Converting from Nutanix AHV to Azure

When restoring a virtual machine from a backup for Nutanix AHV, you can convert the VM to Azure Resource Manager.

This feature can be used to migrate workloads to the Azure cloud, or to recover VMs in Azure if the Nutanix AHV deployment is unavailable.

This option is available from the Command Center or from the CommCell Console.

You can perform VM conversions from streaming backups, from secondary copies, or from IntelliSnap backup copies. You cannot perform a conversion from a Snap copy.

Before You Begin

Add a virtualization client for Azure.
Before performing backups of source VMs, enable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) on the source VM.
If a Nutanix AHV source VM has a firewall configured, disable the firewall before performing the backup that is used for conversion.
For Windows VMs, to enable disks to be brought online as part of the conversion, enable SAN policy for the source VM. For more information, see Enabling Disks to Be Brought Online as Part of a Conversion.
The user who performs the conversion should be able to log in to the VM.
Azure Standard or Premium general-purpose storage accounts are required for VM conversion to Azure.
To enable deployment in Azure Resource Manager, define one or more resource groups for the application associated with the Azure virtualization client.
The operating system for the destination VM must be an operating system that is supported for Azure.
Before you replicate or convert Red Hat Linux VMs to Azure, add required Hyper-V drivers to the VMs and perform a new backup of the VMs. For more information, see Linux VMs do not boot or are unreachable after conversion or replication to Azure.
To access the Serial Console in the Azure portal on Linux, perform the steps found on the page How to set up serial console boot for headless boot on the source VM prior to backup.

Commvault Requirements

If you select the Auto Select option for Operating System on the Azure Virtual Machine Configuration dialog, and the disk operating system type cannot be determined from the configuration file, the job fails. Select the same operating system as the source VM and resubmit the job.
If you select the Power ON Virtual Machine after Restore option, the converted VM is deployed in Azure immediately after the conversion operation.
If a Nutanix AHV source VM has multiple disks, and the operating system disk is not marked, the conversion marks the first disk as the operating system disk. The first disk is identified based on the disk type in the following order of preference: 1) IDE, 2) SCSI, 3) SATA.

In this situation, the conversion succeeds, and you can change the operating system disk as needed for the converted VM.

Azure VM Requirements

Before you convert a VM from a non-Azure hypervisor using a "restore as" operation, verify that the source VM meets the requirements for non-endorsed distributions. This verification is important because Linux VMs that are based on an endorsed distribution of Azure have the prerequisites that enable them to run on Azure, but VMs that originate from other hypervisors might not. For more information, see Information for Non-Endorsed Distributions.
All necessary Windows drivers are pre-installed. For more information about preparing a Windows virtual hard disk, see Prepare a Windows VM to upload to Azure.
The VM name can only contain alphanumeric characters or the '-' character; the name cannot contain any Unicode Transformation Format (UTF) characters.
The RAM and disk specification for the source VM should match the format of the Azure destination VM size. For example, if the source VM RAM is less than 1.75 GB, only two disks will be uploaded to Azure if you choose Auto Select as the VM size for the conversion, because of Azure restrictions.

Procedure

From the CommCell Console, go to Client Computers > virtualization_client > Virtual Server > Nutanix AHV > backup_set.
Right-click the subclient that contains the backup for the AHV virtual machine to convert, and then select Browse and Restore.
In the Browse and Restore Options dialog box, select Full Virtual Machine.
From the Restore as list next to Full Virtual Machine, select Azure Resource Manager.
Click View Content.

A Client tab shows the contents of the most recent backup for the subclient.
Select a virtual machine.
Click Recover All Selected at the bottom of the window.

The Restore VM wizard launches and displays the Destination page.

Provide the following information:
- Virtualization Client: Select the virtualization client created for Azure.
- Proxy Client: Select a destination client to act as a staging machine. Disk and configuration files for the Azure virtual machine are copied to the job results folder on the staging machine, and then uploaded to Azure.
Click Next.

The Virtual Machines page appears.

The VM and Disk column displays the names of the virtual machines. You can expand a VM entry to display disk information for the VM.

Provide the following information:
- Change VM display name to: To avoid overwriting an existing virtual machine with the same name on the Azure management portal, click in the row for the VM and enter a new name.
- Resource Group: Select the resource group in which the converted virtual machine should be created.
- Region/Storage Account: Select the region for the restored VM. Then select an Azure Standard or Premium general-purpose storage account. You can select a different storage account for each virtual machine and disk.
  
  The storage accounts listed are only those associated with the selected region for the restored VM.
  
  Note
  
  To exclude a virtual machine disk, select Do Not Attach in the row for the disk under the Region/Storage Account column. When this option is selected for a disk, the disk is not uploaded to Azure and attached to the created VM.
To change other settings for one or more VMs, select the VMs and click Configure in the Settings column.

The Azure Virtual Machine Configuration dialog box appears. Any changes you make on this dialog box apply to all of the selected VMs.

Provide the following information:
- If you selected multiple VMs, select Prefix or Suffix and enter a string to append to source VM names to create the destination VM names.
  
  For a single VM, you cannot change the VM display name.
- Resource Group: Select the resource group in which the converted virtual machine should be created.
- Region/Storage Account: Select the region for the restored VM. Then select an Azure Standard or Premium general-purpose storage account. You can select a different storage account for each virtual machine and disk.
  
  The storage accounts listed are only those associated with the selected region for the restored VM.
- VM size: Select a VM size from the list. The VM sizes in the list are those that are available for the resource group you selected.
  
  To choose a VM size automatically, use Auto Select.
- Operating System: Match the operating system of the source VM.
  
  If necessary, you can select the Auto Select option to automatically detect the operating system of the source VM.
  
  The operating system for the destination VM must be an operating system that is supported for Azure.
- Restore as Managed VM: To restore virtual machines as managed virtual machines, select this check box.
  
  When you select this option, the restore operation stages virtual machine disks in the specified storage account, and then converts them to managed disks and attaches the disks to the restored virtual machine.
- Azure Virtual Network Options:
  - Create Public IP: To assign a public IP address for the destination VMs, select this option.
  - Network Interface: To specify a network connection for the destination VMs, select this option and browse for the network interface.
    
    Specify any subnet in the same region as the selected resource group.
  - Network Security Group: Browse to specify a network security group for the destination VMs.
Click OK to save and close the Azure Virtual Machine Configuration dialog box.
Click Next.

The Restore Options page appears.

Provide the following information:
- Power ON Virtual Machine after Restore: Select this option to power on the virtual machine in the Azure management portal after uploading disks and completing the conversion.
- Unconditionally Overwrite VM with the same name: If a virtual machine with the same name exists on the Azure management portal, select this option to overwrite the existing virtual machine.
Click Next.

The Job Options page appears.

You can run the job immediately or configure a schedule.
Click Next.

The Summary page appears.
Click Finish.

Result

If the source VM had dynamic disks that use simple disk spanning, RAID, striped, or mirrored layouts, after VM conversion, the disks in the converted VM might be marked as Failed in Disk Management. You must bring these disks online manually using Disk Management. To bring the disks back online, perform an Import Foreign Disks operation on the guest VM for the disk group that contains failed disks. You need to import the entire disk group in one operation rather than performing a partial import.