HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager Software - Manual (Page 17)

4 Planning the migration
Planning a migration strategy
One challenge when migrating operating systems, applications, and data is modifying the migrated
operating system to boot on the destination server and to function properly on the hardware. Insight
Control server migration makes the required operating system changes for you.
To best prepare for a migration, consider developing a migration strategy before running a
migration. Migration strategies vary depending on machine hardware, network landscape, and
applications. To develop a migration strategy, review the following before beginning your migration.
Preparing a schedule
Schedule preparation is essential when planning a migration strategy.
Be sure to include adequate time for copying data, as the source server will be offline until the
migration is complete. Large volumes take time to migrate. Under optimal conditions, 1 GB of data
requires two to three minutes to migrate. Using two minutes as a best-case scenario, migrating
500 GB of data might take more than 17 hours.
When a migration starts, the source server reboots to a minimal configuration so that no updates
occur on the source server during migration. Only those services required for the migration are
enabled.
Applications that normally execute on the server are not available during migration. After the
migration is complete, the source server is restored to its pre-migration state.
Schedule the migration to occur at a time when the source server can be offline.
Considerations for multi-boot systems
While Insight Control server migration supports migrating multi-boot systems, consider the following:
•
A supported operating system must be set as the default operating system for the boot disk.
•
The migration wizard enables the migration of all partitions with supported file systems.
Unsupported operating systems on those partitions are also enabled for migration, but Insight
Control server migration does not support them.
•
If unsupported operating systems are migrated, they might be detected, but proper drivers
might not be installed, which can leave the unsupported operating system on the destination
server unable to be booted.
Migrating Large NTFS Partitions
Insight Control server migration cannot migrate NTFS partitions greater than 1023 GB in size.
Resizing file systems for migration
During the migration progress, the partitions being migrated can be resized. There are some file
system caveats to be aware of that may affect the migration of your data.
Resizing Windows file systems
Insight Control server migration supports resizing and migration of NTFS volumes. However, some
conditions may prevent server migration from resizing NTFS partitions:
•
Large NTFS partitions or NTFS partitions with too many clusters, resulting in large volume
cluster bitmaps that cannot be resized. In some cases, the volume might be recognized as
Planning a migration strategy 17