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Create a deployment plan for Amazon EC2 using the VMware workloads migration advisor

Contributors netapp-mwallis netapp-rlithman
PDFs

Log in to the NetApp Workload Factory to access the VMware migration advisor. You'll follow the steps in the wizard to create a deployment plan or migration plan that is customized for your needs.

Note that 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.

Create a deployment plan based on an on-premises vSphere environment

You can migrate your current virtual machine configurations in on-premises vSphere environments to virtual machines in Amazon EC2 and use customized Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file systems as external datastores.

Requirements
Steps

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

  2. From the VMware workloads tile, select VMware planning center.

    The planning center is displayed.

  3. If you have not yet uploaded a VM inventory, select Upload VM inventory and follow the instructions in Upload VM inventory data.

  4. Choose a VM inventory dataset from the list, and open the Start planning menu for the dataset.

  5. Select AWS native compute.

    The Prepare for AWS Cloud onboarding page is displayed.

  6. In the VM configuration upload section, select the upload button and select the .xlsx file created by RVTools.

    The Data collection details section provides the date range and number of hours of data that was collected using the Onboarding Advisor data collector.

    The VM inventory summary section is populated from the inventory file to reflect the number of VMs and the total storage capacity.

  7. In the VM inventory considerations section, select the options to filter the list of VMs that you want to migrate.

    1. Region: Select the region where Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file systems will be deployed. For optimal performance and cost efficiency, this is typically the same region as where your existing Amazon EC2 SDDC is deployed.

    2. Choose a predicted performance level for the VMs in this region. We recommend that you begin with a smaller IOPS setting. You can increase your provisioned SSD IOPS after the file system is created as workloads are migrated or deployed:

      • Standard to high performance: For VMs with average IO rates between 20 and 5000 IOPS.

      • Very high performance: For VMs with average IO rates of greater than 5000 IOPS.

      • Very low performance: For VMs with average IO rates lower than 20 IOPS.

  8. In the Target capacity and protection considerations section, select from a few storage options.

    1. VM Storage to consider: Select whether the datastores created for each onboarded VM are sized based on their currently utilized size (recommended) or their provisioned size.

      The external datastores will be implemented using Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file system volumes.

    2. Average data reduction ratio: Choose from among the three common data reduction ratios. Select "1:1 - No reduction", "1:1.25 - 20% reduction", or "1:1.5 - 33% reduction".

      Select Help me decide if you're unsure which ratio to choose. The Data reduction ratio assistant dialog appears. Select any statements that apply to your VM inventory and storage estate. The assistant will recommend an appropriate data reduction rate. Select Apply to use the recommended ratio.

    3. Headroom percentage: Enter the percentage of capacity growth that is added to the capacity for your FSx for ONTAP file systems.

      Note that if you select an amount less than 20% you won't be able to create volume snapshots for protection and long-term backups.

    4. VM snapshot protection: Enable this option to protect the VMs with snapshots.

  9. Select Next.

  10. On the Scope page, select the VMs from the list that you want to include in the AWS migration. You can filter the list by the power state of each VM, and which data center and cluster the VM resides in.

    In the VM list, you can select which types of VM information to display as columns. For example, selecting Estimated instance type displays a column with the estimated Amazon EC2 instance type for each VM, based on the VM resource requirements.

  11. Select Next.

  12. On the Classify page, review the VM information, volume classification rules, volume assignments, and list of volumes that will be migrated as part of deployment, and then select Next.

    Note If a volume has capacity or performance requirements that exceed the capabilities of an Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP filesystem in a specific region, migration advisor recommends that the volume be deployed on an Amazon EBS filesystem.

  13. On the Package page, review the EC2 instances and the volumes assigned to different FSx for ONTAP clusters, and then select Next.

  14. On the Review plan page, review the estimated monthly savings and cost estimates for all the VMs that you plan to migrate.

    The top of the page estimates the monthly savings for FSx for ONTAP file systems and EBS volumes. You can expand each section to view details for the suggested filesystem configuration, estimated savings breakdown, assumptions, and technical disclaimers.

    The migration plan is automatically saved in the list of plans in the planning center by default.

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

    • Select Download plan > Download a report to download the deployment plan in a .pdf format so you can distribute the plan for review.

    • Select Download plan > Download instance storage deployment to download the external datastore deployment plan in a .csv format so you can use it to create your new cloud-based intelligent data infrastructure.

    • Select Provision to begin deploying the recommended Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file system.