How-to migrate from Citrix XenServer 7 to Nutanix AHV

To migrate your existing VMs from XenServer 7 to Nutanix AHV there are a couple of steps required. You have to prepare the source VMs, identify the VHD files, move the VHD to a Nutanix Container, import the disk images and re-create the VM in Nutanix Prism.

Prepare the source VM

1. Remove all XenServer related devices listed in device manager. Make sure to display also hidden devices.

   

2. Uninstall Citrix XenServer Windows Management Agent form add/remove programs
3. Install Nutanix VM Mobility 1.0.1 for Windows, the msi installer can be downloaded from portal.nutanix.com
4. Open regedit and manually delete the following registry keys

   1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\XEN

   2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xenbus

   3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xendisk

   4. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xenfilt

   5. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xeniface

   6. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xenlite

   7. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xennet

   8. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\XenSvc

   9. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xenvbd

   10. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xenvif

5. Reboot the VM
6. Make sure there are no more XenServer related devices and services in your VM
7. Shutdown your VM

Create a Nutanix Container and mount it as NFS storage to Citrix XenServer

1. In Nutanix Prism create a storage container where you will temporary place your VHD files during migration

1. Whitelist your XenServers, to allow NFS mounting of the container as SR

1. Mount the container as NFS storage to XenServer. Connect with your Prism admin account to the Cluster IP [ClusterIP:/Container], use NFSv3 and create an new SR.

1. Copy or Move the VM to the temporay NFS storage. Make shure to do a full copy!

Identify the VHD files of your VM

1. Lookup the UUID of your VM in XenCenter

1. Lookup the UUID of the mounted Nutanix container

1. To find the UUID of your VHD files we need to dig into a XenServer console session and use the command shell and enter

xe vm-disk-list uuid=[UUID of the VM]

1. Note: we need the UUID of the VDI Disk(s)

Import the disk image(s) through Prism into the AHV Image Service

1. In Prism UI go to Image Configuration -> Upload Image

1. Chose Disk as Image Type and select the container where you want the VHD to be saved after the migration
2. For the URL enter the path to your temporary VHD location on NFS SR

nfs://127.0.0.1/[Container Name]/[UUID of SR]/[UUID of VHD].vhd

1. Click Save. The upload will take some time, depending on the size of the VHD file.

Re-create the VM in Nutanix Prism

1. Create a new VM in Prism

1. Add Disk to the VM and choose Clone from Image Service, select the uploaded disk image

1. Add new NIC
2. Save
3. Power on the VM

Your VM is migrated from XenServer 7 and runs now on Nutanix AHV. You may delete the VM on XenServer, remove/destroy the temporary NFS storage from XenServer, delete the temporary storage container on Nutanix and delete the temporary image from Image Service.