Is is possible to migrate a client from a disconnected VM host?

Question

One of our VM hosts (5.0) got disconnected. All of our Clients are on Shared Datastore.

Is it possible to migrate the clients on the disconnected host (Vcenter Essentials) to a connected host?

Solution 1

1. VCenter Essentials isn't a VM host.

2. If the VM's that were being hosted were on shared stotage then you should be able to add those VM's to another host by browsing the shared storage from another host, finding the folders for those VM's, right-clicking the vmx file for each VM, and selecting "Add to Inventory". That will add those VM's to that host and allow you to start them.

3. If and when you get the disconnected host back online it's still going to think that it owns those VM's. You should right-click those VM's and select "Remove from Inventory".

Solution 2

You cannot simply browse the datastore and add the guest VM to inventory since vCenter still thinks it is attached to the old host. Following the steps in https://communities.vmware.com/message/2410612#2410612, I was able to migrate the guest via the following:

1. ssh to the target host
2. Adapt this command to your path: vim-cmd solo/registervm /vmfs/volumes/YourDisk/YourHost/something.vmx
3. Go to vCenter and start the guest VM
4. When vCenter asks if you moved or copied the VM, answer: I moved it