2.1 Supported Configurations

2.1.1 Supported Source Workloads For Migration to Non-Cloud Platforms

PlateSpin Migrate supports the migration of the following Windows and Linux workloads to non-cloud platforms, such as physical machines and virtual machines on supported hypervisors. See Supported Target Virtualization Platforms.

The following migration features are supported for migration to non-cloud platforms:

  • Peer-to-peer migrations (P2V, V2V, V2P, P2P).

  • Peer-to-peer workload synchronization (P2V, V2V, P2P, V2P).

Review the following sections:

Requirements for Migration to Non-Cloud Platforms

  • Not all workloads are supported on all target virtualization platforms. Migration of workloads to a target virtualization platform is subject to the support of the guest operating system on the target host by the host vendor.

  • Before you install block-based transfer drivers on source Windows workloads, ensure that you have applied the latest Windows updates on the workload.

  • BIOS workloads must have at least one partition in the boot disk and a boot loader installed in the MBR (Master Boot Record).

  • Conversion of BIOS based Linux system to UEFI based is not supported.

  • Conversion of a Linux UEFI source workload as a Linux BIOS target requires that a /boot partition is available on the source workload.

Supported Windows Workloads For Migration to Non-Cloud Platforms

PlateSpin Migrate supports the following Microsoft Windows platforms for migration to virtual machines on virtualization hosts or to physical machines, except as noted in Table 2-1. See also Supported Workload Storage and Supported Workload Architectures.

NOTE:PlateSpin Migrate does not support migration of Active Directory domain controller servers with Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles on them. For information, see Best Practice Tips for Active Directory Domain Controller Conversions (KB Article 7920501).

Table 2-1 Non-Cloud Platforms: Supported Windows Workloads

Operating System

Remarks

Servers

Windows Server 2016

Migration to a VMware VM requires VMware vCenter 6.0 or later.

  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2012

  • Windows Server 2008 R2

Includes Small Business Server (SBS) editions.

Does not support migration of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP0 to Hyper-V because Microsoft no longer supports it. See Microsoft TechNet Website.

Clusters

Windows Server 2016 Cluster

Supports quorum models:

  • Node and Disk Majority

  • No Majority: Disk Only

Both Migrate Client and Web Interface support automated migration of Windows Clusters to VMware vCenter target virtualization platforms. Migrate Client also supports semi-automated migration of Windows Clusters to physical machines by using the X2P workflow. See Preparing for Migration of Windows Clusters.

Migration of Windows Server 2016 Clusters to VMware requires VMware 6.0 or later.

PlateSpin Migrate does not support migration of Windows Server clusters to the following target infrastructures:

  • Cloud

  • Virtualization hypervisors other than VMware

PlateSpin Migrate supports only block-level replication for clusters. File-level replication is not supported.

For clusters, PlateSpin Migrate provides driverless block-based transfer and driver-based block-based transfer methods. See Block-Based Transfer for Clusters.

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 Cluster
  • Windows Server 2012 Cluster

Supports quorum models:

  • Node and Disk Majority

  • No Majority: Disk Only

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Cluster

Supports quorum models:

  • Node and Disk Majority

  • No Majority: Disk Only

Supported Linux Workloads For Migration to Non-Cloud Platforms

PlateSpin Migrate supports the following Linux platforms for migration to virtual machines on virtualization hosts or to physical machines, except as noted in Table 2-2. See also Supported Workload Storage and Supported Workload Architectures.

NOTE:

  • PlateSpin Migrate Web Interface supports migration of only Windows workloads to Hyper-V hosts. To migrate Linux workloads to Hyper-V hosts, use the PlateSpin Migrate Client.

  • To install Migrate Agent Utility for Linux, your source machine must has GNU C Library (glibc) 2.11.3 or higher installed.

Table 2-2 Non-Cloud Platforms: Supported Linux Workloads

Linux Distribution

Versions

Remarks

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

5.0 to 5.11, 6.0 to 6.10, and 7.0 to 7.7

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7, Oracle Linux 7.7, and CentOS 7.7 workloads, precompiled blkwatch drivers are not included in the PlateSpin Migrate software. Before you migrate these workloads, you must do one of the following to include the blkwatch drivers applicable for your Linux source workload:

  • Create custom blkwatch driver that exactly matches the specific kernel running on your workload. See Section D.0, Linux Distributions Supported by Migrate.

  • Use Migrate Agent to register the workload with PlateSpin Migrate server. The driver-install command of the Migrate Agent utility ensures that the utility compiles and installs the blkwatch driver applicable for your Linux source workload and then automatically uploads the compiled driver to the precompiled drivers folder in the PlateSpin Server library See Section F.0, Migrate Agent Utility.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7, Oracle Linux 6.7, and CentOS 6.7 workloads with LVM volumes, incremental replication is supported only for the latest available kernel (version 2.6.32-642.13.1.el6) for the 6.7 distribution.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8, Oracle Linux 6.8, and CentOS 6.8 workloads with LVM volumes, incremental replication is supported only for the latest available kernel (version 2.6.32-696.20.1.el6.x86_64) for the 6.8 distribution.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10, Oracle Linux 6.10, and CentOS 6.10 workloads, incremental replication is not supported for kernel (version 2.6.32-754.6.3.el6.x86_64) for the 6.10 distribution. See RHEL 6.10 Source Workloads Crash During Incremental Replication.

Migration of a paravirtualized source workload to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload is supported for RHEL 5.x and 6.0. See Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

  • 12 SP4 without BTRFS file systems
  • 11 (SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4)

The SLES 11 SP2 (32-bit) with kernel 3.0.13-0.27-pae is not supported. The kernel for this version of SLES must be upgraded to 3.0.51-0.7.9-pae so that the conversion works.

Migration of a paravirtualized source workload to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload is supported for SLES 11. See Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

Migration of a SLES11 SP4 32-bit source workload to a Hyper-V target is not supported.

Conversion of a SLES 12 SP4 BIOS workload with LVM requires that a /boot partition is available on the source workload.

CentOS

See Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Migration of CentOS 7.x to VMware requires VMware vCenter 5.5 or later.

Oracle Linux (OL) (formerly Oracle Enterprise Linux)

See Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Same level of support for standard kernels as that for workloads running RHEL except that OEL 4.x is not supported for Hyper-V.

Same level of support for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) kernels on supported RHEL distributions for OL 6.7 and later.

2.1.2 Supported Source Workloads for Migration to Cloud Platforms

Use the PlateSpin Migrate Web Interface to migrate the workloads to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and VMware vCloud Director.

Migrate supports P2C and V2C migrations to target cloud platforms. Migrate supports C2C migrations of source workloads between supported cloud platforms.

Review the following sections:

Requirements for Migration to Cloud Platforms

  • Not all workloads are supported on all target cloud platforms. Migration of workloads to a cloud platform is subject to the support of the guest operating system on the target cloud platform by the cloud provider.

  • Before you install block-based transfer drivers on source Windows workloads, ensure that you have applied the latest Windows updates on the workload.

  • If the boot (/boot) partition is on a different disk than the root (/) partition, PlateSpin Migrate migrates them both to the first disk on the target VM.

  • BIOS workloads must have at least one partition in the boot disk and a boot loader installed in the MBR (Master Boot Record).

  • Windows and Linux UEFI workloads are migrated as UEFI workloads to the target vCloud platforms. However, for other target cloud platforms such as Azure and AWS that do not support UEFI workloads, Windows and Linux UEFI workloads are migrated as BIOS workloads.

  • Conversion of a Linux UEFI source workload as a Linux BIOS target requires a /boot partition to be available on the source workload.

  • Before you migrate a paravirtualized Linux source workload running on Citrix XenServer or KVM to a target platform as fully virtualized guest, see Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

  • To install Migrate Agent Utility for Linux, your source machine must have GNU C Library (glibc) 2.11.3 or higher installed.

Supported Workloads For Migration to Amazon Web Services

PlateSpin Migrate supports the following platforms for migration to Amazon Web Services, as specified in Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Table 2-16, Supported Target Cloud Platforms for the Migrate Web Interface. See also Supported Workload Storage and Supported Workload Architectures.

For information about migrating workloads to Microsoft Amazon Web Services, see:

NOTE:PlateSpin Migrate does not support migration of Active Directory domain controller servers with Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles on them. For information, see Best Practice Tips for Active Directory Domain Controller Conversions (KB Article 7920501).

Table 2-3 AWS: Supported Windows Platforms

Operating System

Remarks

Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Nitro System based Instance types support Windows Server 2008 R2 and later.

  • AWS requires a minimum of Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 for migration of Windows workloads to Nitro System based VM instances. To use Nitro System based instances, ensure that .NET Framework 4.5 or later is installed on the source Windows workload prior to Migrate discovery.

  • Migration of Windows Domain Controller servers to AWS requires Nitro System based instance types such as c5, m5, r5, t3, c5d, m5d, and z1d. Ensure that you select a Nitro System based instance when you configure the migration.

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

Microsoft Windows Server 2012

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2

Table 2-4 AWS: Supported Linux Platforms

Linux Distribution

Versions

Remarks

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

  • 7.0 to 7.7
  • 6.1 to 6.10
  • 5.1 to 5.11

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7, Oracle Linux 7.7, and CentOS 7.7 workloads, precompiled blkwatch drivers are not included in the PlateSpin Migrate software. Before you migrate these workloads, you must do one of the following to include the blkwatch drivers applicable for your Linux source workload:

  • Create custom blkwatch driver that exactly matches the specific kernel running on your workload. See Section D.0, Linux Distributions Supported by Migrate.

  • Use Migrate Agent to register the workload with PlateSpin Migrate server. The driver-install command of the Migrate Agent utility ensures that the utility compiles and installs the blkwatch driver applicable for your Linux source workload and then automatically uploads the compiled driver to the precompiled drivers folder in the PlateSpin Server library See Section F.0, Migrate Agent Utility.

Migration of RHEL, CentOS, and Oracle Linux workloads using Nitro System based instance types such as c5, m5, r5, t3, c5d, m5d, or z1d is supported for versions 7.4 and later.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7, Oracle Linux 6.7, and CentOS 6.7 workloads with LVM volumes, incremental replication is supported only for the latest available kernel (version 2.6.32-642.13.1.el6) for the 6.7 distribution.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8, Oracle Linux 6.8, and CentOS 6.8 workloads with LVM volumes, incremental replication is supported only for the latest available kernel (version 2.6.32-696.20.1.el6.x86_64) for the 6.8 distribution.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10, Oracle Linux 6.10, and CentOS 6.10 workloads, incremental replication is not supported for kernel (version 2.6.32-754.6.3.el6.x86_64) for the 6.10 distribution. See RHEL 6.10 Source Workloads Crash During Incremental Replication.

Migration of a paravirtualized source workload to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload is supported for RHEL 5.x and 6.0. See Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

  • 12 SP4 without BTRFS file systems
  • 11 (SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4)

Migration of a paravirtualized source workload to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload is supported for SLES 11. See Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

Conversion of a SLES 12 SP4 BIOS workload with LVM requires that a /boot partition is available on the source workload.

CentOS

See Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Same level of support as that for workloads running RHEL.

Oracle Linux (OL) (formerly Oracle Enterprise Linux)

See Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Same level of support for standard kernels as that for workloads running RHEL.

Same level of support for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) kernels on supported RHEL distributions for OL 6.7 and later.

Supported Workloads For Migration to Microsoft Azure

PlateSpin Migrate supports the following platforms for migration to Microsoft Azure Cloud, as specified in Microsoft Azure in Table 2-16, Supported Target Cloud Platforms for the Migrate Web Interface. See also Supported Workload Storage and Supported Workload Architectures.

NOTE:For information about installing Azure VM Agent on target workloads, see Prerequisites for Installing Azure VM Agent.

For information about migrating workloads to Microsoft Azure, see:

NOTE:PlateSpin Migrate does not support migration of Active Directory domain controller servers with Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles on them. For information, see Best Practice Tips for Active Directory Domain Controller Conversions (KB Article 7920501).

Table 2-5 Azure: Supported Windows Platforms

Operating System

Remarks

Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Microsoft Azure supports Azure VM Agent for Windows Server 2008 R2 and higher.

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

Microsoft Windows Server 2012

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (64-bit)

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 or higher is required on the source Windows Server 2008 workload.

PlateSpin Migrate does not support Windows Server 2008 32-bit OS versions for migration to Azure.

PlateSpin Migrate does not support installation of Azure VM Agent for Windows Server 2008 (non-R2).

Table 2-6 Azure: Supported Linux Platforms

Linux Distribution

Versions

Remarks

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

  • 7.1 to 7.7
  • 6.7 to 6.10

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7, Oracle Linux 7.7, and CentOS 7.7 workloads, precompiled blkwatch drivers are not included in the PlateSpin Migrate software. Before you migrate these workloads, you must do one of the following to include the blkwatch drivers applicable for your Linux source workload:

  • Create custom blkwatch driver that exactly matches the specific kernel running on your workload. See Section D.0, Linux Distributions Supported by Migrate.

  • Use Migrate Agent to register the workload with PlateSpin Migrate server. The driver-install command of the Migrate Agent utility ensures that the utility compiles and installs the blkwatch driver applicable for your Linux source workload and then automatically uploads the compiled driver to the precompiled drivers folder in the PlateSpin Server library See Section F.0, Migrate Agent Utility.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7, Oracle Linux 6.7, and CentOS 6.7 workloads with LVM volumes, incremental replication is supported only for the latest available kernel (version 2.6.32-642.13.1.el6) for the 6.7 distribution.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8, Oracle Linux 6.8, and CentOS 6.8 workloads with LVM volumes, incremental replication is supported only for the latest available kernel (version 2.6.32-696.20.1.el6.x86_64) for the 6.8 distribution.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10, Oracle Linux 6.10, and CentOS 6.10 workloads, incremental replication is not supported for kernel version 2.6.32-754.6.3.el6.x86_64 for the 6.10 distribution. See RHEL 6.10 Source Workloads Crash During Incremental Replication.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

  • 12 SP4 without BTRFS file systems
  • 11 SP4

Migration of a paravirtualized source workload to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload is supported. See Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

Conversion of a SLES 12 SP4 BIOS workload with LVM requires that a /boot partition is available on the source workload.

CentOS

See Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Same level of support as that for workloads running RHEL.

Oracle Linux (OL) (formerly Oracle Enterprise Linux)

See Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Same level of support for standard kernels as that for workloads running RHEL.

Same level of support for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) kernels on supported RHEL distributions for OL 6.7 and later.

Supported Workloads For Migration to VMware vCloud Director

PlateSpin Migrate supports the following platforms for migration to VMware vCloud Director, as specified in VMware vCloud Director in Table 2-16, Supported Target Cloud Platforms for the Migrate Web Interface. See also Supported Workload Storage and Supported Workload Architectures.

For information about migrating workloads to VMware vCloud Director, see:

NOTE:PlateSpin Migrate does not support migration of Active Directory domain controller servers with Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles on them. For information, see Best Practice Tips for Active Directory Domain Controller Conversions (KB Article 7920501).

Table 2-7 vCloud: Supported Windows Platforms

Operating System

Remarks

Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Requires vCloud 8.20 or higher.

The hosts backing the VMware resource pool must support VMs with Hardware Version 10 or higher. The Provider VDC policy for the highest supported hardware version must be set to at least Hardware Version 10.

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

 

Microsoft Windows Server 2012

 

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2

 

Table 2-8 vCloud: Supported Linux Platforms

Linux Distribution

Versions

Remarks

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

  • 7.0 to 7.7
  • 6.0 to 6.10
  • 5.0 to 5.11

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7, Oracle Linux 7.7, and CentOS 7.7 workloads, precompiled blkwatch drivers are not included in the PlateSpin Migrate software. Before you migrate these workloads, you must do one of the following to include the blkwatch drivers applicable for your Linux source workload:

  • Create custom blkwatch driver that exactly matches the specific kernel running on your workload. See Section D.0, Linux Distributions Supported by Migrate.

  • Use Migrate Agent to register the workload with PlateSpin Migrate server. The driver-install command of the Migrate Agent utility ensures that the utility compiles and installs the blkwatch driver applicable for your Linux source workload and then automatically uploads the compiled driver to the precompiled drivers folder in the PlateSpin Server library See Section F.0, Migrate Agent Utility.

Migrate supports XFS v5 file system on source Linux UEFI and BIOS workloads for migrations using the vCloud PRE based on SLES 12 SP3.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7, Oracle Linux 6.7, and CentOS 6.7 workloads with LVM volumes, incremental replication is supported only for the latest available kernel (version 2.6.32-642.13.1.el6) for the 6.7 distribution.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8, Oracle Linux 6.8, and CentOS 6.8 workloads with LVM volumes, incremental replication is supported only for the latest available kernel (version 2.6.32-696.20.1.el6.x86_64) for the 6.8 distribution.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10, Oracle Linux 6.10, and CentOS 6.10 workloads, incremental replication is not supported for kernel (version 2.6.32-754.6.3.el6.x86_64) for the 6.10 distribution. See RHEL 6.10 Source Workloads Crash During Incremental Replication.

Migration of a paravirtualized source workload to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload is supported for RHEL 5.x and 6.0. See Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

Migration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x workloads is supported only for VMware vCloud Director 9.1.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

  • 12 SP4 without BTRFS file systems
  • 11 (SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4)

Migration of a paravirtualized source workload to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload is supported for SLES 11. See Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

Conversion of a SLES 12 SP4 BIOS workload with LVM requires that a /boot partition is available on the source workload.

CentOS

See Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Same level of support as that for workloads running RHEL.

Oracle Linux (OL) (formerly Oracle Enterprise Linux)

See Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Same level of support for standard kernels as that for workloads running RHEL.

Same level of support for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) kernels on supported RHEL distributions for OL 6.7 and later.

Supported Workloads For Migration to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

PlateSpin Migrate supports the following platforms for migration to Compute - Virtual Machine Instances on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. See also Supported Workload Storage and Supported Workload Architectures.

For information about migrating workloads to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, see:

NOTE:PlateSpin Migrate does not support migration of Active Directory domain controller servers with Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles on them. For information, see Best Practice Tips for Active Directory Domain Controller Conversions (KB Article 7920501).

Table 2-9 Oracle Cloud: Supported Windows Platforms

Operating System

Remarks

Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

Microsoft Windows Server 2012

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2

Table 2-10 Oracle Cloud: Supported Linux Workloads

Linux Distribution

Versions

Remarks

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

5.5, 5.6, 5.9, 5.11, 6.5, 6.9, and 7.0 to 7.7

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7, Oracle Linux 7.7, and CentOS 7.7 workloads, precompiled blkwatch drivers are not included in the PlateSpin Migrate software. Before you migrate these workloads, you must do one of the following to include the blkwatch drivers applicable for your Linux source workload:

  • Create custom blkwatch driver that exactly matches the specific kernel running on your workload. See Section D.0, Linux Distributions Supported by Migrate.

  • Use Migrate Agent to register the workload with PlateSpin Migrate server. The driver-install command of the Migrate Agent utility ensures that the utility compiles and installs the blkwatch driver applicable for your Linux source workload and then automatically uploads the compiled driver to the precompiled drivers folder in the PlateSpin Server library See Section F.0, Migrate Agent Utility.

Migration of a paravirtualized source workload to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload is supported for RHEL 5.x. See Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

  • 12 SP4 without BTRFS file systems
  • 11 (SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4)

The SLES 11 SP2 (32-bit) with kernel 3.0.13-0.27-pae is not supported. The kernel for this version of SLES must be upgraded to 3.0.51-0.7.9-pae so that the conversion works.

Migration of a paravirtualized source workload to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload is supported for SLES 11. See Paravirtualized Source Workloads.

Migration of a SLES11 SP4 32-bit source workload to a Hyper-V target is not supported.

Conversion of a SLES 12 SP4 BIOS workload with LVM requires that a /boot partition is available on the source workload.

CentOS

5.11, 6.9, and 7.0 to 7.7

Migration of CentOS 7.x to VMware requires VMware vCenter 5.5 or later.

Oracle Linux (OL) (formerly Oracle Enterprise Linux)

5.8, 5.11, 6.2, 6.5, and 7.0 to 7.7

 

2.1.3 Supported Workload Storage

The following workload storage guidelines apply to all migrations:

Partitioning Schemes

PlateSpin Migrate supports MBR (Master Boot Record) and GPT (GUID Partition Table) partitioning schemes for Windows and Linux workloads. Workloads and storage for migration must be configured on disks partitioned with the MBR or GPT. Although GPT allows up to 128 partitions per single disk, PlateSpin Migrate supports only 57 or fewer GPT partitions per disk.

Windows File Systems

PlateSpin Migrate supports only the NTFS file system on any supported Windows system. It does not support Windows FAT or ReFS file systems for migration.

NOTE:If the volumes are encrypted with the BitLocker disk encryption feature, they must be unlocked (decrypted) for the migration.

Linux File Systems

PlateSpin Migrate supports EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, REISERFS, and XFS file systems.

NOTE:

  • PlateSpin Migrate supports the XFS version 5 (v5) file system on RHEL 7.3 and later, and on distributions based on those versions.

  • Migration of encrypted volumes is not supported. If the volumes are encrypted, they must be unlocked (decrypted) for the migration.

Disks

PlateSpin Migrate supports several types of storage disks, including basic disks, source Windows dynamic disks, LVM2, hardware RAID, NAS, and SAN.

NOTE:The following caveats apply for storage disks:

  • Windows Dynamic Disks: PlateSpin Migrate does not support Windows dynamic disks at the target.

    For dynamic disks, the target storage does not follow the Same as Source mapping strategy. Dynamic Volumes (Simple, Spanned, Striped, Mirrored, or RAIDed) will be migrated as Simple Volumes on basic disks on the target workload. The target disk is partitioned as GPT if the total combined size of the dynamic volume’s member disks exceeds MBR partition size limits. For more information, see Microsoft TechNet: Understanding the 2 TB limit in Windows Storage.

  • Software RAID: PlateSpin Migrate supports hardware RAID; however, PlateSpin Migrate does not support software RAID. This is applicable for both Windows and Linux workloads.

Windows Disks, Partitions, and Volumes

Ensure that the free space on the source Windows workload volumes is as follows:

Workload Volume

Free Space

Remarks

C:

200 MB or 10% of the total volume, which ever is higher

PlateSpin Migrate uses the free space on this volume to:

  • Install the required PlateSpin components

  • Take snapshot of this volume

Other Volumes

10% of the total volume

PlateSpin Migrate uses the free space on this volume to take snapshot of the volume.

Linux Disks, Partitions, and Volumes

  • Migrate supports GRUB and GRUB 2 boot loaders for Linux workloads.

  • Migrate supports Linux workloads with /boot on the first disk (sda).

  • Ensure that the free space on the source Linux workload volumes is as follows:

    Workload Volume

    Free Space

    Remarks

    /boot

    600 MB or 10% of the total volume, which ever is higher

    PlateSpin Migrate uses the free space on this volume to:

    • Create a new initrd image with all the required drivers to make the machine ready for the initial boot process

    • Take snapshot of this volume

    /usr

    600 MB or 10% of the total volume, which ever is higher

    PlateSpin Migrate uses the free space on this volume to:

    • Install the required PlateSpin components

    • Take snapshot of this volume

    /

    700 MB or 10% of the total volume, which ever is higher

    PlateSpin Migrate uses the free space on this volume to:

    • Install the required PlateSpin components

    • Take snapshot of this volume

    Other Volumes

    10% of the total volume

    PlateSpin Migrate uses the free space on this volume to take snapshot of the volume.

  • Non-volume storage, such as a swap partition that is associated with the source workload, is recreated in the migrated workload.

  • The layout of volume groups and logical volumes for LVM2 is preserved in the Same as Source mapping strategy so that you can re-create it during migration.

  • LVM raw disk volumes are supported in the Same as Source configurations on Linux workloads.

Linux Block-Based Transfer

For Linux workloads using the Block-Based Transfer method, PlateSpin Migrate requires block-based Linux Kernel drivers, called block watch (blkwatch) drivers, to perform the block-based data transfer. The driver must be built for the specific kernel running on the source Linux workload. See Block-Based Transfer for Linux.

FC SANs

PlateSpin Migrate supports the Fibre Channel (FC) SAN communications protocol.

FCoE SANs

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is supported for P2P and P2V migrations for workloads listed in Table 2-11. Migration has been tested using FCoE devices from Qlogic.

Table 2-11 Supported Source Workloads for FCoE

Source Workloads with FCoE

Version

Remarks

  • Windows Server
  • 2012 R2
  • 2008 R2

Standalone servers only; no clusters.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

11 SP4

 

FCoE drivers and support functionality are available in the PlateSpin ISO image. See Downloading the PlateSpin ISO Images.

Multipath I/O

PlateSpin Migrate supports migration of a source workload with multipath I/O (MPIO) enabled. However, MPIO on the migration target is not supported. So, we recommend that you perform migration with a single path, and then enable MPIO on the target workload after cutover.

VLAN Tagging

For migrations to Hyper-V using PlateSpin Migrate Client, you can specify the VLAN ID to be used by the target VM. If you do not specify a VLAN ID, Migrate applies the VLAN ID used by the source workload if any.

VLAN tags are otherwise not supported for target workloads. PlateSpin Migrate supports only untagged network packets on any network interface that is used during the migration process.

2.1.4 Supported Workload Architectures

The following workload architecture guidelines apply to all migrations:

Protocols

  • Linux source workloads must be running a Secure Shell (SSH) server.

Processors

PlateSpin Migrate supports migration of x86-based physical and virtual workloads in your data center:

  • 64-bit

  • 32-bit

Cores and Sockets for Target VMs

For VM virtualization platforms using VMware 5.1, 5.5, and 6.0 with a minimum VM hardware Level 8, PlateSpin Migrate enables you to specify the number of sockets and the number of cores per socket for the target workload. It automatically calculates the total cores. This parameter applies on the initial setup of a workload with an initial replication setting of Full Replication.

NOTE:The maximum number of cores the workload can use is subject to external factors such as the guest operating system, the VM hardware version, VMware licensing for the ESXi host, and ESXi host compute maximums for vSphere (see ESXi/ESX Configuration Maximums (VMware KB 1003497)).

Some distributions of a guest OS might not honor the cores and cores per socket configuration. Instead they will retain their original cores and sockets settings as installed.

UEFI and BIOS Firmware

Migration of UEFI-based Windows and Linux source workloads is supported for all target platforms. The target workload is configured as UEFI or BIOS, as supported by the target platform vendor. For example:

  • For target vCloud Cloud Director platforms, Windows and Linux UEFI workloads are migrated as UEFI workloads to the target vCloud platforms.

  • For target cloud platforms such as Azure and AWS that do not support UEFI workloads, Windows and Linux UEFI workloads are migrated as BIOS workloads.

Migrate transfers workloads from source to target while enforcing the supported firmware for the respective source and target operating systems. When any migration between UEFI and BIOS systems are initiated, Migrate analyzes the transition and alerts you about its validity.

NOTE:If you are migrating UEFI-based workload onto vSphere target virtualization platform and you want to continue using the same firmware boot mode, you must target a vSphere 5.0 platform or newer.

The following are examples of Migrate behavior when doing conversion between UEFI and BIOS-based systems:

  • When you migrate a UEFI-based source workload to platform that does not support UEFI, such as to a VMware vSphere 4.x, AWS, or Azure, Migrate transitions the workload’s UEFI firmware to BIOS firmware.

  • When you migrate a UEFI-based source workload to a BIOS-based target, Migrate converts the UEFI system’s boot disks, which were GPT, to MBR disks.

  • (For Windows Workloads) When you migrate a BIOS workload to a UEFI-based target, Migrate converts the BIOS system's boot disks, which are MBR, to GPT disks.

Paravirtualized Source Workloads

Paravirtualized guest VM to fully virtualized guest VM conversion is supported for the following source workloads hosted on a Citrix XenServer virtual host or KVM virtual host:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.0 and Linux distributions based on RHEL 6.0

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.x and Linux distributions based on RHEL 5.x

  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and 11

NOTE:Only block-based data transfer is supported for paravirtualized source workloads.

Before you migrate a paravirtualized Linux source workload that is hosted on a Citrix XenServer or KVM virtual host to a target platform as a fully virtualized workload, do the following:

  • Ensure that both the paravirtualized kernel and standard kernel are installed on the paravirtualized Linux source workload.

  • Manually compile the block-based drivers for Xen kernel. See Linux Distributions Supported by Migrate.

  • For semi-automated (X2P) migrations, ensure that your target is a fully virtualized (not paravirtualized) VM.

2.1.5 Supported Target Virtualization Platforms

PlateSpin Migrate supports the following target virtualization platforms:

  • VMware vCenter and ESXi

  • Microsoft Hyper-V

  • KVM

NOTE:

  • Migration of workloads to a target virtualization platform is subject to the support of the guest operating system on the target host by the host vendor.

  • You need an OS license for the migrated target workload.

Review the following sections for information about supported versions and requirements.

Supported Target VMware Platforms

Table 2-12 lists supported target VMware platforms. Table 2-12 lists supported VMware datastore types.

Migrations to VMware platforms are supported using the PlateSpin Migrate Web Interface and Migrate Client. For information about migration methods, see:

See also Prerequisites for Migration to VMware.

NOTE:

Table 2-12 Supported Target VMware Platforms for the Migrate Web Interface and Migrate Client

Platform

Versions

Remarks

VMware vCenter

  • 6.7 (U1, U2)
  • 6.5 (U1 with latest patches, U2, U3)
  • 6.0 (U1, U2, and U3)
  • 5.5 (U1, U2, and U3)

Raw Device Mapping (RDM) for target VMs is supported using the X2P workflow.

See also Table 2-13, Supported VMware Datastore Types.

VMware vSAN (virtual SAN)

  • vSAN 6.7 U1 on vCenter 6.7 U1 platforms

  • vSAN 6.7 on vCenter 6.7 platforms

  • vSAN 6.5 U2 on vCenter 6.5 U2 platforms

  • vSAN 6.6 on vCenter 6.5 (U1) platforms

  • vSAN 6.2 on vCenter 6.0 platforms

  • vSAN 5.5 on vCenter 5.5 platforms

VMware vSAN storage is supported on vCenter target virtualization platforms as noted.

VMware ESXi

  • 6.7 (U1, U2)
  • 6.5 (U1 with latest patches, U2, U3)
  • 6.0 (U1, U2, and U3)
  • 5.5 (U1, U2, and U3)

All ESXi versions must have a paid license; migration is unsupported with these systems if they are operating with a free license.

Raw Device Mapping (RDM) for target VMs is supported using the X2P workflow.

See also Table 2-13, Supported VMware Datastore Types.

Table 2-13 Supported VMware Datastore Types

Datastore Type

Supported Configurations

VMFS

Supported for all supported versions of VMware vCenter and ESXi platforms.

NFS

  • NFS v3: For all supported versions of VMware vCenter and ESXi platforms

  • NFS v4.1: For all supported versions of VMware vCenter 6.x and ESXi 6.x platforms

Other

Other datastore types are not supported, such as Virtual Volumes, and vFlash.

Supported Target Hyper-V Platforms

Table 2-14 lists supported target Hyper-V platforms. You can use an automated or semi-automated X2P workflow to migrate workloads to Hyper-V. For information about migration methods, see:

See also Prerequisites for Migration to Microsoft Hyper-V.

Table 2-14 Supported Target Hyper-V Platforms for the Migrate Web Interface and Migrate Client

Platform

Versions

Remarks

Microsoft Hyper-V Server

  • Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016

Supported for automated workflow . See:

See also Prerequisites for Migration to Microsoft Hyper-V.

Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V

  • Windows Server 2016 (GUI and Core mode)
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2012

Supported for automated workflow or the X2P workflow. See:

See also Prerequisites for Migration to Microsoft Hyper-V.

Supported Target KVM Platforms

Table 2-15 lists supported target KVM platforms. Migrations to KVM are supported only for the PlateSpin Migrate Client using the semi-automated X2P workflow. For information, see Migration to Virtual Machines on KVM.

See also Prerequisites for Migration to VMs on KVM.

Table 2-15 Supported Target KVM Platforms for the Migrate Client Only

Platform

Versions

Remarks

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) with KVM

11 SP4 and 12 SP1

Fully virtualized guests are supported.

Virtio devices are supported.

Supported through the X2P workflow. See Migration to Virtual Machines on KVM.

See also Prerequisites for Migration to VMs on KVM.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) with KVM

7.4

Fully virtualized guests are supported.

Virtio devices are supported.

Supported through the X2P workflow. See Migration to Virtual Machines on KVM.

See also Prerequisites for Migration to VMs on KVM.

2.1.6 Supported Target Cloud Platforms

PlateSpin Migrate supports migration of workloads to target cloud platforms in the Migrate Web Interface.

Table 2-16 Supported Target Cloud Platforms for the Migrate Web Interface

Platform

Versions

Remarks

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  • AWS Global

  • AWS China

  • AWS Government

See also Section 8.0,  Prerequisites for Migration to Amazon Web Services.

A Migrate server can have multiple AWS Cloud target platforms. You specify the AWS Cloud environment and Regions when you create the target platform

Microsoft Azure

  • Azure Global

  • Azure China

See also Section 9.0, Prerequisites for Migration to Microsoft Azure.

A Migrate server can have multiple Azure Cloud target platforms. You specify the Azure Cloud environment and Location when you create the target platform.

VMware vCloud Director

  • 9.7
  • 9.5
  • 9.1
  • 8.20

See also Prerequisites for Migration to VMware vCloud Director.

Download the PlateSpin Replication Environment for vCloud from the Download Site for PlateSpin Migrate 2019.11.

See Understanding PlateSpin Replication Environment Used for Migration of Workloads to vCloud.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

 

See also Section 11.0, Prerequisites for Migration to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Table 2-17 Supported Target Cloud Platforms for the Migrate Client

Platform

Remarks

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

See also Section 11.0, Prerequisites for Migration to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

2.1.7 Supported Web Browsers

The PlateSpin Migrate Web Interface, PlateSpin Configuration options, and Help files are available from a supported web browser:

  • Google Chrome, version 34.0 and later

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 11.0 and later

  • Mozilla Firefox, version 29.0 and later

NOTE:JavaScript (Active Scripting) must be enabled in your browser.