ViPR Controller: How to migrate an ESX cluster from one vCenter to another while retaining the existing storage.

Summary: How to move a ViPR Controller managed ESX cluster from one vCenter to another vCenter and maintain the existing storage / ViPR Controller exportGroup

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Instructions

Procedure to migrate a VIPR Controller managed  ESX cluster to a new vCenter and retain the same volumes/ExportGroup.
  1. Switch off auto-discovery for vCenter within the ViPR-C UI.
Method 1 : ViPR Controller UI > System > General Configuration > Discovery > Enable Auto-Discovery (Set to False)
Note: This will require a reboot of  VIPR Controller.

Method 2 : Disable discovery in ViPR Controller by updating both vCenters with the wrong credentials.
(ViPR Controller UI > Physical > vCenters)
This prevents discovery from running while the customer is moving hosts/cluster to the new vCenter.
  1. In a vSphere client, migrate the cluster/hosts from the original (source) vCenter and configure on the target vCenter (using the same cluster name as the original).
  2. Use viprcli commands to align the ESX hosts to the new target vCenter and VirtualDataCenter:     
viprcli host update -hl "Hostname" -ndc "new_vCenterDataCenter" -vc "new_vCenter"
  1. Configure the cluster in ViPR Controller to align with the target Datacenter and vCenter:     
viprcli cluster update -name "clustername" -dc "old_vCenterDataCenter" -vc "Old_vCenter" -ndc "new_vCenterDataCenter" -nvc "new_vCenter" 
  1. Enable discoveries in VIPR Controller again (reversal of Step 1).
  2. No actionable events related to the migration should be generated as the VIPR-C DB has been modified to reflect the changes.

Additional Information


 

Article Properties
Article Number: 000157708
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 17 Sep 2025
Version:  3
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