Migrate Hyper-V 2012R2 VMs To Nutanix AHV

The following blog post will cover the steps taken when I migrated a Hyper-V 2012 R2 VM running Windows Server 2008, called VM01 below, to Nutanix AHV version 20170830.115 and Nutanix AOS version 5.6. Yeah I know that Windows 2008 R2 is not the most modern OS but that was the constraint in this case and the same procedure applies to newer Microsoft OS:es as well.

There was no

1. Write down the VM01 IP information before you shut it down.
2. Start by adding the client, that will copy the Org VM to Nutanix AHV via Prism, to the Prism Filesystem Whitelist.
   
3. From the client added in step 1, mount the Nutanix source container where the VM will be placed. This client must obviously have access to the VM01 VHD disk file(s)
4. Copy the VM01 VHD disk file to the Nutanix container
   
5. Create two images Prism Image Configuration -> Upload Image configuration. There is also an option to perform this using “acli image.create” command from a Nutanix Controller Virtual Machine (CVM)
   
6. The first image will be the Nutanix VirtIO driver package needed when the VM is created. This ISO file can be downloaded from the Nutanix Portal. There is also an option to install the drivers before the VM VHD disks are copied to Nutanix. Provide the following information for the Image
   1. Name = Whatever you want
   2. Annotation =Whatever you want
   3. Image Type = ISO
   4. Storage Container = Container of your choice
   5. Image source = Select the VirtIO file
      
7. The second image is the VM01s VHD file uploaded to the Nutanix container VM. Provide the following information for the Image
   1. Name = Whatever you want
   2. Annotation =Whatever you want
   3. Image Type = Disk
   4. Storage Container = Container of your choice
   5. Image Source = Provide the path and name of the file you uploaded to the Nutanix container. In my case “nfs://127.0.0.1/default-container-11038/VM01.vhd
      
8. And the result is two Images available.
   
9. Now create a VM and use the recently uploaded files. Provide following information.
   1. Name
   2. Description
   3. Timezone
   4. vCPUs
   5. Number of cores per vCPU
   6. Amount of memory specified in GB
      
   7. Add disks:
      1. CD-ROM using the operation “Clone from Image Service” pointing to the VirtIO image.
         
      2. Disk with BUS type set to IDE using the operation “Clone from Image Service” pointing to the VM01img image.
         
   8. Add one or more NIC(s) to the VM
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10. Power On the VM and click “Launch Console”
    
11. Log on to the VM and install drivers for the new devices. The process is same for all three devices and the below process lists the steps for the Ethernet Controller.
    
    1. Right-click and select “Update Driver Software”
       
    2. Select “Browse my computer for driver software”
       
    3. Select the appropriate folder from the VirtIO cd-rom. In my case Windows Server 2008 R2.
       
    4. Click Next
       
    5. Click Install
       
    6. When done, click Clos
       
    7. A new network adapter appears in the Device Manager
       
12. Perform the same steps for all newly added devices.
13. Set the IP information collected in step 1.
14. Reboot the VM and you’re done.

Easy as that to migrate a Hyper-V VM to Nutanix AHV. There are also third-party tools available to perform the migration if needed.