Is there a generally accepted way to migrate a virtual machine that runs vSphere from one host to another without vMotion?
I have a small two-machine vSphere installation. There is no shared storage, and even if there was, vMotion is not licensed on the installation.
I can use the vSphere Update Manager to upgrade one host, but when I attempt to do the other host, it fails:
The host vm02.enets.local has a VM vSphere with VMware vSphere Update
Manager or VMware vCenter Server installed. The VM must be moved to
another host for the remediation to proceed.
Normally I would just shut the VM down and migrate it while it's offline. But of course, if I do that to the vSphere machine, I will lose the ability to migrate because it's the vSphere server that provides that functionality.
Best Answer
Can you enable the SSH service on the hosts (Tech Support Mode) and SCP the Virtual Machine while it's powered off?
To be recognized, you will need to remove it from inventory on the sending side and add it to inventory on the receiving side.