vCenter Server 5 Data Migration Tool compatibility issues

By Tomi Hakala, on January 21st, 2012 | Leave a comment

While preparing for vSphere 5: What’s New training delivery I found out that vCenter Server Data Migration Tool on vCenter Server 5 installation media is not quite compatible with vCenter Server 4.1 contrary to documentation. vCenter Server Data Migration Tools is set of scripts for exporting and importing vCenter Server configuration and it is useful if you are migrating vCenter Server to a new operating system (32-bit to 64-bit migration for example).

Data Migration Tool can be used to back up vCenter Server settings such as:

  • LDAP data
  • vCenter Services port settings (HTTP, HTTPS, Web services, etc)
  • SSL certificates
  • Licenses

    Data Migration Tool is available on vCenter Server installation media in “datamigration” folder. Datamigration folder on vCenter Server install CD

    First snag I hit was that for some weird reason Windows 2008 R2 built in unzip feature was not able to successfully extract datamigration.zip, most of the files in the archive were never extracted. I installed IZArc (which is a great freeware archive tool btw) to my test vCenter Server and it extracted all files successfully.

    Once Data Migration Tool fully extracted I went on to do a backup of my vCenter Server configuration running backup.bat in the Data Migration Tool installation folder. I was greeted with a message that my vCenter Server 4.1 Update 2 installation does not satisfy migration prerequisite… Datamigration vCS 4.1 error

    Even though I was asked to continue backup with “Y” backup eventually failed with error. I then went on to VMware KB to lookup Data Migration Tool solutions entry and found KB article 2005328, in that article it clearly reads that “vCenter Server 4.x and its update releases” are supported.

    I started up going through Data Migration Tool scripts and found out that compatibility issue is very easy to fix. There is set of Python scripts for vCenter Server, Update Manager and vCenter Orchestrator services and you need to edit backup script for each of the service to successfully back up data from vCenter 4.1.

    First open vCenter Orchestrator backup script, on my installation it was located in C:\datamigration\vco\vcobackup.py, open this file in text editor, such as notepad. In the beginning of the script there is regex entry to check software version

    # supported VMware vCenter Orchestrator versions regex
    supported_vco_version_regex =’4\.0\.[0-9]+’

    replace regex with following entry and save file

    # supported VMware vCenter Orchestrator versions regex
    supported_vco_version_regex =’4\.[0-9]+’

    Next proceed to edit vCenter Server backup script C:\datamigration\vpx\vcenterbackup.py and search for entry

    # supported vSphere versions regex
    supported_vc_ver_regex =’2\.5\.+|4\.0\.+’

    replace regex with following entry and save file

    # supported vSphere versions regex
    supported_vc_ver_regex =’2\.5\.+|4\.+’

    Finally proceed to edit Update Manager backup script C:\datamigration\vum\vumbackup.py and search for entry

    # supported VMware vSphere Update Manager versions regex
    supported_vum_ver_regex =’1\.0\.+|4\.0\.+’

    replace regex with following entry and save file

    # supported VMware vSphere Update Manager versions regex
    supported_vum_ver_regex =’1\.0\.+|4\.+’

    Now running the backup.bat against vCenter Server 4.1 will succeed

    Datamigration backup of vCS 41 success

    Data Migration Tool saves configuration in data folder of your Data Migration Tool installation folder, you can then copy that folder to a Data Migration Tool installation folder on a new server and run install.bat to restore configuration to a new vCenter Server instance.

    See VMware KB article 2005328 for detailed instructions of Data Migration Tool backup and restore process.

    • Tags: , , | Category: Virtualization, VMware

    A new challenges awaits

    By Tomi Hakala, on January 15th, 2012 | 2 comments

    Change AheadYear 2012 kicks off with a big bang for me, I left my stable income position at Capgemini Data Center Solutions unit and joined a new, small but agile company Suomen IT-Virtuoosit Oy as VMware Certified Instructor. In my new position I will deliver VMware training in Finland through VATC’s such as Arrow ECS and have some time to work on consulting as well, in fact I already have a deal to work on a very large SAP Landscape in which VMware virtualization will be in a key role with some other very interesting enabler technologies.

    I hope that my new position also allow me to work more on my blog which I feel I have neglected a bit lately, I feel that I can contribute more to the excellent community that we have around VMware.

    With these changes I really feel energized and full of new ideas, even though Capgemini was a great employer I expect that year 2012 will be most exciting time I have had for a while!

    Tags: , | Category: Personal

    VMware vCenter AppSpeed got End of Availability date

    By Tomi Hakala, on December 22nd, 2011 | Leave a comment

    VMware has decided to kill vCenter AppSpeed, no new licenses will be sold after January 3rd, 2012. Support for existing licenses will continue until September 15th, 2012. Official notification of EOA and ESL is available at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2010764 which I will quote briefly:

    We want to provide you with an important update about the VMware® vCenter AppSpeed™ product. As customers continue to expand the use of virtualization and cloud resources, we are focusing on delivering management solutions that can support the flexibility that enterprises require. As a result of this focus, we have decided not to produce additional releases of vCenter AppSpeed. vCenter AppSpeed will be end of availability for new license purchases as of January 3, 2012, however it will continue to be supported through September15, 2012, in line with our General Support Policy.

    I was suspecting that AppSpeed has been killed off since there has not been any updates to it in a long time and latest vSphere version it is officially compatible is vSphere 4.0 U2.

    AppSpeed support

    I don’t know how many customers actually implemented AppSpeed on their infrastructure, but when I did the hands on lab in VMworld 2009 I was quite impressed by the product. In real life though it may have been that limited support for applications it could monitor was not enough to spark the customers interest in product.

    Tags: , | Category: VMware

    Christmas giveaways for IT experts

    By Tomi Hakala, on December 21st, 2011 | One comment

    Holiday season is upon to us again and Santa is on move already, some companies are feeling generous and giving out free NFR licenses for study and demonstration purposes, perfect for home lab use. Here are some that I have found so far.

    DataCore_Logo

    DataCore is giving out 365 day NFR license for SANsymphony-V storage hypervisor to Microsoft MCA, MCM, MCITP, MCPD, MCTS and MVP’s, although they were kind enough to provide NFR license to me as VMware vExpert too. Their offer expires on January 31, 2012.

     

    veeam.com-logoVeeam is giving out 2-socket NFR license for their Veeam Backup & Replication v6 for VMware VCP’s, VCI’s, vExperts and VMUG members.

     

    n-software-logo/n software is giving out one Workstation License of NetCmdlets PowerShell extension, offer expires on 25th of December.

    I will add any interesting giveaways to this page if I should stumble upon to any.

    Tags: , , , | Category: VMware
     
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