Storage VMotion through the VI client

The VMware Infrastructure client allows for plug-ins for third party applications and other enhancements. Andrew Kutz of lostcreations has released a plug-in for Storage VMotion that you can use outside of the VirtualCenter Remote Command Line Interface (Remote CLI). I had a chance to test the plug-in, and I can tell you that it works and is quite easy to use.

The plug-in is discussed here on the VMware communities Website with some feedback from other ESX administrators. A link for the download as well as installation instructions are available there as well. Once the plug-in is installed, a right-click option Migrate Storage appears when clicking on a virtual machine. When the plug-in activates, a window appears that lets you select what storage you want to migrate the running virtual machine to:

Once you select the correct storage, the task is initiated to VirtualCenter and at this point it is indistinguishable to the task as it would be performed in the Remote CLI. The plug-in does not break compatability rules. For example, if you attempt to migrate a virtual machine’s storage running on an ESX 3.02 or lower host, VirtualCenter will prohibit the task due to compatability.

The plug-in is freely available under the new BSD license. Give it a test drive and post your feedback here or on the community board..