Prerequisites

The prerequisites for workload migration.

  • Environment level prerequisites for both source and target systems:
    • Both the source and target system must run on Generation 3 or higher systems.
    • Both source and target are at a minimum level of 2.3.3.3 Interim Fix 1.
    • Ensure that the source and target vCenter servers have different instance UUID. To refresh or reset the UUID, see Configuring the virtual manager external IP address. If you encounter errors, see stage 2 of Troubleshooting.
    • For IBM® Cloud Pak System migrations, an entry of vCenter credentials must exist for the source and target cloud group. Add the entry in both IBM Cloud Pak System source and target. For the actual procedure, see Configuring external application access.
    • For IBM Cloud Pak System migration, ensure that you configure the virtual manager external IP address on both systems. Also, ensure that you configure a unique FQDN on each of the involved IBM Cloud Pak Systems. For the actual steps, see Configuring the virtual manager external IP address.
    • You must have administrator privileges on both source and target system.
    • The patterns in both source and target must not have any pending warnings.
    • Ensure that the hypervisor version of the compute node is same in both source and target.
  • Ensure that the MAESTRO_JAVA_HOME environment variable is set in the source Windows virtual machine that is targeted for migration. The value for this variable must point to the IBM Java SDK runtime that is installed on the virtual machine, which is, C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Java80\sdk.
  • The following software must be same for both source and target systems:
    • Virtual images (same version)
    • Virtual System pattern
    • Pattern Type (same version)
    • Build ID (same version)
    • Plug-ins
    • Component types
    • Script packages
    • IP Groups are configured for the virtual machines of both source and target cloud groups such that the Subnet, Gateway, and VLAN ID are the same.
      Note: All IPv4 addresses of the virtual machines are retained on the target virtual machine after migration. However, the IPv6 addresses change after the migration on the target virtual machine.
  • Source level prerequisites:
    • Take a backup of the virtual machines before you start the migration. If problems occur in migration, the backup helps to restore the virtual machines.
      Note: Though snapshots are migrated from source to target, you cannot restore a snapshot that is taken on the source after the virtual machine is migrated to the target.
      Important: If the target system does not allow certain number of vCPUs to be deployed, then the virtual machine cannot be migrated with that number of vCPUs to this system. Ensure that you first check and compare the target and source system values and then trigger the migration process.
    • For the Virtual System Instance under migration, avoid 100% CPU usage of these virtual machines. You can achieve this CPU usage by either temporarily stopping applications on the virtual machines or by reducing the amount of CPU activity that is done by these applications. But you can also temporarily add more vCPU resources if possible.
    • If same version of the plug-ins that are deployed in the source Virtual System Instance is expected in the migrated Virtual System Instance, that is, if you do not want to upgrade to the latest version of the plug-in, then you must deploy the source Virtual System Instance with the Lock all plug-ins option that is selected in the Lock option for plug-in usage section of the pattern editor. If you select the Unlock plug-ins or the Lock all plug-ins except Foundation plug-ins option, the plug-ins of the migrated Virtual System Instance are upgraded to the latest version of the plug-in.
  • Instance level prerequisites:
    • Ensure that the Virtual System Instance is in running state before migration.
      Note: Even if the Virtual System Instance is in maintenance mode in the source, the migrated instance in the target system is in running state.
  • Target level prerequisites:
    • Ensure that the IPv4 address is added to each of the compute nodes in the target system.
    • The IP addresses of a Virtual System Instance are dynamically created during the migration process, so ensure that these IP addresses do not exist on the Target IP group before migration.
  • Go through the known issues or troubleshooting information before you proceed with the migration. For more information, see Known issues and Troubleshooting.