Hey Guys -

We are currently performing an overhaul of our virtual environment which includes not only going to newer versions of software, but on new hardware.  We currently have a 2008 cluster running which is managed by SCVMM 2008 R2.  Most of the VMs on this cluster have recently been migrated to the cloud (Amazon's AWS), yet some legacy XP VMs remain.  These remaining VMs must be moved / migrated to our new environment which consists of two 2012 R2 Hyper-V servers (not clustered) being managed by SCVMM 2012 R2.

My Question

My Question is what is the best method to migrate these VMs and templates from the 2008 cluster to the non-clustered VMM 2012 R2 environment?  I started adding one of the 2012 R2 servers as a host in 2008's VMM, but it showed "Unknown" for some variables so didn't proceed.

Two important things to mention

One of the reasons for the migration is that our 2008 environment isn't working correctly at times as even migrating between hosts on the same cluster throws errors frequently.  The last thing I want to do bring corruption over to the new environment.  Also, in 2012 R2 we are using "Distributed Key Management" in Active Directory.  In VMM 2008, we didn't use it (at least in AD.)  I'd think this would make a difference if migrating templates, but wanted to bring up just in case.

Overall - it may just be best to build new VMs from scratch in 2012 and simply copy & mount the VHDs from the 2008 VMs.  That's why I wanted to post - to ssee what suggestions people had.

What do you think?  T

Hi Ben,

Server 2008R2 hyper-v host can be managed by SCVMM2012R2 , please check if it is 2008R2 cluster :

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Dn771747.aspx

>>One of the reasons for the migration is that our 2008 environment isn't working correctly at times as even migrating between hosts on the same cluster throws errors frequently.

Cluster is not working correctly .

If it is not 2008R2 , I would suggest you to shutdown the cluster and attach the old cluster's CSV to 2012R2 server then import into 2012R2 hyper-v host (or copy them to new place then import them , it is similar as your original plan  but you do not need to create new VM ):

http://windowsitpro.com/hyper-v/import-exported-vms-2008-2012-r2

Best Regards,

Elton Ji

Good Morning, Elton - Thanks for your reply...

I couldn't find out how to verify the cluster's version; but am 90% certain it's 2008R2 as it exists (and believe it was created on) x5 2008R2 hosts.  

- Anyways - 

Due to the number of VMs I recently found out coming over plus the fact that the cluster hasn't been in good health since who knows when; I believe we are just going to create a new VM from scratch per one we plan to migrate then attach the VHD from it's 2008 R2 environment to import them.

This solution seems as though it would work in theory, but probably my only concern is that I set up the SCVMM 2012 environment to use Distributed Key Management in AD which VMM 2008 R2 didn't have.  The systems were created with by VMM 2008 R2 via a template or by vWorkspace which we are no longer using.

Would any of the above configurations above cause concern if importing by means of creating new VMs in 2012 R2 which have the VHDs of the 2008 R2 environment attached?  Just making sure -

Thanks again!