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Create a deployment plan for Google Cloud VMware Engine using the migration advisor

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From the VMware planning center, you can launch the Google Cloud VMware Engine migration advisor to help create a migration plan that is customized for your needs.

You can create a deployment plan to migrate virtual machines to Google Cloud VMware Engine and use customized Google Cloud NetApp Volumes as external NFS datastores. The options in the migration advisor might differ depending on the tool used to collect the VM inventory data.

Requirements

  • You must have uploaded a VM inventory.

  • You must have a user name and password to access Workload Factory. If you don't have access, create an account now. See the instructions here.

  • You must have a Google Cloud VMware Engine subscription in a region where both Google Cloud VMware Engine and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes services are available.

Steps

  1. Log in to Workload Factory using one of the console experiences.

  2. Select the menu The hamburger menu icon is used to navigate to workloads like storage and then select VMware.

    The planning center is displayed.

  3. Select Google Cloud from the drop-down menu.

  4. From the VM inventory table, select Start planning next to the inventory that you want to use to make a deployment plan.

    The Prepare for Google Cloud onboarding wizard appears.

  5. Enter the required information.

Configure migration preferences

  1. In the VM configuration upload section, review information about the dataset you are using to create a migration plan. The VM inventory summary section is populated from the inventory file to reflect the number of VMs and the total storage capacity.

  2. In the VM inventory considerations section, select the options to filter the list of VMs and configure how the migration plan is designed:

    1. VM inventory considerations: Select which VMs to include based on their power state:

      • Powered on (selected by default)

      • Powered off

      • Suspended

    2. VM storage to consider: Choose how to size the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes datastores:

      • Utilized: Size datastores based on the actual used capacity of VMs.

      • Provisioned (default): Size datastores based on the total provisioned capacity of VMs.

    3. VM memory to consider: Choose how to calculate the required Google Cloud VMware Engine cluster compute resources:

      • Utilized: Calculate based on actual memory usage by VMs.

      • Provisioned (default): Calculate based on total memory allocated to VMs.

    4. Virtual machines performance estimation: This option appears only when using RVTools as your data source. Select the expected performance level:

      • Low: 50 IOPS on average per VM.

      • Standard: 200 IOPS on average per VM (selected by default).

      • High: 800 IOPS on average per VM.

  3. In the Google Cloud VMware Engine deployment region section:

    1. Region: Select the Google Cloud region where Google Cloud VMware Engine and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes will be deployed. Only regions where both services are available appear in the list.

  4. In the VM storage capacity and protection considerations section:

    1. Capacity headroom percentage: Enter the percentage of additional capacity to add for growth. The default value is 20%, which is also the recommended minimum.

      Note If you select less than 20% headroom, snapshot protection is automatically disabled.

    2. VM snapshot protection: Enable this option (enabled by default) to protect VMs with snapshots using the ONTAP default snapshot policy.

  5. Select Next.

Select a cluster configuration

  1. On the Select preferred Google Cloud VMware Engine cluster configuration page, configure your Google Cloud VMware Engine cluster preferences and review the recommended configurations.

  2. In the Architecture preferences section:

    1. Allow Google Cloud VMware Engine VE2 node types: When enabled (default), both VE1 and VE2 node types are considered. Disable this option to limit configurations to VE1 nodes only.

    2. Allow Google Cloud NetApp Volumes standard volumes: When disabled (default), only Premium and Extreme service levels are used in the configuration design, which is the recommended best practice. Premium and Extreme volumes provide regional availability, making them resilient to availability zone failures. Standard volumes provide only zonal availability and are not protected against AZ failures. Enable this option to include Standard service level volumes, which could reduce costs for lower-performance workloads where AZ-level resiliency is not required.

  3. In the Cluster configuration section, review the available Google Cloud VMware Engine cluster configurations:

    The configurations are sorted by estimated overall cost (lowest to highest) and show different combinations of:

    • Google Cloud VMware Engine node types (VE1 or VE2)

    • Estimated overall cost

    • Estimated savings

    • Node count

    • VSAN fault tolerance settings: FTT (Fault Tolerance Type) and FTM (Fault Tolerance Method)

    • Excess storage capacity in TiB

    • Storage-only node type

  4. Select your preferred cluster configuration by clicking the radio button next to it.

    The first (lowest cost) configuration is selected by default.

  5. Select Next.

Select a VM layout

  1. On the Automatic VM selection page, review the optimal virtual machine layout automatically selected based on your required external storage capacity and preferences.

  2. Review the VM inventory section, which displays:

    • Overall VM count

    • Overall capacity (provisioned or utilized based on your earlier selection)

      You can expand the section to view the following details:

    • Aggregated average IOPS

    • Aggregated throughput (MB/s)

    • Aggregated peak IOPS

    • Aggregated peak throughput (MB/s)

  3. In the VM selection preferences section, choose the optimization method:

    • Cost (default): Assigns VMs with the highest I/O density to vSAN storage, which helps minimize Google Cloud NetApp Volumes costs while meeting performance requirements.

    • Protection: Assigns VMs with the highest storage capacity to Google Cloud NetApp Volumes external datastores, which provides better recoverability through Google Cloud NetApp Volumes snapshot and replication capabilities.

  4. Review the External datastore configuration section, which shows how VMs and capacity are distributed between Google Cloud NetApp Volumes and vSAN storage.

    You can expand the section to view the following details: * Aggregated average IOPS * Aggregated throughput (MB/s) * Aggregated peak IOPS * Aggregated peak throughput (MB/s)

  5. In the VMs selected for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes NFS datastores table, you can:

    • View the automatically selected VMs based on your chosen optimization method.

    • Manually select or deselect individual VMs by using the checkboxes.

    • Filter VMs by cluster, operating system, or datacenter.

    • Sort VMs by any visible column (such as VM name, provisioned capacity, average read IOPS).

    • Show or hide additional columns by clicking the column selector icon.

      Note If you manually modify the VM selection, you can revert to the automatic selection based on your optimization preference by selecting Reset.

  6. Select Next.

Review NFS datastore assignments

  1. On the Review instance store assignment page, review the detailed datastore layout and VM assignments.

  2. Use the Total and Per datastore tabs to switch between an aggregate view and per-datastore details.

  3. In the Total tab:

    1. Review the Storage Capacity analysis chart that displays:

      • Google Cloud NetApp Volumes logical capacity

      • VM provisioned capacity

      • VM level free space (if provisioned capacity was selected)

      • Overall capacity headroom

      • Snapshots buffer capacity (if snapshot protection is enabled)

    2. Review the Detailed information section showing:

      • Overall VMs provisioned capacity

      • Overall capacity headroom

      • Free space (if provisioned capacity was selected)

      • Overall logical capacity for all Google Cloud NetApp Volumes storage pools

      • Google Cloud NetApp Volumes storage pool count and types

      • Overall VMs count and provisioned capacity

      • Aggregated VM average IOPS (when available)

      • Average I/O density (with tooltip explaining calculation)

      • Aggregated VM average throughput (when available)

  4. In the Per datastore tabs:

    1. Select a datastore tab to view its details.

    2. Review the details for that datastore, which includes:

      • Capacity breakdown chart

      • Datastore properties:

        • Overall VMs utilized capacity

        • Overall capacity headroom

        • Free space (if provisioned capacity was selected)

        • Datastore logical capacity

        • Datastore service level (Standard, Premium, Extreme)

        • Overall VMs count and provisioned capacity

        • Aggregated VM average IOPS (when available)

        • Average datastore I/O density (when available)

        • Aggregated VM average throughput (when available)

    3. Review the Virtual machines table showing all VMs assigned to this datastore with columns for VM name, capacity, cluster, operating system, IOPS, throughput, and other properties.

  5. Select Next.

Review and save your deployment plan

  1. On the Review your migration plan page, review and customize your deployment plan before saving it.

  2. From the drop-down, choose your pricing plan:

    • On-demand (default): Pay-as-you-go pricing

      Note The pricing displayed throughout the review page adjusts based on your selected plan.

  3. Review the Estimated savings section:

    1. The Google Cloud VMware Engine configuration alternatives comparison charts compare:

      • Google Cloud VMware Engine vSAN-only configuration estimated monthly cost (compute nodes + storage-only nodes)

      • Google Cloud VMware Engine vSAN + external datastore estimated monthly cost (compute nodes + Google Cloud NetApp Volumes external datastores)

      • Savings percentage and dollar amount

    2. The Estimated savings breakdown table compares the two configurations with details on node counts, storage capacity, Google Cloud NetApp Volumes pool information, and monthly and yearly cost savings.

  4. Review the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes suggested configuration section. It highlights:

    • Storage pool count and types

    • Overall storage pool capacity

    • Datastores (volumes) count

    • Datastores aggregated throughput

    • Estimated monthly cost

      1. The Suggested configuration details section provides a breakdown by service level (Standard, Premium, Extreme) with storage pool counts, capacities, datastore counts, throughput details, capacity headroom, snapshot buffer, and total estimated monthly cost.

      2. The Estimated cost analysis section breaks down costs by service level (Standard, Premium, Extreme) including capacity costs, cold capacity, replicated data, backup usage and capacity, with a total estimated monthly cost.

      3. The Volume configuration table lists each planned Google Cloud NetApp Volumes volume with details such as name, pool type, protocol (NFSv3), capacity, headroom, snapshot policy, and tiering policy.

  5. Review the Solution design assumptions and Disclaimer sections.

  6. When you are satisfied with the migration plan, you have a few options::

    1. Select Manage plan at the top of the page.

    2. Choose to download:

      • Download a report: A comprehensive PDF document with all plan details

      • Download instance storage deployment: A CSV file mapping VMs to their assigned datastores

  7. Select Provision to provision the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes NFS datastores using Terraform Infrastructure-as-Code.

    A codebox displays the generated Terraform code. You can copy the code to your clipboard or download it as a file to execute in your own Terraform environment.

  8. Select Create to create the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes NFS datastores.