Veeam Hot Migration same data store

[royp]

Is it possible and if it is how is it done, to migrate a powered on VM from one host to another
BUT
Leaving the VM on the original datastore.
I can migrate it easily enough if I direct it to another datastore,
However we dont want to do that, as we simply want to take one host offline, upgrade the ram, bring it back online and move the VMs back onto it, hence we do not want to move the datastores for each of the VM guests just the vms config file.
I can share the datastores out easy enough between the hosts, but each time the Veeam migration wizard forces me to point to another datastore which is not what we want.

[royp]

Should have posted we are using Veeam B&R 6.5.0.144, fully licenced and also have the upgrade option to go too Veeam B&R 7 if we need to. Also using fully licenced version Vcenter with esxi 5.1

[veremin]

Yep, it’s possible.

Go to the “Virtual Machine” -> right click a required VM -> Quick Migration -> and select there a host and a datastore you’re willing to migrate a VM to.

Thanks.

[royp]

Thanks for the reply.
However you still mention what we are trying to avoid having to do ie
>>>and select there a host and a datastore you’re willing to migrate a VM to<<<

This is the crux of the issue as mentioned above, we want to leave the VM Guests datastore as is, we simply wish to migrate the actual VM Guest to another Host,
NOT move/point to a differant datastore. We wish to move the vm guest to another ESX Host, this Esx host has access to the existing datastore that the Virtual Guest is running on.
We have ESX A with the vm guest on
We wish to move the vm guest to ESX B
Both ESX A and ESX B have access to more than one data store including the data store that the VM Guest is running on.
However the quick migration wizard ALWAYS ALWAYS forces us to point to a datastore that the VM Guest is NOT currently running on.
We cannot leave it on the datastore where it is at the moment for some reason.

[veremin]

So, you’re saying that even though the datastore in question is accessible by both hosts, it isn’t shown when you click “pick datastore” option? Thanks.

[royp]

Thanks for the quick Reply Vladimir.
For some strange reason, I had closed Veeam down numerous times before to refresh the datastore view and it would not show the datastore I need to see, however it is now oddly displaying the correct existing datastore.
So the original question is fixed I guess as it was an odd glitch.
HOWEVER
Now when I continue on with the migration pointing back to the original datastore the migration starts off ok but fails each time with

02/09/2013 11:35:21 :: Suspending VM Error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

02/09/2013 11:36:30 :: Failed to process VM 'esx2-VMSRV-EDI' at 2013-09-02T113630 Error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

It suspends the guest during the miration and the guest drops its ping so its not available for approx 2 minutes, then it just fails with the above error.
Oddly the datastore keeps having its available storage space reduced each time I try a migration, I have tried three times now and it has used 10 gigs of space just trying the migrations even though it has failed 3 times.
The VM Guest is still running each time I restart it on the original Host as it is always suspened but just refuses to migrate to the other host because of the above error.
Any idea's as to what is causing the above error Vladimir.

[foggy]

Roy, please provide full logs to technical support for investigation, as it is advised with any kind of technical issues. Typically this error is caused by some changes in virtual infrastructure and a look at the logs will allow to identify the exact reason.

[royp]

Thanks was just getting these ready anyway Vladimir.
Thanks again

[iagogb]

Hi,
Can you share the solution of this problem?

Thanks

[foggy]

Hello, what problem exactly are you talking about? Please note that with every technical issue it is always recommended to contact support directly. Thanks.

[jimmyroot]

Curious as to whether a solution was ever discovered for this scenario? Is this a supported operation?

To clarify: When attempting to use the Quick Migrate feature to migrate a VM to a different host but keep it's files on the same (shared) datastore, the job fails with the following error -> 23/09/2014 09:41:52 :: Suspending VM Error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

The VM is then left in a suspended state.

In the Quick Migration wizard, I'm choosing a different host, and then using Browse to select the same datastore that the VM in question is already living on.

Could anyone shed any light on this? I suspect this is not the intended use of the Quick Migrate function, however useful it may be in practice.

Cheers

[foggy]

Jimmy, there's no case ID in this thread so we could check for the solution. Please contact technical support directly for information.

[jimmyroot]

Thanks foggy, will do.