Hey everyone! I'm looking for some insights on migrating from VMware to OpenShift. I've read that one of the toughest parts is reconfiguring the network on virtual machines since it's pretty different. We're making this switch mainly because VMware costs are too high for us, especially with around 27 hosts and 300 VMs to manage. We're also going to convert a lot of our web apps into container workloads and phase out the VMs.
Has anyone here been through a similar migration? We do have a Red Hat partner assisting us, and we're aiming for minimal downtime—I'm hoping to stick to a maximum of 6 hours.
For context, we're using a three-tier architecture, with servers, networking, and SAN storage, specifically a Dell T500. I have some experience with OpenShift, particularly on the containers and Kubernetes side, but not so much with VMs. Also, I'm preparing for the OpenShift virtualization specialist exam soon. I've been a Linux sysadmin for 5 years, primarily working with Red Hat in our data center.
1 Answer
Wow, six hours for 300 VMs sounds really tight! You may want to prioritize the most critical apps first and maybe set up temp redirects if you can. Also, keep in mind that network reconfiguration might take longer than expected, especially if you're new to OpenShift. Make sure you have a solid rollback plan in place just in case things don't go as planned!
Exactly! Do as much testing as you can beforehand, and maybe even do a dry run with a small group of VMs to get the hang of it.