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Migrate storage in the VMM fabric

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This article describes how to migrate storage in the System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) fabric.

Storage migration enables you to move VM files from one storage location to another on the same VM host. If the virtual machine is running, you can perform a quick storage migration, which results in little or no service outage for users of the virtual machine. If the virtual machine has more than one virtual hard disk, you can specify a separate location for each virtual hard disk (.vhd or .vhdx) file.

Read this article if you want to run a live migration of VM storage between two locations on a standalone host.

How to migrate storage

  1. In VM's and Services, select All Hosts, and select the host on which the virtual machine is deployed.

  2. Right-click the virtual machine > Migrate Storage.

    The Migrate Storage Wizard opens at the Select Path page. The current location of the VM configuration files is displayed in the Storage location for VM configuration, and the current location of each virtual hard disk (.vhd) is displayed in Disks.

  3. On the Select Path page, do the following:

    1. In Storage location for VM configuration, select an existing default virtual machine path on the list. Browse to a location on the host. VMM automatically changes the paths for all virtual disks to the same path that you specified for the configuration files.
    2. Enter a path. When you enter a new path for the configuration files of the virtual machine, VMM doesn't automatically change the paths for the virtual disks until you right-click outside of the Storage location for VM configuration box.
    3. Select the Add this path to the list of default storage locations on the host checkbox if you selected a path other than an existing virtual machine path and you want to add the path to the default paths on the host.
    4. Specify the configuration file placement options, as follows:
      1. Select Automatically place all VHDs with the configuration to move all the virtual machine files to the same location.
      2. Select Allow VHDs to be placed individually to move one or more of the virtual machine files to a different location than the location of the configuration files. If you select this setting, in the Disks area, enter the new path in the Location box for each virtual hard disk, or select Browse to browse to the location where you want to store the file.

        Note

        If the virtual machine is running and you change the path for any of the virtual hard drives, you must also specify a new path for the configuration files of the virtual machine, or the migration operation fails. You must enter the new path even if you want to leave the configuration files in their current location. In that case, you can create a new subfolder within the current location of the configuration files and then select that new location in the Storage location for VM configuration box.

  4. On the Summary page, select Move to begin moving the virtual machine files. Review progress in Jobs.

Next steps

Run a live migration.