Migration from VMware to Azure Stack

Question

In the wake of VMware's shift towards subscription-only models and product simplification, we're assessing our virtualization strategy and infrastructure. Our setup, heavily reliant on VMware, includes:

• A main site with 12 hosts and 600 VMs.
• A hot site featuring 6 hosts with 20 VMs plus mirrored storage.
• 42 remote sites with basic VM setups.
• Core storage running on Fiber-Channel.

We're evaluating replacements that match our scale and need for features like clustering, centralized management, and live migration. I've heard Azure Stack HCI could be a strong contender when looking for integration with Windows environments and hybrid cloud capabilities. Does anyone have experience scaling Azure Stack HCI to this extent, especially with Fiber-Channel storage considerations? How does it compare in performance and reliability? And what should we be aware of in terms of migration, licensing, and support? Looking for insights from anyone who's navigated similar transitions or has deep-dived into large-scale Azure Stack HCI deployments.

Answer 1

Hey,

Speaking about licensing, check licensing calculator or contact your reseller for details: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/azure-stack/hci/#pricing

Any sort of multi-path storage is not supported (iSCSI, FC etc.). It can be a JBOD connected directly to each host via HBA. HBA should pass the drives directly to the host. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure-stack/hci/concepts/system-requirements?tabs=azure-public

Speaking about migration, you can use Azure Migrate or StarWind V2V Converter to migrate your VMware VMs to Azure Stack HCI. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/azure-migrate

https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-v2v-converter

Cheers,

Alex Bykovskyi

StarWind Software

Note: Posts are provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

Answer 2

Hi, To add to what Alex has provided, there are a few different options for licensing VMs running on Azure Stack HCI. These options are explained here - License Windows Server VMs on Azure Stack HCI. If you have Windows Server Datacenter licenses with active Software Assurance, you are eligible to activate Azure Hybrid Benefit for your Azure Stack HCI cluster to maximize your licensing. More information on Azure Hybrid Benefit can be found here - Azure Hybrid Benefit for Azure Stack HCI.

As previously mentioned, Azure Stack HCI utilizes Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) for storage. This requires storage that is directly attached and accessible to only one server. RAID (except for the OS disk), iSCSI, Fibre Channel, MPIO, etc. is not supported. More information on storage requirements can be found here - System requirements for Azure Stack HCI.

With regard to performance, Azure Stack HCI is designed around S2D and there are lots of articles that discuss performance of S2D clusters. One example is here.

Finally, in terms of migration, there is some variance depending on which version of HCI you would migrate to. With 22H2, there are third-party tools available as Alex mentioned. You could also use System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) to migrate VMware VMs to Azure Stack HCI. For 23H2, our team is working on a native solution from Azure. Currently, Azure Stack HCI 23H2 is in preview but will be going GA very soon. There are many new features in 23H2 which are discussed in the following link - What's new in Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2 (preview)

I hope this information is helpful. If so, please consider accepting this answer so others in the community can benefit from the information provided.