VMware Migration 101: Your Guide to the new Brexit – Broadcom exit

With substantially increased VMware subscription costs, this is the era of a new kind of Brexit, with clients looking to exit VMware by Broadcom. But there is not a direct alternative to VMware. In this blog, we will look at some of the key considerations for VMware migration and provide actionable insights to help MSPs execute VMware migrations efficiently.

Why Consider VMware Migration now?

Rising VMware costs and evolving client needs push MSPs to explore alternatives that deliver cost savings, scalability, and flexibility. Migrating to platforms like Microsoft Hyper-V, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, Nutanix, or Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) such as AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) enables MSPs to meet diverse client requirements. DartIQ VeeMigrate’s AI-driven platform ensures rapid, client-centric migrations by recommending optimal destinations—cloud, on-premises, or hybrid—tailored to each client’s compute, performance, and budget needs.

What Factors Should You Evaluate for VMware Alternatives?

Choosing a VMware alternative requires assessing factors that align with your clients’ business goals:

• Performance and Scalability: Can the platform (e.g., Hyper-V, Nutanix, AWS) support client workloads and growth?
• Cost: Compare licensing, infrastructure, and support expenses. Cloud platforms like IBM Cloud or OCI offer flexibility but require cost management.
• Compatibility: Ensure support for client applications, storage, and networking needs.
• Support Ecosystem: Evaluate vendor support, community resources, and third-party tool integration.
• Security and Compliance: Confirm the platform meets client regulatory and security requirements.

DartIQ VeeMigrate’s AI-native platform analyzes these factors, providing MSPs with personalized landing zone recommendations to meet diverse client needs rapidly and effectively.

What Are the Key Criteria for Choosing VMware Alternatives?

When selecting VMware alternatives for your clients, focus on these criteria:

• Workload Compatibility: Does the platform support client applications, including legacy or specialized workloads?
• Infrastructure Compatibility: Can the platform integrate with existing client hardware, storage, and networking?
• Software License: Are the licensing terms cost-effective and flexible?
• Cost Efficiency: Evaluate total costs, including licensing, hardware, and maintenance. On-premises solutions like Nutanix may reduce cloud subscription costs, while Cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and/or IBM Cloud offer pay-as-you-go pricing.
• Management Tools: Are there robust management and automation tools, such as vCenter equivalents or cloud-native dashboards?
• Scalability: Can the platform scale with client needs, especially for cloud solutions?
• Vendor Lock-In: Assess the risk of dependency on a new vendor.
• Community and Support: Are there strong documentation, community forums, or enterprise support options?
• Destination: Cloud or On-Premises: Choose between cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud, GCP, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure) for scalability or on-premises solutions (Hyper-V, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, Nutanix) for control and compliance.

DartIQ VeeMigrate’s modular and flexible platform delivers tailored recommendations, ensuring MSPs can rapidly deploy solutions that align with each client’s unique requirements.

What Criteria Determine Which Workloads to Migrate from VMware?

Deciding which client workloads to migrate involves clear criteria:

• Business criticality: Prioritize non-critical workloads to minimize risk during initial migrations.
• Resource usage: Identify VMs with high CPU, memory, or storage demands for optimized allocation.
• Dependencies: Map application and network dependencies to avoid disruptions.
• Compatibility: Ensure workloads are compatible with the target platform (e.g., cloud-native apps for GCP or OCI).
• Cost-Benefit analysis: Weigh migration costs against long-term savings for each client.

DartIQ VeeMigrate’s Dependency Analyzer automates this process, streamlining workload selection with AI-driven insights tailored to MSPs’ client portfolios.

How Can You Manage Tradeoffs in VMware Migration?

Migration involves tradeoffs like cost versus performance or downtime versus speed. MSPs can address these with:

• Prioritizing workloads: Start with less critical VMs to test the process, minimizing client risk.
• Minimizing downtime: Use live migration tools like VMware vMotion for critical workloads, balancing performance tradeoffs.
• Optimizing costs: Choose on-premises platforms like Nutanix or Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization for savings, despite reduced cloud flexibility.
• Adopting a hybrid approach: Retain VMware for specific workloads while migrating others to CSPs.

DartIQ VeeMigrate’s AI-native platform recommends tradeoffs based on differences between current and new landing zones, hyper-automating migrations to meet client objectives efficiently.

What Are the ‘R-Factors’ for VMware Migration?

The “R-factors” framework guides MSPs in making client-focused migration decisions:

• Rehost (Lift and Shift): Move VMs to a new platform without modification.
  • Criteria: Minimal changes, compatible hardware/software, low risk tolerance.
  • Example: Migrating VMs to AWS VMware Cloud using vMotion.
• Replatform: Adjust workloads for the target platform without major code changes.
  • Criteria: Improved performance or cost savings, moderate compatibility adjustments.
  • Example: Moving to Azure with Azure Migrate, optimizing for cloud storage.
• Refactor: Redesign applications to leverage new platform capabilities.
  • Criteria: Cloud-native benefits, high scalability needs, long-term investment.
  • Example: Rewriting legacy apps for Kubernetes in the Cloud or On-Premises.
• Retire: Decommission obsolete or redundant workloads.
  • Criteria: Low business value, high maintenance costs, outdated technology.
  • Example: Retiring unused VMs identified via DartIQ VeeMigrate’s Cost Planning and Analysis module.
• Retain: Keep workloads on VMware for strategic reasons.
  • Criteria: Critical VMware features (e.g., DRS, NSX) or high migration costs.
  • Example: Retaining VMware for mission-critical workloads requiring advanced clustering.

DartIQ VeeMigrate’s streamlined approach automates and validates these strategies, ensuring MSPs deliver rapid, client-specific solutions.

How Do You Calculate TCO for Staying on VMware vs. Migrating?

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis compares staying on VMware versus migrating for each client:

• VMware TCO:
  • Licensing fees (vSphere, vCenter).
  • Hardware and maintenance costs.
  • Support and training expenses.
• Migration TCO:
  • Migration tool costs (e.g., Azure Migrate, Veeam).
  • Target platform costs (e.g., cloud subscriptions for IBM Cloud or OCI, licensing for Nutanix).
  • Downtime and labor costs for migration.
  • Post-migration optimization and support.
  • One time benefit of Cloud credits for Assessment, Migration and Cloud usage

DartIQ VeeMigrate’s AI-native Cost Planning and Analysis module provides real-time TCO & ROI projections, factoring in licensing, infrastructure, and hidden costs like downtime. For example, Hyper-V or Nutanix may lower licensing costs but require training, while CSPs offers scalability with subscription fees, all tailored to client needs.

How Should You Prepare Your Environment for Partial or Full VMware Migration?

Effective planning and preparation ensures smooth migrations for MSPs’ clients:

• Inventory assets: Use DartIQ VeeMigrate to do detailed discovery of VMs, storage, and network configurations with either agent-based on agentless methods.
• VM dependency mapping and Application tagging: Understand which VMs and Applications are tightly intertwined, which Applications require special attention, such as Hi-Availability.
• Create parallel environment or Backup data: Implement robust backups to prevent data loss.
• Trade-off analysis: No single platform will satisfy all your needs.Understand specific trade-offs that need to be made across Performance & resource availability, License portability, OS availability, Service availability, Cost & ROI and Security & Compliance

• Understand R-factor: Given the trade-off analysis, Cost and ROI, check to see if you want to Rehost, Replatform, Refactor, Retire or Retain VMs.
• Plan operations and replication: Build launch template, landing zone assignment and plan VM replication, with built-in rollback mechanisms.
• Prepare the Landing zone: Design the landing zone with the necessary services and provision them ahead of the migration.
• Validation & cutover: Once migration is complete, verify data integrity, VM performance, network, storage and security configurations before cutting over to the new environment.

DartIQ VeeMigrate is an AI-native solution that helps with the above process, including reviewing specific trade-offs that need to be made with appropriate recommendations for the same.

What Challenges Should You Anticipate During VMware Migration?

Key migration challenges for MSPs include:

• Compatibility Issues: VMware features like DRS may not be supported on Hyper-V or Nutanix..
• Downtime: Critical workloads may face disruptions. Replicating the environment helps to reduce or even avoid downtime
• Data Loss: Backup failures can jeopardize migrations.
• Skill Gaps: New platforms like Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization may require training.
• Cost Overruns: Especially with longer migration timeframe, decisions change, scope increases, destination costs change, migration cost increases driving overall cost upwards.

What Are the Best Practices for VMware Migration?

Follow these best practices for success:

• Start Small: Begin with non-critical workloads to test the process.
• Automate Processes: Use DartIQ VeeMigrate for speed of end-to-end migration
• Monitor in Real-Time: Leverage Reporting and Analytics functionality to detect and resolve issues instantly.
• Document Everything: Maintain detailed logs for troubleshooting and compliance.
• Engage Stakeholders: Align IT, finance, and business units for smooth execution.

What Types of VMware Migration Strategies Exist?

Migration strategies vary by client goals:

• Live Migration: Move VMs without downtime using tools like vMotion or Red Hat’s MTV operator. Ideal for critical workloads.
• Cold Migration: Shut down VMs for transfer, suitable for non-critical workloads.
• Hybrid Migration: Combine live and cold migrations for complex environments.
• Cloud-Native Migration: Refactor applications for cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud, GCP, or OCI, leveraging cloud-specific features.

DartIQ VeeMigrate’s flexible platform supports all strategies, ensuring MSPs deliver rapid and reliable migrations.

How Can You Test and Validate VMware Migration?

Testing and validation reduce risks:

• Sandbox Testing: Test with a small number of VMs to review outcome.
• Compatibility Checks: Verify VM compatibility with the target platform, such as Nutanix or IBM Cloud.
• Performance Testing: Assess network and application performance post-migration.
• Backup Validation: Confirm backups are restorable.
• User Acceptance Testing: Validate functionality with end-users to ensure business continuity.

Why Choose DartIQ VeeMigrate for VMware Migration?

DartIQ VeeMigrate is the only MSP-focused, AI-native solution, offering:

• Tailored: Personalized landing zone recommendations based on client compute, performance, and budget needs.
• Streamlined: AI-driven tradeoff recommendations and automated validation of re-architected solutions.
• Modular: Migrate full workloads or a single VM to any destination.
• Flexible: Supports cloud (AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud, GCP, OCI), on-premises (Hyper-V, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, Nutanix), or hybrid setups.
• Rapid: Automated landing zone setup and agent-based migration for speed.

Ready to help customers with their “Brexit”? Contact DartIQ today to leverage VeeMigrate’s AI-native platform for seamless VMware migrations.