9.3 Planning For Migrating Workloads to Azure

Target Azure IaaS Environment

• Each PlateSpin Migrate server can support migration to multiple Azure global and sovereign environments. Set the appropriate Azure environment when you configure a target Azure platform:

  • Azure China

  • Azure Global

  • Azure Stack

Azure Subscription

• Provide valid credentials for the Azure subscription. See Managing the Azure User Password for Azure Target Cloud Platforms.

PlateSpin Server Host

• Ensure that the PlateSpin Server host displays the correct time for the time zone it is in. If the time on the PlateSpin Server host is incorrect, the cutover process fails with a 403 forbidden access error.

OS License for Target Workload

• You need an OS license for the migrated target workload. For Azure target workloads, you must provide Azure with the license information or Microsoft will charge you for the OS license.

Target Workload

Consider the following guidelines before you migrate workloads to Azure:

• Migrate Web Interface

  You can use only the PlateSpin Migrate Web Interface to migrate the workloads to Microsoft Azure. The PlateSpin Migrate Client does not support migration of workloads to Microsoft Azure.

• Migrate API

  PlateSpin Migrate API supports headless migrations only to Azure Cloud. See PlateSpin Migrate API Getting Started Reference.

  NOTE:PlateSpin Migrate API currently does not support headless migrations to Azure Stack.

• UEFI Source Workloads

  Windows and Linux UEFI workloads are migrated as BIOS workloads.

• Multiple NICs

  Migration of workloads with multiple NICs to Azure is supported for Windows workloads, up to the number of NICs supported by the Azure VM size.

  NOTE:When you configure migration for a workload, PlateSpin Migrate lets you specify four IP addresses per NIC on the Windows workload by default. However, you can configure the number of IP addresses that you want to specify per NIC on the workload. See Configuring the Maximum Number of IP Addresses Allowed for Each Network Interface on Target Workloads.

• Maximum Number of Data Disks

  PlateSpin Migrate supports Azure VM sizes with up to 64 data disks. For the maximum VM size in a selected Azure Region, Migrate will use one data disk for the OS disk replication in the PlateSpin Replication Environment. After cutover, this disk becomes the OS disk, and you can add a data disk.

• Maximum Disk Size for Data Disks

  Data disks can have a maximum size of 4 TB (4092 GB), depending on the maximum size allowed for the target VM instance size and storage type. This data disk size limit applies to Azure managed disks and unmanaged disks.

• Disk Size on the Target VM

  The size of the disk created on the Azure VM is the size of the source disk partition plus about 1 GB because of the granularity of disk space on Azure.

• Cloud Instance Size

  Migrate initially identifies an Azure VM size in the specified target location that meets or exceeds the source workload's settings for cores, memory, data disks, and NICs. However, you can choose a smaller or larger VM size based on your requirements for the target workload, as limited by the maximum VM sizes available in the selected Azure Region.

• Temporary Storage on the Target VM

  In Azure, every VM contains a temporary disk that provides short-term storage for applications and processes. It can also be used to store temporary data such as a page file or swap file. PlateSpin Migrate configures the page file for a target Windows VM to use the Azure temporary storage drive and mounts it to a drive letter.

  WARNING:Do not use this temporary storage to store data that you are not willing to lose.

  The temporary storage size depends on the VM type and size. See Sizes for Windows Virtual Machines in Azure in the Microsoft Azure Documentation.