VMware vMotion vs storage vMotion: what is the difference?
Here you will find out:
- what is vMotion and vMotion storage
- what is the difference between them
- how DiskInternals can help you
Are you ready? Let's read!
About vMotion
vMotion enables live migration of virtual machines from one physical ESXi host to another.
Live migration means that, when you move a VM from one host to another, all you need to do is to change the host. The VM disks remain in the same space, but the storage will be shared between two hosts.
Still, vMotion stays transparent to the VM.
The process is performed without downtime or interruption of the system’s operations.
This technology is a convenient means of transferring productive VMs; for example, when servicing or updating physical servers with the installed ESXi hypervisor.
Also, vMotion is the basis of the technology of distribution (alignment) of the load on physical servers, known as DRS. For vMotion to function properly, it requires a fast network.
The common storage (SAN, Fiber Channel or NAS) of the VM is encompassed by vMotion, which allows for the transfer of the entire VM.
About vMotion Storage
vMotion Storage is one of the latest VMware technologies, which allows online transfer of virtual machine files between disk arrays or VMFS/NFS storage, with no downtime.
To use this technology, some requirements must be met:
- The drives must be in persistent mode, or RDM
- The ESXi host must have a license for vMotion storage
- Your version of VMFS version must be compatible with vMotion Storage
- Your host must have access to the source and target storage to avoid version control issues
vMotion Storage enables administrators to transfer virtual machine drive files to other LUNs. This allows you to optimize the performance of the VM, as well as increase or decrease the allocation of memory without much manual work. Another feature of this technology is the ability to use it as a tool for tiered data storage. Each storage level can be adjusted as you wish, depending on the value of the data, the required performance, and more.
Summary: VMware vMotion vs vMotion Storage
vMotion Storage and VMware vMotion have a lot in common. But there are some significant differences:
- VMware vMotion allows you to move VMs from one ESX server to another without downtime for users, while the data store can be mounted on both the source and target hosts.
- VMotion Storage moves VM files from one data storage to another without any downtime for users and is most often used to move a VM from a local data store to a shared data store.
Why it's so important to have VMFS Recovery
DiskInternals VMFS Recovery is a unique, professional application with no competitors. You will need this tool in order to recover data from VMware or VMFS, or to read and restore VMDK files. File loss can happen to anyone; DiskInternals VMFS Recovery handles cases of all kinds. All this is thanks to more than DiskInternals’ 15 years of experience in this field. Any virtual disks can be mounted in local storage for easy viewing of files.
Read this guide to working with the program:
Download and install DiskInternals VMFS Recovery.
Click on the “Wizard” button and start the data recovery process.
Connect via SSH if necessary.
After that, open the disk (local disk or SSH) and click on the “Scan” button. After that, find the files you need.
Mount the VMDK file and open it.
Next, preview files for free to check for their integrity.
Then purchase a license and complete the entire process by exporting data using the Export Wizard.