Migrate VMware VMs to Azure (agentless)

This article shows you how to migrate on-premises VMware or Azure VMware Solution (AVS) VMs to Azure, using the Migration and modernization tool, with agentless migration. You can also migrate VMware VMs using agent-based migration. Compare the methods.

Note

Tutorials show you the simplest deployment path for a scenario so that you can quickly set up a proof-of-concept. Tutorials use default options where possible, and don't show all possible settings and paths.

In this tutorial, you learn how to:

• Ensure the prerequisites for agentless migration execution are met, including appliance setup, discovery and required permissions.
• Start migration Execution.
• Track and monitor migrations.
• Run a test migration to make sure everything's working as expected.
• Run a full VM migration.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.

Prerequisites

Before you begin this tutorial, you should:

1. Complete the first tutorial to prepare Azure and VMware for migration.
2. We recommend that you complete the second tutorial to assess VMware VMs before migrating them to Azure, but you don't have to.
3. Go to the already created project or create a new project
4. Verify permissions for your Azure account - Your Azure account needs permissions to create a VM, and write to an Azure managed disk.
5. For the required Azure Migrate built‑in roles and permission details to create a project and run discovery, assessments, and migrations, see Prepare Azure accounts for Azure Migrate.

Note

If you're planning to upgrade your Windows operating system, Azure Migrate may download the Windows SetupDiag for error details in case upgrade fails. Ensure the VM created in Azure post the migration has access to SetupDiag. In case there's no access to SetupDiag, you may not be able to get detailed OS upgrade failure error codes but the upgrade can still proceed.

Set up the Azure Migrate appliance

The Migration and modernization tool runs a lightweight VMware VM appliance that's used for discovery, assessment, and agentless migration of VMware VMs. If you follow the assessment tutorial, you've already set up the appliance. If you didn't, set it up now, using one of these methods:

• OVA template: Set up on a VMware VM using a downloaded OVA template.
• Script: Set up on a VMware VM or physical machine, using a PowerShell installer script. This method should be used if you can't set up a VM using an OVA template, or if you're in Azure Government.

After creating the appliance, you check that it can connect to Azure Migrate: Server Assessment, configure it for the first time, and register it with the Azure Migrate project.

Execute migrations

After setting up the appliance and completing discovery, you can begin replication of VMware VMs to Azure.

• You can run up to 500 replications simultaneously.
• In the portal, you can select up to 10 VMs at once for migration. To migrate more machines, add them to groups in batches of 10.

Note

Azure Migrate doesn't support agentless migration of VMware VMs with VMDK containing non-ASCII characters.

Enable replication as follows:

1. In the Azure Migrate project > Execute > Migration, select Start execution.

2. In Specify intent, > What do you want to migrate, select Servers or Virtual Machines(VM). Under Where do you want to migrate to, select Azure VM.

3. In How will you select workloads, You can either manually select servers using From all inventory or select an existing assessment using From an assessment.

4. In Discovery method, select the appliance that matches your source environment (VMware Vsphere in this case). Under Migration mode, select Agentless migration.

5. In Workloads, select the machines you want to replicate and migrate and select the Target VM security type. Azure Migrate supports migration to Trusted Launch Virtual Machines (TVMs). By default, it migrates eligible VMs as TVMs. These VMs provide enhanced security features such as secure boot and virtual TPM at no extra cost. We recommend using them wherever applicable.

6. In Target settings, select the subscription, target region, and Storage account.

   Note

   After starting first replication of a VM, both target region and storage account cannot be changed. The default option selected in drop down will be used to create a new storage account. If the option is not selected, the storage account will be created in final step of enabling replication.

• In Virtual Network, select the Azure VNet/subnet, which the Azure VMs join after migration.

• In Availability options, select:

  • Availability Zone to pin the migrated machine to a specific Availability Zone in the region. Use this option to distribute servers that form a multi-node application tier across Availability Zones. If you select this option, you need to specify the Availability Zone to use for each of the selected machine in the Compute tab. This option is only available if the target region selected for the migration supports Availability Zones
  • Availability Set to place the migrated machine in an Availability Set. The target Resource Group that was selected must have one or more availability sets in order to use this option. Availability Set with Proximity Placement Groups is supported.
  • No infrastructure redundancy required option if you don't need either of these availability configurations for the migrated machines.

• In Disk encryption type, select:

  • Encryption-at-rest with platform-managed key
  • Encryption-at-rest with customer-managed key
  • Double encryption with platform-managed and customer-managed keys

  Note

  To replicate VMs with CMK, you need to create a disk encryption set under the target Resource Group. A disk encryption set object maps managed disks to a Key Vault that contains the CMK to use for SSE.

• In Azure Hybrid Benefit:

  • Select No if you don't want to apply Azure Hybrid Benefit. Then select Next.
  • Select Yes if you have Windows Server machines that are covered with active Software Assurance or Windows Server subscriptions, and you want to apply the benefit to the machines you're migrating. Then select Next.

  

7. In Compute, review the VM name, size, OS disk type, and availability configuration (if selected in the previous step). VMs must conform with Azure requirements.

   • VM size: If you're using assessment recommendations, the VM size dropdown shows the recommended size. Otherwise, Azure Migrate picks a size based on the closest match in the Azure subscription. Alternatively, pick a manual size in Azure VM size.
   • OS disk: Specify the OS (boot) disk for the VM. The OS disk is the disk that has the operating system bootloader and installer.
   • Availability Zone: Specify the Availability Zone to use.
   • Availability Set: Specify the Availability Set to use.
   • Capacity reservation: If you already have a capacity reservation for the VM SKU in the target subscription and location, specify it here for this deployment. Capacity reservations ensure that the required VM SKU is available when you start migration. You can associate a reservation now or skip this step and configure it later during the migration. The capacity reservation for the SKU can be in any resource group within the target subscription and location.Learn more.

   Note

   If you want to select a different availability option for a set of virtual machines, go to step 1 and repeat the steps by selecting different availability options after starting replication for one set of virtual machines.

8. In Disks, indicate whether the VM disks should be replicated to Azure, and specify the disk type (Premium v2, Ultra Disk, Standard SSD, Standard HDD, or Premium Managed disks) in Azure. Then select Next.

   

   Note

   To optimize costs and enhance performance, you can now migrate to Premium SSD v2 as data disk.

9. In Tags, choose to add tags to your Virtual machines, Disks, and NICs.

   

10. In Review and start execution, review the settings, and select Review and start execution to start the initial replication for the servers.

Note

If there's a connectivity issue with Azure or if the appliance services are down for more than 90 minutes, the active replication cycles for replicating servers are reset to 0% and the respective cycle runs from the beginning.

Track and monitor

1. In Azure Migrate project, go to Execute > Migrations. Use View by applications or View by workloads to switch how items are grouped.

2. Replication occurs as follows:
   
   

   • When the Start Replication job finishes successfully, the machines begin their initial replication to Azure.
     
     
     • During initial replication, a VM snapshot is created. Disk data from the snapshot is replicated to replica managed disks in Azure.
       
       - After initial replication finishes, delta replication begins. Incremental changes to the source disks are periodically replicated to the replica disks in Azure.
       
       

3. Execution progress is shown in Execution stage and Execution status:

   • Execution stage: Preparation, Testing, or Completion.
   • Execution status: In progress, In error, Action pending, or Completed.

4. Execution progress is tracked across three stages in the Execution stage:

   • Preparation: Servers that are enabled for replication remain in the Preparation stage while initial replication (data replication) is in progress. You can perform Stop, Start, Pause, & Resume operations in this stage if required using the drop-downs available in the server drill-down blade. After initial replication is complete, the servers move to the Testing stage.
   • Testing: Servers for which initial replication is complete and delta replication is in progress will move to the Testing phase. You can choose perform test migrations on a test virtual network before the actual migration (recommended). You can skip the Testing stage and start migration directly by using the actions available in the Completion drop-down menu.
   • Completion: Servers for which Test Migrations are completed or skipped will move to this stage. You can perform final migrations (Cutover) for these servers. After migration is completed, perform Complete migration to clean up the migration resources by using the drop-downs available in the server drill-down blade.

5. Use PowerShell to view Time Remaining across all stages of server migration in Azure Migrate. This helps you monitor replication progress and plan cutover accurately. You can use PowerShell, Windows PowerShell, or Cloud Shell on Azure portal.

6. Open the Azure portal, then select the Cloud Shell at the top. Select PowerShell when prompted.

7. Run this command in Azure Cloud Shell to monitor the migration status of the server you need.

   
   Get-AzMigrateServerMigrationStatus -ProjectName "<your-project-name>"   -ResourceGroupName "<your-resource-group>" -MachineName "<your-server-name>"
   
   

8. Replace your-project-name, your-resource-group, and your-server-name with the actual Azure Migrate project, resource group, and server name.

9. You run this command and get the following output:

   

10. The output shows the server replication status, disk progress, time left, upload speed, and datastore details.

11. Run the command from step 5 with the Expedite flag. This retrieves appliance operating parameters and a prioritized list of recommended actions to help reduce the remaining migration time for the specified server.

    
    Get-AzMigrateServerMigrationStatus -ProjectName "<your-project-name>"   -ResourceGroupName "<your-resource-group>" -MachineName "<your-server-name>" -Expedite 
    
    

12. You get the following output:

13. You can run the command without -MachineName to view migration status and time remaining for all servers in the project. For example:

    
    Get-AzMigrateServerMigrationStatus -ProjectName "<your-project-name>" -ResourceGroupName "<your-resource-group>"
    

14. Replace your-project-name and your-resource-group with the actual Azure Migrate project and resource group names.

15. You run this command and get the following output:
    
    

    

16. If there's a problem with replication or cutover, the -Health flag shows errors, possible causes, and recommended actions to troubleshoot the migration.

    
    Get-AzMigrateServerMigrationStatus   -ProjectName "<your-project-name>"   -ResourceGroupName "<your-resource-group>"   -            MachineName "<your-server-name>" -Health

17. You run this command and get the following output:
    
    

18. You can also run the command with only -ApplianceName to view the migration status, time remaining, and health details for all servers connected to that appliance.

   Get-AzMigrateServerMigrationStatus -ProjectName "<your-project-name>"   -ResourceGroupName "<your-resource-group>" -                ApplianceName "<your-appliance-

19. Replace your-project-name, your-resource-group, and your-appliance-name with the actual values from your Azure Migrate setup.

20. You run this command to get the following output:
    
    

Note

You can run the above commands in Azure Cloud Shell. You can also use PowerShell or Windows PowerShell on any Windows machine. A machine refers to any Windows PC, not an appliance, or server, as long as it has access to the Azure Migrate project.

Run a test migration

When delta replication begins, you can run a test migration for the VMs, before running a full migration to Azure. We highly recommend that you do this at least once for each machine, before you migrate it.

• Running a test migration checks that migration works as expected, without impacting the source (on-premises or AVS) machines, which remain operational, and continue replicating.
• Test migration simulates the migration by creating an Azure VM using replicated data (usually migrating to a non-production VNet in your Azure subscription).
• You can use the replicated test Azure VM to validate the migration, perform app testing, and address any issues before full migration.

Do a test migration as follows:

1. In Azure Migrate project, Under Execute > Migrations > select the server for which you wish to do test migration by clicking on the server name under Workloads column.

2. In the drill-down blade, under Testing drop-down, select Start test migration.

3. In Test migration, select the Azure VNet in which the Azure VM will be located during testing. We recommend you use a non-production VNet.

4. Select the subnet to which you would like to associate each of the Network Interface Cards (NICs) of the migrated VM.

   

5. You have an option to upgrade the Windows Server OS during test migration. To upgrade, select the Upgrade available option. In the pane that appears, select the target OS version that you want to upgrade to and select Apply. Learn more.

6. Once you click Test migration, the job starts. Monitor the status in the portal under Execution status. After the test migration finishes, ensure you clean up the test resources by navigating to the server and selecting Clean up test migration under the Testing drop-down.

   

   Note

   You can now register your servers running SQL server with SQL VM RP to take advantage of automated patching, automated backup and simplified license management using SQL IaaS Agent Extension.

   • Select the server under Workloads column in Execute> Migrations page. In Compute and Network settings, select checkbox associated with register with SQL IaaS extension.
   • Select Azure Hybrid benefit for SQL Server if you have SQL Server instances that are covered with active Software Assurance or SQL Server subscriptions and you want to apply the benefit to the machines you're migrating.hs.

Migrate VMs

After you've verified that the test migration works as expected, you can migrate the source (on-premises or AVS) machines.

1. In Azure Migrate project, Under Execute > Migrations > select the server for which you wish to do final migration by clicking on the server name under Workloads column.
2. In the drill-down blade, under Completion drop-down, select Migrate.
3. In Migrate > Shut down virtual machines and perform a planned migration with no data loss, select Yes > OK.
   • By default Azure Migrate shuts down the source (on-premises or AVS) VM, and runs an on-demand replication to synchronize any VM changes that occurred since the last replication occurred. This ensures no data loss.
   • If you don't want to shut down the VM, select No
4. You have an option to upgrade the Windows Server OS during migration. To upgrade, select the Upgrade available option. In the pane that appears, select the target OS version that you want to upgrade to and select Apply. Learn more.
5. If you already have a capacity reservation for the VM SKU in the target subscription and location, specify it here for this deployment. Capacity reservations ensure that the required VM SKU is available when you start migration. The capacity reservation for the SKU can be in any resource group within the target subscription and location. Learn more.
6. A migration job starts for the server. Track the job in Azure notifications.
7. After the job finishes, you can view and manage the server from the Migrations page which will be tracked under Completion stage.

Complete the migration

1. After the migration is done, in the drill-down page of the server, under Completion drop-down, select Complete migration. This stops replication for the source (on-premises or AVS) machine, and cleans up replication state information for the VM.
2. We automatically install the VM agent for Windows VMs and Linux during migration.
3. Verify and troubleshoot any Windows activation issues on the Azure VM.
4. Perform any post-migration app tweaks, such as updating host names, database connection strings, and web server configurations.
5. Perform final application and migration acceptance testing on the migrated application now running in Azure.
6. Cut over traffic to the migrated Azure VM instance.
7. Remove the source (on-premises or AVS) VMs from your local VM inventory.
8. Remove the source (on-premises or AVS) VMs from local backups.
9. Update any internal documentation to show the new location and IP address of the Azure VMs.

Post-migration best practices

• For increased resilience:
  • Keep data secure by backing up Azure VMs using the Azure Backup service. Learn more.
  • Keep workloads running and continuously available by replicating Azure VMs to a secondary region with Site Recovery. Learn more.
• For increased performance:
  • By default, data disks are created with host caching set to "None". Review and adjust data disk caching to your workload needs. Learn more.
• For increased security:
  • Lock down and limit inbound traffic access with Microsoft Defender for Cloud - Just in time administration.
  • Manage and govern updates on Windows and Linux machines with Azure Update Manager.
  • Restrict network traffic to management endpoints with Network Security Groups.
  • Deploy Azure Disk Encryption to help secure disks, and keep data safe from theft and unauthorized access.
  • Read more about securing IaaS resources, and visit the Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
• For monitoring and management:
• Consider deploying Microsoft Cost Management to monitor resource usage and spending.

Next steps

Investigate the cloud migration journey in the Azure Cloud Adoption Framework.