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April 18th, 2012 14:00

migrating rdm lun to different lun

how do I migrate a rdm lun on a vm from a cx380 to a cx340?

474 Posts

April 18th, 2012 20:00

As others have mentioned, Storage vMotion can move VMDKs between datastores on the same or different array, however this does not work with Physical Mode RDMs (which is most likely the type of RDM used).  You will need to either create a new RDM on the second array and migrate the data within the VM to the new disk, or migrate the LUN itself to the new array, and then remap it to the host.  In either case you will have some sort of downtime for the VM that is using the RDM.

If you migrate within the VM, you just attach the new RDM to the VM, partition/format, then use whatever tools are available within the Guest OS/Filesystem to move the data and redirect the application.

If you have SANCopy, you could push the LUN from the source array to the target array, then take a brief outage of the VM, during which you would perform an updated copy with SANCopy to get any changes, then remove the old RDM from the VM, add the new RDM to the VM and start up the VM.

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20.4K Posts

April 18th, 2012 15:00

1.4K Posts

April 18th, 2012 15:00

I'm not sure if I got the question right here...but let me try and re-phrase: You want to migrate a LUN and you are using RDMs on a VM, am I correct?

If yes, Navisphere Manager Admin Guide describes all the steps for the same. Refer Page No.:271-272.

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470 Posts

April 18th, 2012 15:00

yes I need to do some san maintenance on a cx380 where the current rdm is on. I need to move this rdm to a cx340

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20.4K Posts

April 18th, 2012 15:00

LUN Migrator between two arrays ? News to me

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470 Posts

April 18th, 2012 16:00

svmotion will convert it to a vmdk. or it will only move the mapping file. the actual rdm still is on the cx380. vmware said I need to move the rdm on the san side. how to move it?

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20.4K Posts

April 18th, 2012 16:00

we are talking about storage vmotion here, RDM in virtual mode can be migrated  using that.

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April 18th, 2012 16:00

physical or virtual mode RDM ?

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April 18th, 2012 16:00

vMotion does not support migration between 2 arrays. vMotion just moves VM to another ESX Host and doesn't migrate RDM LUN to the new array.

I reckon RDM is or should be visible on the target ESX Host as well.So this could be the procedure:

- Migrate the source LUN to the target array.

- Remove the RDM off the VM and re-create the RDM with new LUNs on target ESX Host.

You may refer to ESXi Configuration Guide for reference.

1.4K Posts

April 18th, 2012 17:00

Refer: Storage vMotion  & vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide Page: 41, Procedure Step: 4

This is as far as my understanding and search goes for VMWare.

JFYI: You may find other useful documents here

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470 Posts

April 21st, 2012 12:00

on the cx340 I right click on a lun I see san copy as an option. but on the cx380, I dont see san copy as an option. Is this a license issue?

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April 21st, 2012 13:00

Yes ..check in array properties under software if sancopy is there.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE Phone

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April 24th, 2012 11:00

If you received a correct answer, please remember to mark your question Answered and to award points to the person providing the correct answer.

glen

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5 Posts

November 20th, 2019 08:00

@dynamox 

vMotion does not move the RDM LUNs, it moves the mapping files to those RDMs, that is all. You can not use vMotion to migrate a RDM LUN presented to the ESXi Hosts, physical or virtual. vMotion will not create a new RDM disk on your other storage array for you. If you vMotion a virtual shared RDM disk and convert the format, it will create a VMDK, but if you have servers in say a windows cluster, you just broke the entire cluster.




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December 5th, 2019 02:00

I have seen your answer about migrating RDM LUN. I have same taks now : I need to migrate exchange VMs having RDM disk on celerra NS120 into Dell EMC Unity using SANCopy. do I need to redirect paths from exchange application or something? or just all what I need is to mapp the new LUN to the VM ?
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