Vmotion without shared storage

I reckon you hit a bug.

See this article http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2013128

To workaround this issue:

• In the ESXi command line, run this command:

  esxcli system module load -m migrate

  This command loads the module.

• Connect to vCenter Server through the vSphere Client.

• Select the ESXi host and click the Configuration tab.

• Click Software > Advanced Settings.

• You see that Migrate.Enabled is set to zero because the module was not loaded earlier.

• Set Migrate.Enabled to 1 and click OK.

You should now be able to vMotion or add a network card to the virtual machine.

To do VMotion without shared storage in 5.1, it can only be done from the vSphere Web Client.

There was no more development of vSphere Client - especially the new 5.1 features.

Refer to VMware blog here. It seems vSphere Client is being deprecated.

And refer to the 5.1 release notes:

vSphere Client. In vSphere 5.1, all new vSphere features are available only through the vSphere Web Client. The traditional vSphere Client will continue to operate, supporting the same feature set as vSphere 5.0, but not exposing any of the new features in vSphere 5.1.