Migrating from VMware to Platform9 Private Cloud Director

In this presentation, Chris Jones from Platform9 discusses the challenges and solutions involved in migrating from VMware to Platform9’s Private Cloud Director (PCD). He highlights that one of the most common concerns for organizations looking to move away from VMware is the complexity of migrating their virtualized infrastructure. Platform9 has developed a tool, internally named “vJailbreak,” to address these challenges. This tool is designed to help organizations migrate their virtual machines (VMs) from VMware to an OpenStack-based environment, which is the foundation of Platform9’s PCD. The tool is open-source and available on GitHub, and it aims to handle various migration complexities, such as high-performance networking, large data volumes, and minimizing downtime during the migration process.

The presentation also delves into the technical aspects of the migration process. One of the key challenges in migrating VMs between different hypervisors is the compatibility of device drivers, such as storage controllers and network controllers, which may not work seamlessly after migration. Platform9’s solution involves converting virtual disks and ensuring that the necessary drivers are updated during the migration process. The tool also supports both cold and warm migrations, allowing organizations to choose between a quicker migration with downtime or a more seamless migration where the application continues running while the data is being transferred. The flexibility of the tool extends to mapping storage and network configurations between VMware and OpenStack environments, giving administrators control over how resources are allocated in the new environment.

In a live demonstration, Tanay Patankar, Software Engineer, showcases the migration of a Windows-based e-commerce application from VMware to Platform9’s PCD. The demo highlights the ease of use of the vJailbreak tool, which allows administrators to specify credentials, map networks and storage, and configure migration options such as cutover windows and post-migration scripts. The tool also supports bulk migrations, enabling organizations to migrate multiple VMs simultaneously while minimizing service interruptions. The demo concludes by showing that the application server, after migration, continues to communicate with the database server still running in the VMware environment, demonstrating the ability to operate hybrid environments during the migration process.