How to Migrate Virtual Machines to New Host Servers in Essentials

Applies To: System Center Essentials 2010

To migrate a virtual machine from an existing host server to a new server you must first designate the new server to be a host in System Center Essentials 2010, so that when you migrate the virtual machine, you will be able to select the new host server from the list of available hosts.

To migrate a virtual machine to a new host server

  1. In the Essentials console, click the Computers button, click Computer Groups, and then click All Windows Servers.

  2. Select a virtual machine from the list of computers and then click Migrate to New Host from the Tasks pane.

    Important

    To migrate the virtual machine to a new host server, the new server must first be designated as a host. Follow the steps in How to Designate a Host for Virtualization Management in Essentials before you continue with this procedure.

  3. When the Migrate Virtual Machine to New Host window appears, select the new host server for the virtual machine from the list of available hosts and click the Migrate button.

    Warning

    The virtual machine will be stopped before it is migrated to the new host.

  4. When the Confirm Migration dialog box appears, click Yes to continue. A progress bar will be displayed while Essentials migrates the virtual machine to the new host server.

  5. Another dialog box will appear notifying you when the virtual machine has been successfully migrated to the new host server. To complete the migration, click Close. When Essentials returns you to the All Windows Servers list, the new host name will be displayed in the summary for the selected virtual machine.

See Also

Tasks

How to Designate a Host for Virtualization Management in Essentials
How to Remove a Host Server in Essentials
How to Delete a Virtual Machine in Essentials

Other Resources

Virtualizing Your Server Environment in Essentials