VMware HCX migration considerations
VMware HCX offers five options with the HCX Enterprise Edition license when migrating VMware vSphere virtual machines to the Azure VMware Solution:
- Cold Migration
- HCX vMotion
- Bulk Migration
- Replication Assisted vMotion
- OS Assisted Migration
The cost of the VMware HCX Enterprise Edition license is included in the cost of the Azure VMware Solution service.
VMware HCX migration options
Each of these options has different advantages and disadvantages when used. You need to select the best options for your migration plan.
| Migration Method | Migration Downtime | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Migration | Long downtime | VM copy with Network File Copy (NFC) protocol, small scale |
| HCX vMotion | None | Serial migrations, small scale |
| Bulk Migration | Minimal downtime | VM shutdown (source site)/VM power-on (destination site), Parallel migrations, largest scale |
| Replication Assisted vMotion (RAV) | None | Parallel migrations, larger scale |
| OS Assisted Migration (OSAM) | Conversion downtime | Hyper-V and KVM workload migrations |
VMware HCX architecture
The Azure VMware Solution deploys VMware HCX as an Add-On. A VMware HCX Service Mesh is used to connect two sites together, including a Layer 2 network extension. This allows VMware vSphere virtual machines to be migrated from the on-premises site to the Azure VMware Solution private cloud.
Next Steps
After learning about the VMware HCX migration considerations of the Azure VMware Solution, consider exploring the following articles: