Migrating VCF as a Service workloads with cloud-to-cloud connections

Objectives

In this tutorial, you learn how to create cloud-to-cloud connections between your instance and other VCF as a Service instances.

Before you begin

The VCDA service is optionally included in your VCF as a Service single-tenant Cloud Director site order at no charge and is included as a default option in VCF as a Service multitenant virtual data centers (VDCs).

This tutorial requires:

• An IBM Cloud billable account.
• Required user permissions. Ensure that your user account has sufficient permissions to create and manage VCF as a Service resources.
• A preprovisioned VCF as a Service Cloud Director site.
• The VCDA service is installed on your Cloud Director site instance.
• An existing VCF as a Service instance to migrate.

Create a pairing between VCF as a Service instances

1. From the VMware Solutions console, install VCDA on a VCF as a Service single-tenant source instance. For more information, see Adding and deleting VCDA.

2. Install VCDA on a VCF as a Service single-tenant destination instance.

3. Go to the source instance details page where you installed VCDA and click the Add-on services tab.

4. Click the VCF as a Service pairings tab and click Create pairing.

5. On the Create connection panel, complete the following configuration.

   1. For Zones, the default zone of the resource pool is displayed. If the instance has multiple PVDCs belonging to different zones, all the zones are displayed. Select the zone pairing.
   2. For Peer geography, the geography where the peer site is installed is displayed.
   3. For Peer site name, return to the VMware Cloud Director Availability details page and click the Instance endpoints tab. Click the Copy to clipboard icon for the Site name for the instance to pair. Paste the site name in the Create connection configuration.
   4. For Peer region, select the region where the peer site is installed.
   5. For Administrator notes, you can enter notes to provide more information for the pairing. The maximum length is 200 characters and the % & < > " ' / characters are not supported.

6. Click Create pairing. The Creating status is displayed. When the Waiting for peer pairing status is displayed, repeat the previous steps to complete the pairing connection with the Cloud Director site to pair.

7. In the VMware Solutions console, click Resources > VCF as a Service from the left navigation pane.

8. In the VMware Cloud Foundation as a Service table, click the Cloud Director site tab, then click a single-tenant instance name to pair with the first pairing.

9. Click the Add-on services tab, then expand the VMware Cloud Director Availability service.

10. On the VCF as a Service pairings tab, click Create pairing.

11. On the Create connection panel, complete the following configuration.

    1. For Zones, the default zone of the resource pool is displayed. If the instance has multiple PVDCs belonging to different zones, all the zones are displayed. Select the zone pairing.
    2. For Peer geography, the geography where the peer site is installed is displayed.
    3. For Peer site name, return to the VMware Cloud Director Availability details page and click the VCF as a Service pairings tab. Click the Copy to clipboard icon for the Peer site name that you created for the first pairing. Paste the site name in the Create connection configuration.
    4. For Peer region, select the region of the first pairing.
    5. For Administrator notes, you can enter notes to provide more information for the pairing. The maximum length is 200 characters and the % & < > " ' / characters are not supported.

12. Click Create pairing. The Available status is displayed when the pairing is complete.

The following pairing status options are available.

Migrate your virtual machine through the VCF as a Service pairing

2. From the VMware Solutions console, go to the instance where you created the pairing and click VMware console.

3. Click More > Availability datacenter_name. For example, Availability (sdirw360t04vcda).

4. From the left panel, click Incoming Replications.

5. From the Incoming Replications page, click ALL ACTIONS > New migration.

6. Provide the login credentials for the peer site and click LOGIN.

7. Select the following options in the New Incoming Migration window.

   • For Source VMs and vApps: 2. From the SELECT SITE menu, select the name of the paired instance. The source VM for migration is displayed. 2. If the source VM is a multitenant instance, select the source organization ID from the Source organization menu. 2. Select the VM to migrate and click NEXT.
   • For Destination VDC and Storage policy: 2. Select the target VDC to migrate the VM to. 2. If the destination VDC is a multitenant instance, select the target organization ID from the Target organization menu. 2. Click NEXT.
   • For Settings, keep the default options and click NEXT.
   • For Ready to complete, review the settings and click FINISH.

   The VM is first configured and then synchronized. The replication is complete when the Last changed column moves from Synchronizing to the date and time of the replication.

8. When the replication is complete, ensure that the newly replicated VM is selected and click ALL ACTIONS > Migrate to begin the migration.

9. Select the following options from the Migrate window.

   • For Migrate Settings, keep the default options and click NEXT.
   • For Ready to complete, review the settings and click FINISH.

   The VCDA service copies the runtime data from the source VM to the destination VM. When the replication is complete, the migrated VM powers on in the Cloud Director site and powers off in the source instance. The migration is complete when the Recovery state column moves from Not started to Failed-Over.

10. Click the destination virtual data center name to verify the migration. Click Compute > Virtual Machines to view the VM.

11. After the migration is complete, delete the failed-over migration. Click ALL ACTIONS > Delete replication.

The migration metadata is deleted. Deleting the replication does not delete the source or the destination VMs.