Migrating your VMware workloads to IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC

The following tutorial describes how to migrate your workloads from a IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions environment to IBM Cloud® Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Objective

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.

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 perform the migration

The following diagram illustrates what you build as part of this tutorial.

Virtualization Solutions VPC Migration Tutorial High-Level Architecture — Virtualization Solutions VPC Migration Tutorial High Level Architecture

Before you begin

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
- TGW Connection Group

For more information, see Managing IAM access for VCFaaS.

Have the correct access policies to manage VPCs and their resources and make sure that you can create the following VPC resources. For more information, see Managing IAM access for VPC Infrastructure Services.
- VPCs
- Virtual servers
- Security groups
- Public gateways
- Floating IPs
Have the correct access policies to manage TGWs and make sure that you can create the following TGW resources. For more information, see Using IAM permissions with IBM Cloud Transit Gateway.
- TGWs (Transit gateways)
- TGW connections

Creating a VPC

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.

From the Navigation menu, click Infrastructure > Network > VPCs.
Click Create and specify the following information.
In the Location section, specify the following information
1. For Geography, select North America.
2. For Region, select Dallas (us-south).
In the Details section, specify the following information
1. For Name, enter vpc-migration.
In the Subnets section, specify the following information
1. Delete all but the subnet in the zone us-south-1.
2. Click the edit icon of the subnet that remains. The Edit Subnet form appears. Within the form:
  1. In the Details section, for Name, enter vpc-migration-sn-1.
  2. Click Save.
3. Click Create a virtual private cloud.

Creating a public gateway

Use the following steps to create a public gateway.

Create the Public Gateway to allow access to the internet from the VPC
1. From the Navigation menu, click Infrastructure > Network > Subnets.
2. From the list of available resources, select vpc-migration-sn-1.
3. In the Public Gateway section, click the toggle switch. Within the Attach public gateway form, click Attach.
Bind a Floating IP to the Bastion virtual server by using the following steps.
1. From the Navigation menu, click 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 of the attached Network Interface.
5. Click Edit floating IPs. Within the Edit floating IPs form, specify the following information:
  1. Click Attach. Within the Attach a Floating IP form, specify the following information:
  2. Click Reserve a new floating IP. Within the Reserve a Floating IP form, specify the following information.
  3. In the Details section, for Name, enter vpc-migration-fip.
  4. Click Reserve.
Click Close.

Creating a virtual server

Use the following steps to create a worker virtual server from which to perform the migrations.

From the Navigation menu, click Infrastructure > Network > Subnets.
From the list of available resources, select vpc-migration-sn-1.
Click Attached Resources.
In the Attached Instances section, click Create.
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.
In the Details section, for Name, enter vpc-migration-vsi-worker.
In the Server configuration section, specify the following information
1. For Image, click Change Image. The Select an Image form appears. Within the form:
  1. Search for Ubuntu.
  2. Select ibm-ubuntu-24-04-3-minimal-amd64-4 from the list of results.
  3. Click Save.
2. For SSH keys, click Create an SSH key. The Create an SSH key form appears. Within the form:
  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.
Click Create a virtual server.

Creating a Bastion virtual server

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

From the Navigation menu, click Infrastructure > Network > Subnets.
From the list of available resources, select vpc-migration-sn-1.
Click Attached Resources.
In the Attached Instances section, click Create.
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, for Name, enter vpc-migration-vsi-bastion.
In the Server configuration section, specify the following information
- For Image, click Change Image. The Select an image form appears. Within the form, do the following actions:
  1. Search for ubuntu.
  2. Select ibm-ubuntu-24-04-3-minimal-amd64-4 from the list of results.
  3. Click Save.
For SSH keys, select vpc-migration-ssh-key.
Click Create a virtual server.

Creating a security group

Use the following steps to create a security group. Security groups allow SSH connections to the Bastion virtual server.

To improve the security of your VPC, the inbound rules in this security group must set an IP or CIDR as the Source type to restrict the sources of traffic into its attached resources.

From the Navigation menu, click Infrastructure > Network security groups.
Click Create.
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.
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.
  - 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.
  - Click Create.
In the Attaching virtual server interfaces section, specify the following information
- Select the interface of the Bastion virtual server.
- Click Create a security group.
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.
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.
Copy the downloaded SSH private key to its default location.
- On Windows, it's C:\Users\<YourUsername>\.ssh\id_rsa.
- On Linux or macOS, it's ~/.ssh/id_rsa.
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

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.

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
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.
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.
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 list 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.
Create a 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.
  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

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.

Go to Get Ubuntu Server and download the ISO of the most recent LTS version of Ubuntu Server.
Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
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.
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

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

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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

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.

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
Get the password of the Windows virtual server.
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.
```
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

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.

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
Get the password of the Windows virtual server.
Open a Web Console window to the Windows virtual server.
Download the cloud-init installer
1. From the Web Console window:
  1. Open Microsoft Edge.
  2. Go to the download page for the installer. The download starts automatically.
2. Close the web console window.

Setting up a transit gateway (private connection) between the VCFaaS instance and VPC

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

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
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.
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.
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 to connect the VCFaaS instance to the transit gateway.
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.
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.
Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
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.
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.
Open a Web Console window to the RHEL virtual server.
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.
Try to reach an IP in the routed VDC network from the VPC.
1. 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

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.

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
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.
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.

Copy the virtIO drivers ISO into the Worker virtual server.

SSH into the worker virtual server

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

SCP over the virtio drivers iso file

scp root@<TEMP_RHEL_VM_IP>:/usr/share/virtio-win/virtio-win.iso /root/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 **yes** and enter the password of the temporary RHEL virtual server.

Preparing the Windows virtual server for migration

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.

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
Get the password of the Windows virtual server.
Open a Web Console window to the Windows virtual server.
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. 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 GPT partition table, 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.

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.
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. Do not perform the sysprep steps, stop after modifying the files.
Shut down the Windows virtual server and close the Web Console.

Starting the netcat server for migration

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.

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
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:
  1. For Geography, select North America.
  2. For Region, select Dallas (us-south).
  3. For Zone, select us-south-1.
6. In the Details section, specify the following information:
  1. For Name, enter vpc-migration-vsi-win22.
7. In the Server configuration section, specify the following information:
  1. For Image, click Change image. 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.
    3. Click Save.
  2. 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, specify the following information:
    1. Select general purpose
  3. In the Storage capacity section, specify the following information:
    1. For Storage size, enter a value that is greater than or equal to the storage size of the Windows virtual server.
  4. 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.
12. Click Delete. Within the Delete virtual server instance form, specify the following information:
  1. Enter Delete into the input.
  2. Click Delete.
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. Within the Attach to a virtual server form, specify the following information:
  1. From the list of virtual servers, select vpc-migration-vsi-worker.
  2. Click Attach.
SSH into the worker virtual server by running the command that you used previously.
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
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

Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
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.
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 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.
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
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.
3. Close the Web Console window.
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.
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.
Install utils to use the virt-v2v-in-place tool
1. apt-get install -y virt-v2v
2. apt-get install -y rhsrvany
Make a symlink to the mounted Windows boot volume. Note that 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.
```
VM_NAME=vm-win22
TARGET_DEV=/dev/<DEV_NAME>
SYMLINK="/tmp/${VM_NAME}-sda"
ln -fs "${TARGET_DEV}" "${SYMLINK}"
ls -l "${SYMLINK}"
```
Where <DEV_NAME> is the name of the block device that you found previously.

Run virt-v2v-in-place. Note that the virtio-win.iso file copied over from an eariler step is referenced with the VIRTIO_WIN variable here.

export LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND=direct
export VIRTIO_WIN=/root/virtio-win.iso
virt-v2v-in-place -i disk "${SYMLINK}" --block-driver virtio-scsi -v

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.
Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
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.
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.
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
  6. Copy your password.
  7. Click Discard.
Log in to the Windows virtual server.
1. Display the 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

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.

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
Get the password of the RHEL virtual server.
Open a Web Console window to the RHEL virtual server.
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.
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.
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
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.
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

Use the following information to transfer the 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.

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
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:
  1. For Geography, select North America.
  2. For Region, select Dallas (us-south).
  3. For Zone, select us-south-1.
6. In the Details section, specify the following information:
  1. For Name, enter vpc-migration-vsi-rhel9
7. In the Server configuration section, specify the following information:
  1. For Image, click Change image. 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.
    3. Click Save.
  2. 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. With in 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, specify the following information:
    1. For Storage size, enter a value that is greater than or equal to the storage size of the RHEL virtual server.
  4. 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-rhel9.
12. Click Delete. In the Delete Virtual server instance form,
  1. Enter Delete.
  2. Click Delete.
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. Within the Attach to a virtual server form, specify the following information:
  1. From the list of virtual server, select vpc-migration-vsi-worker.
  2. Click Attach.
SSH into the worker virtual server by running the command that you used previously.
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
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 RHEL virtual server

Go to the VCFaaS tenant portal.
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.
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.
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
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.
2. Close the Web Console window.
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.
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

Log in to the IBM Cloud console.
Create an RHEL virtual server from the attached boot volume
1. From the Navigation menu, click Infrastructure > Storage > Block storage volumes.
2. Find and click vpc-migration-vsi-rhel9-boot-volume from the list of available resources.
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-rhel9
  5. In the Server configuration section, specify the following information:
    1. For SSH Keys, select vpc-migration-ssh-key.
  6. Click Create a virtual server.
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.
Log in to the new RHEL virtual server
1. 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.

You completed the tutorial

Next steps

Now that you've successfully migrated your workloads to VPC, explore these resources:

Review architecture: Understand the complete Virtual Servers for VPC reference architecture
Migration strategies: Learn about additional migration methods and design considerations
Optimize your environment: Explore design considerations for compute, networking, storage, and security
Implement monitoring: Set up observability solutions for your VPC environment
Plan for resiliency: Review backup and disaster recovery strategies

You successfully migrated VCS instances into a VPC. You can continue to develop your VPC by migrating or adding more virtual servers and other resources.