solutions VPC Migration Tutorial High-Level Architecture](../images/vpc-vsi/vpc-vsi-migration-tutorial-high-level-diagram.svg){: caption="Virtualization Solutions VPC Migration Tutorial High Level Architecture" caption-side="bottom"}


## Before you begin
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-prerequisites}

This tutorial requires the following prerequisites.

- An available VCFaaS instance.
- Verify that you have the correct access policies to manage VCFaaS environments so you can create the required VCFaaS resources.
   - VMs
   - Networks
   - Firewall Rules
   - NAT rules
   - Transit Gateway (TGW) Connection Group

For more information, see [Managing IAM access for VCFaaS](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmware-service?topic=vmware-service-vmaas-iam&interface=ui&format=markdown).

- Verify that you have the correct access policies to manage VPCs and their resources so you can create the required VPC resources.
   - VPCs
   - Virtual servers
   - Security groups
   - Public gateways
   - Floating IPs

For more information, see [Managing Identity and Access Management (IAM) access for VPC Infrastructure Services](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-iam-getting-started&interface=ui&format=markdown).

- Verify that you have the correct access policies to manage Transit Gateways (TGWs) so you can create the following TGW resources.
   - TGWs
   - TGW connections

For more information, see [Using IAM permissions with IBM Cloud Transit Gateway](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/transit-gateway?topic=transit-gateway-iam&format=markdown).


## Creating a virtual private cloud (VPC) for migration on IBM Cloud
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-create-vpc}
{: step}

Learn how to create and set up a VPC environment on IBM Cloud, hosting migrated virtual servers and associated resources like subnets and security groups.
{: shortdesc}

Use the following steps to create and set up a VPC environment. The VPC hosts the migrated virtual servers and associated resources such as subnets, gateways, and security groups. The following information also includes resources that are used later in the migration process.

Before you begin, make sure that you're logged in to the IBM Cloud console.
{: tip}

   1. From the **Navigation menu**, go to **Infrastructure** > **Network** > **VPCs**, and then click **Create**.
   2. In the **Location** section, specify the following information:
      - For **Geography**, select **North America**.
      - For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
   3. In the **Details** section, for **Name**, enter `vpc-migration`.
   4. Deselect the **Create a default prefix for each zone** checkbox. The default prefix remains the same across VPCs and can introduce routing conflicts when multiple VPCs are connected to the same IBM Cloud classic infrastructure account.
   5. Click **Create a virtual private cloud**.
   6. Click the name of the VPC that you created.
   7. Select the **Address prefixes** tab.
   8. Create an address prefix of your choice for the Location **us-south-1**. Ensure that this address prefix does not overlap with prefixes that are used by other VPCs that are connected through IBM Cloud classic infrastructure using IBM Cloud Transit Gateway.
   9. From the **Navigation menu**, go to **Infrastructure** > **Network** > **Subnets**. Then, click **Create**.
   10. In the **Location** section, specify the following information:
       - For **Geography**, select **North America**.
       - For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
       - For **Zone**, select **us-south-1**.
   11. In the **Details** section, for **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-sn-1`, and select the new VPC for the **Virtual private cloud**.
   12. In the **IP range selection** section, select the address prefix that you created earlier. You can use the entire prefix for your subnet.
   13. Select the toggle to **Attach** a public gateway to your subnet. This enables your workloads to access the internet from the VPC.
   14. Click **Create subnet**.


## Creating a virtual server for VPC migration
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-create-virtual-server}
{: step}

Learn how to create a worker virtual server for running migrations in IBM Cloud VPC.
{: shortdesc}

Use these steps to create a worker virtual server that is used to run migrations.

1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Network** > **Subnets**.
2. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-sn-1**.
3. Click **Attached resources**.
4. In the **Attached instances** section, click **Create**.
5. In the **Location** section, specify the following information:
   - For **Geography**, select **North America**.
   - For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
   - For **Zone**, select **us-south-1**.
6. In the **Details** section, for **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-vsi-worker`.
7. In the **Server configuration** section, specify the following information:
   - For **Image**, click **Change image**.
   - The **Select an image** form is displayed where you take the following actions:
       1. Search for **Ubuntu**.
       2. Select **ibm-ubuntu-24-04-3-minimal-amd64-4** from the list of results and click **Save**.
   - For **SSH keys**, click **Create an SSH key** and in the Create an SSH key form, take the following actions:
       1. In the **Details** section, specify the following information:
          1. For **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-ssh-key`.
          2. For **Select SSH key input method**, select **Generate a key pair for me**.
       2. Click **Create**. The SSH private key is downloaded automatically.
8. Click **Create a virtual server**.


## Creating a bastion virtual server for secure VPC access
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-create-bastion-virtual-server}
{: step}

Learn how to create a bastion virtual server to securely access VPC resources by following this step-by-step tutorial.
{: shortdesc}

Create a Bastion virtual server to securely access the resources in the VPC.

1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Network** > **Subnets**.
2. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-sn-1**.
3. Click **Attached resources**.
4. In the attached instances section, click **Create**.
5. In the **Location** section, specify the following information:
   - For **Geography**, select **North America**.
   - For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
   - For **Zone**, select **us-south-1**.
6. In the **Details** section, for **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-vsi-bastion`.
7. In the server configuration section, specify the following information:
   - For **Image**, click **Change image**.
   - The **Select an image** form is displayed where you take the following actions:
      1. Search for `ubuntu`.
      2. Select **ibm-ubuntu-24-04-3-minimal-amd64-4** from the list of results and click **Save**.
8. For **SSH keys**, select **vpc-migration-ssh-key**.
9. Click **Create a virtual server**.

## Creating a floating IP
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-create-floating-ip}
{: step}

To access your bastion server from the internet, create a floating IP by completing the following steps.

1. From the **Navigation menu**, go to **Infrastructure** > **Compute** > **Virtual server instances**.
2. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-vsi-bastion**.
3. Click **Networking**.
4. Click the **Menu** icon for the attached network interface.
   1. Click **Edit floating IPs**.
   2. In the **Edit floating IPs** form, click **Attach**
   3. In the **Attach a floating IP** form, click **Reserve a new floating IP**.
   4. In the **Reserve a floating IP** form, in the **Details** section:
       1. For **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-fip`.
       2. Click **Reserve**.
5. Click **Close** to exit the menu.


## Configuring security groups for bastion virtual servers in VPC
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-create-security-group}
{: step}

Learn how to create and configure security groups for bastion virtual servers in a Virtual Private Cloud to enhance security and enable SSH connections.
{: shortdesc}

Security groups allow SSH connections to the Bastion virtual server.

Use the following steps to create a security group.

To improve your VPC security, the inbound rules in this security group must set an IP or CIDR as the _Source type_. This setting helps restrict the sources of traffic into its attached resources.
{: note}

1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Network security groups**, then click **Create**.
2. In the **Location** section, specify the following information:
   - For **Geography**, select **North America**.
   - For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
   - For **Zone**, select **us-south-1**.
   - In the **Details** section, specify the following information:
      - For **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-sg-bastion`.
      - For **Virtual private cloud**, select **vpc-migration**.
3. In the **Inbound rules** section, specify the following information:
      1. Click **Create**. In the **Create inbound rule** form, specify the following information:
         - For **Protocol**, select **TCP**.
         - For **Port**, select the **Port range**.
         - For **Port min**, enter `22`.
         - For **Port max**, enter `22` and click **Create**.
      2. Click **Create**. In the **Create inbound rule** form, specify the following information:
         - For **Protocol**, select **ICMP**.
         - For **Value**, select **Type and code**.
         - For **Type**, enter `8`.
         - For **Code**, keep empty and click **Create**.
4. In the **Attaching virtual server interfaces** section, specify the following information:
   - Select the interface of the Bastion virtual server.
   - Click **Create a security group**.
5. Get the IP of the Bastion virtual server:
   - From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Compute** > **Virtual server instances**.
   - Search for **vpc-migration-vsi-bastion**.
   - Copy the floating IP of the Bastion virtual server from the list of results.
6. Get the IP of the worker virtual server:
   - From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure > Compute > Virtual server instances**.
   - Search for **vpc-migration-vsi-worker**.
   - Copy the reserved IP of the worker virtual server from the list of results.
7. Copy the downloaded SSH private key to its default location.

    - On Windows, the default location is `C:\Users\<YourUsername>\.ssh\id_rsa`.
    - On Linux and macOS, the default location is `~/.ssh/id_rsa`.

8. Try to connect to the internet from the worker virtual server.
   - Use Secure Shell to log in to the worker virtual server by running the following command:

   `ssh -J root@<BASTION_VSI_IP> root@<WORKER_VSI_IP>`

   Where

   - `<BASTION_VSI_IP>` is the IP of the Bastion virtual server that you copied previously.
   - `<WORKER_VSI_IP>` is the IP of the worker virtual server that you copied previously.

   - Verify that you can reach Google by its domain name by running the following command:

   `nslookup www.google.com`


## Setting up networking on a VCFaaS instance
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-setup-vcfaas}
{: step}

Use the following steps to configure networking in your VMware Cloud Director (VCFaaS) environment to enable outbound internet access to install the required packages on the virtual servers.

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **VMware > Resources > VCF as a Service**.
   2. From the list of available resources, select your Director site and click **VMware console**.
   3. Click **Sign in with OIDC** and follow the prompts to log in with your IBM Cloud account.
3. Create a routed Virtual Data Center (VDC) Network.
   1. In the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Networking** section, click **Networks**.
   4. Click **New**. In the **New organization VDC network** wizard, specify the following information:
      1. In the **Scope** section, specify the following information:
         1. Select **Current organization virtual data center**.
         2. Click **Next**.
      2. In the **Network type** section, specify the following information:
         1. Select **Routed**.
         2. Click **Next**.
      3. In the **Edge connection** section, specify the following information:
         1. Select your Edge Gateway.
         2. Click **Next**.
      4. In the **General** section, specify the following information:
         1. For **Name**, enter `192.168.0.1/24`.
         2. For **Gateway CIDR**, enter `192.168.0.1/24`.
         3. Click **Next**.
      5. In the **Static IP pools** section, specify the following information:
         1. For **IP range**, enter `192.168.0.2-192.168.0.254`.
         2. Click **Add**.
         3. Click **Next**.
      6. In the **DNS** section, specify the following information:
         1. For **Primary DNS**, enter `161.26.0.10`.
         2. For **Secondary DNS**, enter `8.8.8.8`.
         3. Click **Next**.
      7. In the **Segment profile template** section, click **Next**.
      8. In the **Ready To complete** section, click **Finish**.
4. Create a firewall rule to allow outbound traffic from the routed VDC Network.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Networking** section, click **Edges**.
   4. Click your Edge gateway.
   5. In the **Services** section, click **Firewall**.
   6. Click **New**. Within the **New rule** form, specify the following information:
      1. For **Name**, enter `outbound-rule`
      2. For **Source**, click **Edit**. In the **Select source firewall groups** form, specify the following information:
          1. Click **Firewall IP addresses**.
          2. Click **Add**.
          3. For the new item that appears, enter `192.168.0.1/24`.
          4. Click **Keep**.
      3. For **Destination**, click **Edit**. In the **Select destination firewall groups** form, specify the following information:
         1. Set **Any destination** to **enabled**.
         2. Click **Keep**.
      4. Click **Save**.
5. Create a Network Address Translation (NAT) Rule to allow access to the internet from the routed VDC Network
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Networking** section, click **Edges**.
   4. Click your Edge Gateway. In the **Services** section, click **NAT**.
   5. Click **New**. Within the **Add NAT rule** form, specify the following information:
      1. For **Name**, enter `outbound-nat`.
      2. For **NAT action**, enter `SNAT` (Source Network Address Translation).
      3. For **External IP**, select an IP from the list of available IPs, or request a new one.
      4. For **Internal IP**, enter `192.168.0.0/24`.
      5. Click **Save**.

## Uploading the Ubuntu Server ISO into the VCFaaS instance
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-upload-ubuntu-iso}
{: step}

Use the following steps to create a catalog in VCFaaS and upload an Ubuntu Server ISO into it. This ISO is used later to boot the virtual servers into a shell for disk migration.

1. Go to [Get Ubuntu Server](https://ubuntu.com/download/server) and download the ISO of the most recent LTS version of Ubuntu Server.
2. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
3. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
4. Create a catalog
   1. From the side window, click **Content hub**.
   2. Click **Catalogs**.
   3. Click **New**. In the **Create catalog** form, specify the following information:
      1. For **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-catalog`.
      2. Click **OK**.
5. Upload the Ubuntu Server ISO to the catalog.
   1. From the side window, click **Content hub**.
   2. Click **Catalogs**.
   3. From the list of available catalogs, select **vpc-migration-catalog**.
   4. Click **Media**.
   5. Click **Add**. In the **Upload media** form, specify the following information:
      1. Click the **Upload** icon.
         1. In the file browser, click the Ubuntu Server ISO that you previously downloaded.
         2. Click **Open**.
      2. Click **OK** and wait for the ISO to upload.

## Creating the Windows and RHEL virtual servers
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-create-vms}
{: step}

Use the following steps to create Windows and RHEL virtual servers in VCFaaS. These servers are migrated to the VPC.

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
3. Create a Windows virtual server.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Click **New VM** and specify the following information:
      1. For **Name**, enter `vm-win22`.
      2. For **Templates**, select **Windows-22-Template-Official**.
      3. From the **NICs**:
         1. For **IP Mode**, select **Static - IP pool**.
      4. Click **OK** and wait for the virtual server to power on.
4. Get the password of the Windows virtual server
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-win22** from the list of available virtual servers.
   5. Click **Details** > **Guest OS Customization** > **Edit**. In the **Edit Guest Properties** form, specify the following information:
      1. Copy your password.
      2. Click **Discard**.
5. Open a web console window to the Windows virtual server.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. Click your VDC from the list of available data centers.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-win22** from the list click **Details** > **Launch Web Console** and in the **Web Console** window, log in as Administrator with the password that you copied.
6. Try to reach the internet from the Windows virtual server.
   1. From the Web Console window, do the following actions:
       1. Open Microsoft Edge.
       2. Go to the Google home page.
       3. Verify that the page loads.
   2. Close the Web Console window.
7. Create an RHEL virtual server.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Click **New VM**. In the **New VM** form, specify the following information:
      1. For **Name**, enter `vm-rhel9`
      2. For **Templates**, select **RHEL-9-Template-Official**
      3. In the **NICs** section, specify the following information:
         1. For **IP Mode**, select **Static - IP Pool**.
      4. Click **OK** and wait for the virtual server to power on.
8. Get the password of the RHEL.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. Click your VDC from the list of available data centers.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-rhel9** from the list of available virtual servers.
   5. Click **Details** > **Guest OS Customization** > **Edit** and in the **Edit Guest Properties** form
      1. Copy your password.
      2. Click **Discard**.
9. Open a Web Console window to the RHEL virtual server.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-rhel9** from the list of available virtual servers.
   5. Click **Details**.
   6. Click **Launch web console** and in the **web console window**
       1. Log in as root with the password that you copied.
10. Try to reach the internet from the RHEL virtual server.
    1. From the Web Console window, verify that you can resolve Google's domain name by running the following command:

         `nslookup www.google.com`

    2. Close the Web Console window.

## Getting the ISO for the Windows virtIO drivers into the Windows virtual server
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-load-virtio-iso}
{: step}

Use the following steps to obtain and transfer the ISO that contains the Windows virtIO drivers. These drivers help ensure compatibility with IBM Cloud VPC. This ISO file on the Windows virtual server is used to patch the Windows recovery image in a later step.

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
3. Create a temporary RHEL virtual server.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Click **New VM** and specify the following information:
      1. For **Name**, enter `vm-rhel9-tmp`.
      2. For **Templates**, select **RHEL-9-Template-Official**.
      3. In the **NICs** section, specify the following information
         1. For **IP Mode**, select **Static - IP Pool**.
      4. Click **OK** and wait for the virtual server to power on.
4. Get the password of the temporary RHEL virtual server.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-rhel9-tmp** from the list of available virtual servers.
   5. Click **Details**.
   6. Click **Guest OS customization**.
   7. Click **Edit** and in the **Edit guest properties** form,
      1. Copy your password.
      2. Click **Discard**.
5. Open a Web Console window to the temporary RHEL virtual server
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. From the list of available virtual servers, find **vm-rhel9-tmp**.
   5. Click **Details** > **Launch Web Console** and in the **Web Console window**,
6. Register the temporary RHEL virtual server with the Red Hat Subscription Manager by following the steps that are in the [Operating VMware Cloud Director guide](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmware-service?topic=vmware-service-vcd-ops-guide&format=markdown#vcd-ops-guide-public-cat-rhel).
7. Install the `virtio-win` package on the RHEL virtual server.
   1. From the Web Console window,
      1. Run `dnf install -y virtio-win` to install the package.
8. Get the IP of the temporary RHEL virtual server
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-rhel9-tmp** from the list of available virtual servers.
   5. Click **Details**.
   6. In the **Hardware** section, click **NICs**.
   7. Copy the IP address of the primary network interface.
9. Get the password of the Windows virtual server.
10. Copy the virtIO drivers ISO into the Windows virtual server.
    1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
    2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
    3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
    4. Find **vm-win22** from the list of available virtual servers.
    5. Click **Details** > **Launch Web Console** and in the **Web Console** window,
        1. Log in as Administrator with the password of the Windows virtual server.
        2. Open the command prompt and copy the ISO from the RHEL virtual server by running the following command:

        `scp root@<TEMP_RHEL_VM_IP>:/usr/share/virtio-win/virtio-win.iso C:\virtio-win.iso`

            Where

            `<TEMP_RHEL_VM_IP>` is the IP of the temporary RHEL virtual server that you previously copied.

            When prompted whether you trust the remote server, enter **y** and enter the password of the temporary RHEL virtual server.
11. Keep the temporary RHEL virtual server and the virtio-win.iso file in place for now.They are needed to transfer the ISO file to the worker virtual server after network connectivity is established to the VPC in a later step.

## Getting the cloud-init installer for the Windows virtual server
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-load-cloud-init-installer}
{: step}

The Windows virtual server also needs Cloud-init installed on it to run as a virtual server in your VPC. Use the following steps to obtain the installer from the internet.

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
3. Get the password of the Windows virtual server.
4. Open a Web Console window to the Windows virtual server.
5. Download the cloud-init installer
   1. From the Web Console window:
      1. Open Microsoft Edge.
      2. Go to [the download page for the installer](https://www.cloudbase.it/downloads/CloudbaseInitSetup_1_1_4_x64.msi){: external}. The download starts automatically.
   2. Close the web console window.

## Setting up a transit gateway (private connection) between the VCFaaS instance and VPC
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-setup-tgw}
{: step}

Use the following steps to create a transit gateway to securely connect your VCFaaS instance and VPC over the IBM Cloud private network.

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Create a transit gateway.
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure > Network > Transit gateway**.
   2. Click **Create**
   3. In the **Configuration** section, specify the following information
      1. For **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-tgw`.
   4. In the **Location** section, specify the following information
      1. For **Routing option**, select **Local routing**
      2. For **Location**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
      3. Click **Create**.
3. Connect the VPC to the transit gateway.
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure > Network > Transit gateway**.
   2. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-tgw**.
   3. Click **Add connection** and within the form, specify the following information:
      1. For **Network connection**, select **VPC**.
      2. For **Connection reach**, select **Add a new connection to this account**.
      3. For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
      4. For **Available connections**, select **vpc-migration**.
      5. Click **Add**.
4. Connect the VCFaaS instance to the transit gateway.
   1. Follow the steps that are in [Using transit gateway to interconnect VCF as a Service with IBM Cloud services](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmware-service?topic=vmware-service-tgw-adding-connections&format=markdown) to connect the VCFaaS instance to the transit gateway.
5. Create a security group to allow traffic between the virtual server on the VPC environment and the VCFaaS instance.
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure > Network > Security groups**.
   2. Click **Create**.
   3. In the **Location** section, specify the following information
      1. For **Geography**, select **North America**.
      2. For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
   4. In the **Details** section, specify the following information
      1. For **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-sg-tgw`.
      2. For **Virtual private cloud**, select **vpc-migration**.
   5. In the **Inbound rules** section, specify the following information
      1. Click **Create** and within the form, specify the following information:
         1. For **Protocol**, select **Any protocol**.
         2. For **Source type**, select **IP or CIDR**.
         3. For **Source**, enter `192.168.0.0/24`.
         4. Click **Create**.
   6. In the **Attaching virtual server interfaces** section, select the interface of the worker virtual server and click **Create a security group**.
6. Get the IP range of the VPC subnet
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure > Network > Subnets**.
   2. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-sn-1**.
   3. Copy the value of the **IP range**.
7. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
8. Create firewall rules to allow traffic between the VCFaaS instance and the virtual server on a VPC environment.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Networking** section, click **Edges**
   4. Click your edge gateway.
   5. In the **Services** section, click **Firewall**.
   6. Click **New** and within the form, specify the following information:
      1. For **Name**, enter `tgw-outbound-rule`.
      2. For **Source**, click **Edit** and within the form, specify the following information:
          1. Click **Firewall IP addresses**.
          2. Click **Add** and enter `192.168.0.0/24`.
          3. Click **Keep**.
      3. For **Destination**, click **Edit** and within the form, specify the following information:
          1. Click **Firewall IP addresses**.
          2. Click **Add**.
          3. For the new item that appears, enter the IP range of the VPC subnet.
          4. Click **Keep**.
      4. Click **Save**.
   7. Click **New** and within the form, specify the following information:
       1. For **Name**, enter `tgw-inbound-rule`.
       2. For **Source**, click **Edit** and within the form, specify the following information:
          1. Click **Firewall IP addresses**.
          2. Click **Add**.
          3. For the new item that appears, enter the IP range of the VPC subnet.
          4. Click **Keep**.
       3. For **Destination**, click **Edit** and within the form, specify the following information:
          1. Click **Firewall IP addresses**.
          2. Click **Add** and enter `192.168.0.0/24`.
          3. Click **Keep**.
       4. Click **Save**.
9. Disable the NAT rule to allow access to the internet from the network.
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. Click your VDC from the list of available data centers.
   3. In the **Networking** section, click **Edges**.
   4. Click your edge gateway.
   5. In the **Services** section, select **NAT**.
   6. Select **outbound-nat**.
   7. Click **Edit** and within the form, specify the following information:
      1. Expand **Advanced settings**.
      2. Set **State** to the **disabled**.
      3. Click **Save**.
10. Open a Web Console window to the RHEL virtual server.
11. Try to reach an IP in the VPC subnet from the VCFaaS instance.
    1. From the Web Console window, verify that you can ping the worker virtual server by running the following command:

       `ping <WORKER_VSI_IP>`

        Where

        `<WORKER_VSI_IP>` is the IP of the worker virtual server that you copied previously.

    2. Close the Web Console window.
12. Try to reach an IP in the routed VDC network from the VPC.
    1. Secure Shell (SSH) into the worker virtual server by running the command that you used previously.
    2. Verify that you can ping the gateway of the routed VDC Network by running the following command:

          `ping 192.168.0.1`

## Getting the ISO for the Windows virtIO drivers into the worker virtual server
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-load-virtio-iso-worker}
{: step}

Use the following steps to obtain and transfer the ISO that contains the Windows virtIO drivers onto the worker virtual server. These drivers help ensure compatibility with IBM Cloud VPC. This ISO file on the worker virtual server is used to facilitate disk image conversion in a later step.

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
3. Get the password of the temporary RHEL virtual server.
    1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
    2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
    3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
    4. Find **vm-rhel9-tmp** from the list of available virtual servers.
    5. Click **Details**.
    6. Click **Guest OS customization**.
    7. Click **Edit** and in the **Edit guest properties** form,
        1. Copy your password.
        2. Click **Discard**.
4. Get the IP of the temporary RHEL virtual server
    1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
    2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
    3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
    4. Find **vm-rhel9-tmp** from the list of available virtual servers.
    5. Click **Details**.
    6. In the **Hardware** section, click **NICs**.
    7. Copy the IP address of the primary network interface.
5. Copy the virtIO drivers ISO into the Worker virtual server.

    1. SSH into the worker virtual server

    ```bash
    ssh -J root@<BASTION_VSI_IP> root@<WORKER_VSI_IP>
    ```
    {: codeblock}

    2. Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) over the virtio drivers iso file

    ```bash
    scp root@<TEMP_RHEL_VM_IP>:/usr/share/virtio-win/virtio-win.iso /root/virtio-win.iso
    ```
   {: codeblock}

        Where

        **<TEMP_RHEL_VM_IP>** is the IP of the temporary RHEL virtual server that you previously copied.

        When prompted whether you trust the remote server, enter **yes** and enter the password of the temporary RHEL virtual server.

## Preparing the Windows virtual server for migration
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-prep-windows-vm}
{: step}

Before you can migrate the virtual server, you must install the necessary drivers and configure Cloud-init on the Windows virtual server. Use the following steps to prepare the Windows virtual server for migration.

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
3. Get the password of the Windows virtual server.
4. Open a Web Console window to the Windows virtual server.
5. Install the virtIO drivers on the recovery image of the Windows virtual server by following the steps that are in [Making the virtio-win drivers available in the recovery image](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-create-windows-custom-image&format=markdown#virtio-win-drivers-windows-recovery-image). Use the command prompt, not powershell to run the commands noted in the linked documentation. The driver files added to the recovery image come from mounting the `C:\virtio-win.iso` file that was copied over to the Windows virtual server in an earlier step.

    Keep in mind that if your virtual server has a GUID Partition Table (GPT), you must set the partition IDs to UUIDs, not numbers. Get the correct IDs by displaying the details of the System and Recovery partitions while `diskpart` is running. For more information, see the [documentation on the detail partition command](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/detail-partition){: external}.

    If your virtual server does not show any files in the recovery drive after assigning the recovery partition a drive letter, check the `C:\Windows\System32\Recovery` folder. The Winre.wim file will only appear after disabling `reagentc`. The file will still be hidden and can only be viewed by using the `dir /a` command.

6. Install and configure Cloud-init on the Windows virtual server
   1. From the Web Console window, open the **File Explorer**.
   2. Click **Downloads**.
   3. Double-click the Cloud-init installer file that you downloaded previously and follow the prompts to install the package. Make sure that you use `Administrator` for the name of the Cloud-init user, not Admin.
   4. After the install finishes, in the install wizard, do not check any boxes to run sysprep. Just click finish.
   5. Modify the Cloud-init configuration files by following the steps that are in [Customizing a virtual server](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-create-windows-custom-image&format=markdown#customize-virtual-machine). **Do not** perform the `sysprep` steps, stop after modifying the files.
7. Shut down the Windows virtual server and close the Web Console.

## Starting the netcat server for migration
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-start-netcat}
{: step}

Use the following steps to migrate the Windows virtual server by transferring its boot disk to a block storage volume in VPC and create a virtual server from it.

When the virtual server starts, Cloud-init runs and the administrator password resets.
{: note}

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Create a detached Windows boot volume.
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Network** > **Subnets**.
   2. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-sn-1**.
   3. Click **Attached resources**
   4. In the **Attached instances** section, click **Create**.
   5. In the **Location** section, specify the following information:
      - For **Geography**, select **North America**.
      - For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
      - For **Zone**, select **us-south-1**.
   6. In the **Details** section, for **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-vsi-win22`.
   7. In the **Server configuration** section, specify the following information:
      1. For **Image**, click **Change image**.
      2. Within the **Select an image** form, specify the following information:
         1. Search for `windows`.
         2. From the list of results, select **ibm-windows-server-2022-full-standard-amd64-32** and click **Save**.
      3. For **SSH keys**, select **vpc-migration-ssh-key**.
   8. In the **Storage** section, click the **edit** icon that is next to the item for the boot volume. Within the **Edit boot volume** form, specify the following information:
       1. In the **Details** section, specify the following information:
          1. For **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-vsi-win22-boot-volume`
          2. Set **Auto-delete** to **disabled**
       2. In the **Profiles** section, select **General purpose**
       3. In the **Storage capacity** section, for **Storage size**, enter a value that is greater than or equal to the storage size of the Windows virtual server and click **Save**.
   9. Click **Create a virtual server**.
   10. From the **Navigation menu**, click > **Infrastructure** > **Compute** > **Virtual server instances**.
   11. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-vsi-win22** and click **Delete**.
   12. Within the **Delete virtual server instance** form, specify the following information:
       1. Enter **Delete** into the input.
       2. Click **Delete**.
3. Attach the boot volume to the worker virtual server by specifying the following information:
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Storage** > **Block storage volumes**.
   2. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-vsi-win22-boot-volume**.
   3. In the **Attached virtual server** section, click **Attach**.
   4. Within the **Attach to a virtual server** form, from the list of virtual servers, select **vpc-migration-vsi-worker, and click **Attach**.
4. SSH into the worker virtual server by running the command that you used previously.
5. Get the name of the block device for the attached boot volume by running the following command:

    `lsblk -n -d -o NAME | tail -n 1`

6. Start the Netcat server, wait for an incoming disk transfer, and write it to the attached boot volume by running the following command:

    `nc -l 31337 | gunzip | dd of=/dev/<DEV_NAME> bs=16M status=progress`

    Where

    `<DEV_NAME>` is the name of the block device that you found previously.



## Migrating the Windows virtual server
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-migrate-windows-vm}
{: step}

1. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
2. Get the IP of the Windows virtual server by specifying the following information:
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. Click your VDC from the list of available data centers.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-win22** from the list of available VMs.
   5. Click **Details**.
   6. In the **Hardware** section, click **NICs**.
   7. Copy the IP address of the primary network interface.
3. Boot into an Ubuntu Server shell from the Windows virtual server by specifying the following information:
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**
   2. Click your VDC from the list of available Data Centers.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-win22** from the list of available virtual servers
   5. Click **Details**.
   6. Click **General**.
   7. Click **Edit**.
   8. In the **Boot options** section, specify the following information:
      1. Set **Enter boot setup** to **enabled**
      2. Click **Save**
   9. Click **All actions**:
   10. In the **Media** section, click **Insert media**. Within the **Insert CD** form, specify the following information:
       1. Select the Ubuntu Server ISO.
       2. Click **Insert**.
   11. Click **Power on** and wait for the virtual server to start.
   12. Click **Launch the web console**. Within the **Web Console**, specify the following information:
       1. Choose **Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) VMware Virtual IDE CDROM Drive**.
       2. Choose **Try or install Ubuntu Server**.
       3. Wait for the language selection screen to load.
       4. Choose **Help**.
       5. Choose **Enter shell**.
4. Configure networking on the Ubuntu Server that is running on the Windows virtual server by specifying the following information:
   1. Within the Web Console window:
      1. Add an IP to the primary network interface by running the following command:

         `ip addr add <WINDOWS_VM_IP>/24 dev ens192`

         Where

         `<WINDOWS_VM_IP>` is the IP of the Windows virtual server that you copied previously.

      2. Add a default route through the routed VDC Network by running the following command:

         `ip route add default via 192.168.0.1`

5. Transfer the disk of the Windows virtual server to the worker virtual server by specifying the following information:

   1. Within the Web Console window:
      1. Start the transfer of the Windows virtual server disk by running the following command:

         `dd if=/dev/sda bs=16M status=progress | gzip | nc -v <WORKER_VSI_IP> 31337`

         Where

         `<WORKER_VSI_IP>` is the IP of the worker virtual server that you copied previously.

   2. Wait for the transfer to complete. You can monitor the progress of the transfer from either the Ubuntu Server shell or the worker virtual server.

      Both the Netcat client and server commands might not stop after the transfer completes. If they don't stop, you need to manually interrupt them.
      {: tip}

   3. Close the Web Console window.
6. Back onto the worker virtual server, fix the partition table on the attached boot volume by moving the partition table to the correct position on the disk by running the following command:

   `sgdisk --move-second-header /dev/<DEV_NAME>`

   Where

   `<DEV_NAME>` is the name of the block device that you found previously.

7. Flush the buffers of the attached boot volume by running the following command:

   `blockdev --flushbufs /dev/<DEV_NAME>`

   Where

   `<DEV_NAME>` is the name of the block device that you found previously.

14. Install utils to use the virt-v2v-in-place tool
    1. `apt-get install -y virt-v2v`
    2. `apt-get install -y rhsrvany`
15. Make a symlink to the mounted Windows boot volume. The virtual server name here corresponds to the example Windows virtual server name that was created in this document. If a virtual server of a different name is being migrated, use the name of that virtual server instead for the `VM_NAME` variable.
    ```bash
    VM_NAME=vm-win22
    TARGET_DEV=/dev/<DEV_NAME>
    SYMLINK="/tmp/${VM_NAME}-sda"
    ln -fs "${TARGET_DEV}" "${SYMLINK}"
    ls -l "${SYMLINK}"
    ```
    {: codeblock}

    Where
    `<DEV_NAME>` is the name of the block device that you found previously.
16. Run `virt-v2v-in-place`. The virtio-win.iso file copied over from an earlier step is referenced with the `VIRTIO_WIN` variable here.
    ```bash
    export LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND=direct
    export VIRTIO_WIN=/root/virtio-win.iso
    virt-v2v-in-place -i disk "${SYMLINK}" --block-driver virtio-scsi -v
    ```
    {: codeblock}

17. Ensure the conversion was successful
    1. Check that the return code is 0. The below command should display `0` if the conversion was successful
       1. `echo $?`

    If the `virt-v2v-in-place` command was not successful, then the image on mounted boot volume will be in an indeterminate state. Check the output for any error messages. Any issue will need to be resolved first. Afterwards, the data from the source Windows virtual server will need to be re-transferred to the mounted boot volume on the worker virtual server before retrying the `virt-v2v-in-place` command.
18. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
19. Create a Windows virtual server from the attached boot volume by specifying the following information:
    1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure > Storage > Block storage volumes**.
    2. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-vsi-win22-boot-volume**.
    3. In the **Attached virtual server** section, click the **Detach** icon next to the name of the worker     virtual server.
    4. Wait for the worker virtual server to detach.
    5. In the **Attached virtual server** section, click **Attach**. Within the **Attach to the virtual server** form, specify the following information:
       1. Click **Create server**.
       2. Click **Attach as boot volume**.
       3. In the **Location** section, specify the following information:
          1. For **Geography**, select **North America**.
          2. For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
          3. For **Zone**, select **us-south-1**.
          4. In the **Details** section, specify the following information:
             1. For **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-vsi-win22`
             2. In the **Server configuration** section, specify the following information:
       4. For **SSH Keys**, select **vpc-migration-ssh-key**.
       5. Click **Create a virtual server**.
10. Get the IP of the Windows virtual server by specifying the following information:
    1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure > Compute > Virtual server instances**.
    2. Search for **vpc-migration-vsi-win22**.
    3. Copy the reserved IP of the Windows virtual server from the list of results.
21. Get the password of the Windows virtual server.
    1. This should be the same Administrator password as it was on the source Windows virtual server.
    2. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
    3. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
    4. Get the password of the Windows virtual server
         1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
         2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
         3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
         4. Find **vm-win22** from the list of available virtual servers.
         5. Click **Details** > **Guest OS Customization** > **Edit**. In the **Edit Guest Properties** form the password will be listed
         1. Copy your password.
         2. Click **Discard**.
22. Log in to the Windows virtual server.
    1. Display the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) port of the Windows virtual server through the Bastion virtual server by running the following command:

       `ssh -L 3389:<WINDOWS_VSI_IP>:3389 <BASTION_VSI_IP> -l root -N`

       Where

       `<WINDOWS_VSI_IP>` is the IP of the Windows virtual server that you copied previously.

       `<BASTION_VSI_IP>` is the IP of the Bastion virtual server that you copied previously.

    2. Use your preferred Remote Desktop client to connect to the Windows virtual server. Use `localhost` as the IP and log in as Administrator with the password of the Windows virtual server.

## Preparing the RHEL virtual server for migration
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-prep-rhel-vm}
{: step}

You need to configure the RHEL virtual server with virtIO drivers and Cloud-init to prepare it for migration. The installation of the RHEL virtIO drivers depends on whether they are included in the kernel or whether they need to load as modules. These steps assume that the drivers need to be loaded and that they aren't loaded.

Use the following information to prepare the RHEL virtual server for migration.

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
3. Get the password of the RHEL virtual server.
4. Open a Web Console window to the RHEL virtual server.
5. Configure the virtio drivers to load on boot by specifying the following information:
   1. From the Web Console window:
      1. Create the configuration file to load the drivers on boot by running the following command:

          `echo -e 'virtio_blk\nvirtio_net' > /etc/modules-load.d/virtio-drivers.conf`

      2. Regenerate the `initramfs` image by running the following command:

          `dracut -f`

      3. Restart the virtual server by using the `reboot` command.
      4. Log in as root with the password that you copied previously.
      5. Verify that the drivers are loaded by running the following command:

      `lsmod | grep virtio`

       Look for virtio_blk and virtio_net in the output.
6. Delete the existing network configuration on the RHEL virtual server to help make sure that it gets configured correctly when it starts.
   1. From the Web Console window, specify the following information:
      1. Delete the files that are in `/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts` by running the following command:

          `rm /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/*`

      2. Delete the files that are in `/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections` by running the following command:

          `rm /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*`

      3. Open `/etc/sysconfig/network` and delete any lines where _GATEWAYDEV_ is set.
7. Delete the existing Red Hat Subscription Manager configuration to help make sure that the virtual server gets reregistered when it starts.
   1. From the Web Console Window,
      1. Delete `/etc/rhsm/facts/uuid_override.facts` by running the following command:

      `rm /etc/rhsm/facts/uuid_override.facts`

8. Install Cloud-init on the RHEL virtual server
   1. From the Web Console window:
      1. Install `cloud-init` by running the following command:

      `dnf install -y cloud-init`

   2. Close the Web Console window.
9. Power off the RHEL virtual server by specifying the following information:
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**
   2. From the list of available data centers, select your VDC.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-rhel9** from the list of available virtual servers.
   5. Click **Power Off**

## Creating the boot disk for the RHEL virtual server
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-create-rhel-boot-disk}
{: step}

Use the following information to transfer a RHEL virtual server disk to your VPC and create a virtual server from the migrated disk.

When the virtual server starts, Cloud-init runs and the root password resets.
{: note}

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
2. Create a detached RHEL boot volume by specifying the following information:
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Network** > **Subnets**.
   2. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-sn-1**.
   3. Click **Attached resources**
   4. In the **Attached instances** section, click **Create**.
   5. In the **Location** section, specify the following information:
      - For **Geography**, select **North America**.
      - For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
      - For **Zone**, select **us-south-1**.
   6. In the **Details** section, for **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-vsi-rhel9`.
   7. In the **Server configuration** section, specify the following information:
      1. For **Image**, click **Change image**.
      2. From the **Select an image** form, specify the following information:
         1. Search for **Red Hat**.
         2. Select **ibm-redhat-9-6-minimal-amd64-5** from the list of results and click **Save**.
      3. For **SSH keys**, select **vpc-migration-ssh-key**.
   8. In the **Storage** section, click the **Edit** icon that is next to the item for the boot volume.
   9. Within the **Edit boot volume** form, specify the following information:
       1. In the **Details** section, specify the following information:
          1. For **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-vsi-rhel9-boot-volume`
          2. Set **Auto-delete** to **Disabled**
       2. In the **Profiles** section, select **General purpose**.
       3. In the **Storage capacity** section, for **Storage size**, enter a value that is greater than or equal to the storage size of the RHEL virtual server and click **Save**.
   10. Click **Create a virtual server**.
   11. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Compute** > **Virtual server instances**.
   12. From the list of available resources, select **vpc-migration-vsi-rhel9**.
   13. Click **Delete**. In the **Delete virtual server instance** form,
       1. Enter **Delete** into the input.
       2. Click **Delete**.
3. Attach the boot volume to the worker virtual server by specifying the following information:
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Storage** > **Block storage volumes**.
   2. In the list of available resources, click **vpc-migration-vsi-rhel9-boot-volume**.
   3. In the **Attached virtual server** section, click **Attach**.
   4. Within the **Attach to a virtual server** form, from the list of virtual servers, select **vpc-migration-vsi-worker**, and click **Attach**.
4. SSH into the worker virtual server by running the command that you used previously.
5. Get the name of the block device for the attached boot volume by running the following command:

    `lsblk -n -d -o NAME | tail -n 1`

6. Start the Netcat server, wait for an incoming disk transfer, then write it to the attached boot volume by running the following command:

    `nc -l 31337 | gunzip | dd of=/dev/<DEV_NAME> bs=16M status=progress`

    Where `<DEV_NAME>` is the name of the block device that you found previously.


## Understanding Block Storage for VPC volumes
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-block-storage}
{: step}

Before you migrate the RHEL virtual server, understand the Block Storage for IBM Cloud VPC volumes that this migration uses:

- Boot volumes: The volumes that this tutorial creates are boot volumes that contain the operating system. Boot volumes attach automatically when you create the instance and can range from 10 GB to 32,000 GB, depending on the profile that you use.
- Volume profiles: This tutorial uses Block Storage for IBM Cloud VPC volumes. You can choose from traditional tiered profiles (3iops-tier, 5iops-tier, and 10iops-tier) or the Storage Defined Performance (SDP) profile for custom input/output operations per second (IOPS) and throughput.
- Volume encryption: All volumes are encrypted by default with IBM-managed encryption. You can also use customer-managed encryption with your own root keys.
- Volume limits: Each account can create up to 300 volumes per region, and each virtual server instance can have up to 12 attached data volumes, plus one boot volume.
- Performance: Each volume has dedicated performance allocation, which helps prevent "noisy neighbor" issues that are common in shared storage environments.
- Volume expansion: After migration, you can increase volume capacity, but you cannot decrease it. Plan your initial sizing carefully.

For more information, see [About Block Storage for VPC](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-block-storage-about&format=markdown).

## Migrating the RHEL virtual server
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-migrate-rhel-vm}
{: step}

1. Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
2. Get the IP of the RHEL virtual server by specifying the following information:
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**.
   2. Click your VDC from the list of available data centers.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-rhel9** from the list of available virtual servers.
   5. Click **Details**.
   6. In the **Hardware** section, click **NICs**.
   7. Copy the IP address of the primary network interface.
3. Start into a Ubuntu Server shell from the RHEL virtual server by specifying the following information:
   1. From the side window, click **Data centers**
   2. Click your VDC from the list of available data centers.
   3. In the **Compute** section, click **Virtual machines**.
   4. Find **vm-rhel9** from the list of available virtual servers.
   5. Click **Details**
   6. Click **General**
   7. Click **Edit**
   8. In the **Boot options** section, specify the following information:
      1. Set **Enter boot setup** to **Enabled**.
      2. Click **Save**.
   9. Click **All actions**.
   10. In the **Media** section, click **Insert media** and select the Ubuntu Server ISO. Then, click **Insert**.
   11. Click **Power on** and wait for the virtual server to start.
   12. Click **Launch Web Console**. Within the **Web Console** window, specify the following information:
       1. Choose **EFI VMware Virtual IDE CDROM Drive**.
       2. Choose **Try or Install Ubuntu Server**.
       3. Wait for the language selection screen to load.
       4. Choose **Help**.
       5. Choose **Enter shell**.
4. Configure networking on the Ubuntu Server that is running on the RHEL virtual server:
    1. Within the Web Console window, specify the following information:
       1. Add an IP to the primary network interface by running the following command:

           `ip addr add <RHEL_VM_IP>/24 dev ens192`

            Where

            `<RHEL_VM_IP>` is the IP of the RHEL virtual server that you copied previously.

       2. Add a default route through the routed VDC Network by running the following command:

           `ip route add default via 192.168.0.1`

5. Transfer the disk of the RHEL virtual server to the worker virtual server by specifying the following information:
    1. Within the Web Console window:
       1. Start the transfer of the RHEL virtual server disk by running the following command:

            `dd if=/dev/sda bs=16M status=progress | gzip | nc -v <WORKER_VSI_IP> 31337`

            Where

            `<WORKER_VSI_IP>` is the IP of the worker virtual server that you copied previously.

       2. Wait for the transfer to complete. You can monitor the progress of the transfer from either the Ubuntu Server shell or the worker virtual server.

          Both the Netcat client and server commands might not stop after the transfer completes. If they don't stop, you need to manually interrupt them.
          {: note}

    2. Close the Web Console window.
6. Back onto the worker virtual server, fix the partition table on the attached boot volume by moving the partition table to the correct position on the disk by running the following command:

    `sgdisk --move-second-header /dev/<DEV_NAME>`

    Where

    `<DEV_NAME>` is the name of the block device that you found previously.

7. Flush the buffers of the attached boot volume by running the following command:

    `blockdev --flushbufs /dev/<DEV_NAME>`

    Where

    `<DEV_NAME>` is the name of the block device that you found previously.

## Starting the RHEL virtual server
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-start-rhel-vm}

Use the following steps to create a RHEL virtual server from the attached boot volume.

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Storage** > **Block storage volumes**.
2. From the list of available resources, find and click **vpc-migration-vsi-rhel9-boot-volume**.
3. In the **Attached virtual server** section, click the **Detach** icon next to the name of the worker virtual server. wait for the worker virtual server to detach.
5. In the **Attached virtual server** section, click **Attach**. Within the **Attach to the virtual server** form, specify the following information:
   1. Click **Create server**
   2. Click **Attach as boot volume**.
   3. In the **Location** section, specify the following information:
      - For **Geography**, select **North America**.
      - For **Region**, select **Dallas (us-south)**.
      - For **Zone**, select **us-south-1**.
   4. In the **Details** section, for **Name**, enter `vpc-migration-vsi-rhel9`.
   5. In the **Server configuration** section, for **SSH Keys**, select **vpc-migration-ssh-key**.
   6. Click **Create a virtual server**.
6. Get the IP of the RHEL virtual server by specifying the following information:
   1. From the **Navigation menu**, click **Infrastructure** > **Compute** > **Virtual server instances**.
   2. Search for **vpc-migration-vsi-rhel9**.
   3. From the list of results, copy the reserved IP of the RHEL virtual server.
7. Log in to the new RHEL virtual server
    - SSH into the RHEL virtual server by running the following command:

    `ssh -J root@<BASTION_VSI_IP> root@<RHEL_VSI_IP>`

    Where

    - `<BASTION_VSI_IP>` is the IP of the Bastion virtual server that you copied previously.
    - `<RHEL_VSI_IP>` is the IP of the RHEL virtual server that you copied previously.


## Next steps
{: #virt-sol-vpc-migration-tutorial-next-steps}

Now that you successfully migrated your workloads to VPC, see the following resources to learn how to develop your VPC by migrating or adding more virtual servers and other resources.

- **Review architecture**: Understand the complete [Virtual Servers for VPC reference architecture](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/virtualization-solutions?topic=virtualization-solutions-virt-sol-vpc-vsi-architecture&format=markdown).
- **Migration strategies**: Learn more about [migration methods and design considerations](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/virtualization-solutions?topic=virtualization-solutions-virt-sol-vpc-migration-design-migration&format=markdown).
- **Optimize your environment**: Explore [design considerations](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/virtualization-solutions?topic=virtualization-solutions-virt-sol-vpc-compute-design-overview&format=markdown) for compute, networking, storage, and security.
- **Implement monitoring**: Set up [observability solutions](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/virtualization-solutions?topic=virtualization-solutions-virt-sol-vpc-observability-design-overview&format=markdown) for your VPC environment.
- **Plan for resiliency**: Review [backup and disaster recovery strategies](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/virtualization-solutions?topic=virtualization-solutions-virt-sol-vpc-vpc-resiliency-design&format=markdown).