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Overview

The Advanced Cross vCenter Server vMotion (XVM) capability was one of the most popular VMware Flings. A lot of customers were anxious to see this capability being an integrated part of vSphere. With the vSphere 7 Update 1c release, the XVM capability is embedded into the vSphere Client!

XVM helps to migrate virtual workloads between vCenter Server instances, without the requirement for Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM) or Hybrid Linked Mode (HLM).  This means it’s possible to migrate virtual machines (VMs) between vCenter Servers that are in different Single Sign-On (SSO) domains.

A common scenario of this is workload migrations from an on-prem vSphere infrastructure to VMware Cloud on AWS. Migrating without being constrained by vCenter Server configurations allows for a lot of migration ‘freedom’. XVM can be used for single VMs or bulk migrations.

From within the vSphere Client, two workflows are available to migrate workloads between vCenter Servers. Either using the ‘import VMs’ option  in the Hosts and Cluster view to import VMs from a target  vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA), or by selecting VMs and opt for ‘Migrate’ in the menu.

Cross vCenter Server Export

Like with a regular manual vMotion operations, you can select the ‘Migrate’ option for one or multiple VMs. Next to the familiar options to change the compute resource, and/or the storage location for that VM, there’s a new option listed. Choose the new ‘Cross vCenter Server export’ option to use the XVM functionality.

The Importing VMs Option

The menu on a cluster or host level provides the new option to ‘Import VMs’. Selecting this option opens a wizard to walk you through the import process.

Use-cases

The ability to bulk-migrate workloads between vCenter Server instances, without constraints on their configuration from an SSO perspective, is a powerful tool in moving workloads between vSphere environments. When connectivity between the source and destination vCenter Server instances is set up correctly, there are a ton of use-cases where the XVM capability helps! Think about the following use-cases;

• Migrate VMs from an on-prem vSphere environment to VMware Cloud on AWS without the need for Hybrid Linked Mode (HLM) and additional configuration.

• Adoption of new vSphere versions by migrating all workloads from old vCenter Server instances.

• Workload migration as part of the VCF upgrade.

• Datacenter consolidation and colo evacuation.

• Retire legacy hardware which usually would include old vSphere versions.

• Workload re-balance over global VCF environments.

• Migrate to a VMware Cloud offering.