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Full server to ESX migration requirements

After you have verified your source server meets the Requirements, verify that your target server meets the requirements below for full server to ESX migration.

• Operating system—You must have a physical ESX host machine, where Double-Take can create the new virtual server, that meets the following requirements. Note that ESX is commonly referred to as the Classic edition and ESXi as the Embedded and Installable edition.
• ESX 4.0.x or 4.1 Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus
• ESXi 4.0.x or 4.1 Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus

• ESXi 5.0 Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus

  If you are using the Standard edition of ESX 4.0 or ESXi 4.0, you must have update 1 or later.

  If your source is a Windows 2008 R2 server, your ESX server must have ESX 4.0 update 1 or later.

   

• vCenter—Although vCenter is not required for the ESX versions, if you are using it, then you must use version 4.1 or later.

  VMotion is only supported if you are using vCenter.

   

• Virtual recovery appliance—The ESX server must have an existing virtual machine, known as a virtual recovery appliance, that meets the following requirements. (The virtual recovery appliance will create a new virtual server, mount disks, format disks, and so on. Then the new virtual machine is detached from the virtual recovery appliance and powered on. Once the new virtual machine is online, it will have the identity, data, and system state of the original source. Since the virtual recovery appliance maintains its own identity, it can be reused for additional migrations.)
• The virtual recovery appliance must be running Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2003, or 2003 R2.
• The virtual recovery appliance must have the same or newer operating system than the source (not including service pack level).
• The virtual recovery appliance must have Double-Take installed and licensed on it.

• Microsoft .NET Framework—Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 Service Pack 1 is required on the virtual recovery appliance. This version is not included in the .NET version 4.0 release. Therefore, even if you have .NET version 4.0 installed, you will also need version 3.5.1. You can install this version from the Double-Take CD, via a web connection during the Double-Take installation, or from a copy you have obtained manually from the Microsoft web site.

• Snapshots—Do not take snapshots of the virtual recovery appliance, because they will interfere with proper cutover.

• Disk controller—VMware Paravirtual SCSI Controllers are not supported.

• System memory—The minimum system memory on each server should be 1 GB. The recommended amount for each server is 2 GB.

• Disk space for program files—This is the amount of disk space needed for the Double-Take program files. For Windows 2003, this is approximately 300 MB. For Windows 2008, this is approximately 375 MB.

  The program files can be installed to any volume while the Microsoft Windows Installer files are automatically installed to the operating system boot volume.

  Make sure you have additional disk space for Double-Take queuing, logging, and so on.

   

• Disk space for data files—This is the amount of disk space needed for the source data files. This will be dependent on the applications you are running and the amount of data files you have.

• Disk space for system state image—This is the amount of disk space for the image of the source system state. The size of the system state will depend on the operating system and architecture. Windows 2003 operating systems need at a minimum 2-3 GB of free space for the system state. Windows 2008 operating systems need at a minimum 7-9 GB of free space for the system state. Windows 2008 R2 operating systems need 10 GB of free space for the system state. These minimums are for a clean operating system installation. Operating system customizations will increase the disk space requirement.

• Server name—Double-Take includes Unicode file system support, but your server name must still be in ASCII format. If you have the need to use a server's fully-qualified domain name, your server cannot start with a numeric character because that will be interpreted as an IP address.

• Protocols and networking—Your servers must meet the following protocol and networking requirements.

  • Your servers must have TCP/IP with static IP addressing. (Some job types allow you to add DHCP addresses for failover monitoring, although only after a job has already been created. Keep in mind that depending on your failover configuration, a source reboot may or may not cause a failover but having a new address assigned by DHCP may also cause a failover.)
  • By default, Double-Take is configured for IPv6 and IPv4 environments, but the Double-Take service will automatically check the server at service startup and modify the appropriate setting if the server is only configured for IPv4. If you later add IPv6, you will need to manually modify the DefaultProtocol server setting. See Server and job settings for details.
  • IPv6 is only supported for Windows 2008 servers.
  • If you are using IPv6 on your servers, your clients must be run from an IPv6 capable machine.
  • In order to properly resolve IPv6 addresses to a hostname, a reverse lookup entry should be made in DNS.

• Supported configurations—The following table identifies the supported configurations for a full server to ESX migration job.

  Configuration		Supported	Not Supported
  Source to target configuration	One-to-one, active/standby	X
  	One-to-one, active/active		X
  	Many-to-one		X
  	One-to-many		X
  	Chained		X
  	Single server		X
  Server configuration	Standalone-to-standalone	X
  	Standalone-to-cluster		X
  	Cluster-to-standalone		X
  	Cluster-to-cluster		X
  	Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) guest level	X
  	Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) host level		X
  Upgrade configuration	Upgrade 5.2 Double-Take Move Console server migration job to 6.0 Double-Take Console full server to ESX migration job		X
  	Upgrade 5.3 Double-Take Move Console provisioned migration job to 6.0 Double-Take Console full server to ESX migration job		X

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