Migrating a VSC host using the vCenter GUI

After you upgrade to SnapCenter 3.x or later, you must migrate the VSC backups that you created in vCenter to SnapCenter. If you are a vCenter admin who seldom uses the SnapCenter GUI, you might want to perform the VSC host migration from the SnapCenter VMware vSphere web client GUI.

Before you begin

You must have read the migration prerequisites.

About this task

You can migrate only one VSC host at a time
If your environment has one SnapCenter Server that is registered with two or more VSC hosts, you must migrate each VSC host separately. If your vCenter is in Linked Mode or Enhanced Linked Mode, you must migrate each host separately.
Migrating VSC hosts after upgrading
After you upgrade SnapCenter Server to 3.x or later, all vSphere hosts in the SnapCenter GUI are listed with the status "Plug-in incompatible" until you migrate each VSC host to SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere.

After the migration, you can perform your VM and datastore backup and restore operations using the SnapCenter VMware vSphere web client GUI on vCenter, which allows you access to SnapCenter features.

Attention: Unlike install and upgrade operations, not all validation checks for prerequisites are performed during migration operations. Therefore, if a migration fails, check the information that you provided in the migration wizard for the SnapCenter Server, VSC host, and vCenter.

Steps

On the SnapCenter host, locate the SnapCenter Windows host plug-in package (filename snapcenter_windows_host_plugin), copy it, and then paste the copy onto the VSC host where you want SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere installed.

You can install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere on the same host as the VSC host. It must be a Windows host.
Log on to the host with the same username that is registered for VSC in SnapCenter.
On the host, run the .exe file in the Windows host plug-in package.
The program installs the Plug-in for VMware vSphere on the host.

At this point, the VSC host has both VSC and the Plug-in for VMware vSphere installed. The SnapCenter GUI continues to display the VSC host as "Plug-in incompatible."

When the install completes, it opens a window for you to register the Plug-in for VMware vSphere with vCenter.
Fill in the fields to manually register the Plug-in for VMware vSphere with vCenter, click Register, and then close the window.
Log on to vCenter.
vCenter displays both VSC and SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere web clients.
In the VMware vSphere web client GUI, click in the toolbar, and then select SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware from the drop-down list.
In the left navigation pane, click Settings and then click the Configure SnapCenter Server tab.
Enter the SnapCenter Server information and then click Migrate.
The SnapCenter Server information must be the same as that used by VSC.
- During the migration, the following operations are performed:
  1. SnapCenter credentials and IP address are validated.
  2. Validates that the VSC host is registered with SnapCenter. If it is registered, then the migration continues. If it is not registered, then the Plug-in for VMware vSphere is installed and registered with SnapCenter; there is nothing to migrate.
  3. RBAC credentials are validated for the vCenter user.
  4. VSC is unregistered from vCenter and removed from the vCenter GUI.
    Attention: VSC is not uninstalled from the host.
    
    Note: If the Plug-in for VMware vSphere is installed on the same host as the VSC host, the VSC service startup type is set to manual to prevent VSC from re-registering with vCenter on the restart.
- After a successful migration from VSC to the Plug-in for VMware vSphere, VSC policies and backup jobs (called resource groups in SnapCenter) are recognized and operational in the Plug-in for VMware vSphere GUI.
- If the migration is not successful, all operations are undone. After you fix the problem indicated in the error message, you can start the migration again from the beginning.
Optional: After the migration completes, verify that the Plug-in for VMware vSphere is listed in the left Navigator pane and in the vCenter menu.
If you do not see SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere in vCenter, then you must restart the vCenter web client service.

Note: The VSC host still has both VSC and SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere installed but VSC is no longer registered with SnapCenter.

The SnapCenter GUI displays the VSC host as "vSphere."

After you finish

Important: You must complete the post-migration tasks and then restart the vCenter web client service before you can perform data protection operations.

After you migrate a VSC host to the Plug-in for VMware vSphere, if you want to perform VM management tasks other than backup and restore then you must upgrade to VSC 7.0 or later. See the VSC documentation for details.

Virtual Storage Console, VASA Provider, and Storage Replication Adapter for VMware vSphere Deployment and Setup Guide for 7.2 release