Import virtual machine images to AWS - AWS Migration Hub Orchestrator
PrerequisitesCreate a workflowDetailsSource environment configurationTarget environment configuration

Import virtual machine images to AWS

You can use the Import virtual machine images to AWS template to convert existing images to Amazon Machine Images (AMI) for Amazon EC2.

Prerequisites

You must meet the following requirements to create a VM import workflow using this template.

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) requirements

You need to create resources in IAM for both Migration Hub Orchestrator and VM Import/Export:

  • Create an IAM user and attach the required policies to use Migration Hub Orchestrator. For more information, see Create an IAM user

  • Create an IAM user and a service role, and attach required policies to use VM Import/Export. For more information, see Required permissions.

VM Import/Export requirements

You might need to perform additional tasks to prepare your AWS environment before importing your image. For more information, see VM Import/Export Requirements.

Upload images to Amazon S3

Create an Amazon S3 bucket, and add the image files you want to import into the bucket. For more information about creating an Amazon S3 bucket, see Creating a bucket.

The following considerations and limitations apply:

  • The Amazon S3 bucket must be in the same Region as the AWS account in which you are using Migration Hub Orchestrator.

  • You must have separate folders for each image file format you want to upload in your S3 bucket.

  • Migration Hub Orchestrator supports importing the following image file formats:

    • OVA

    • RAW

    • VHD

    • VHDX

    • VMDK

Each image file type has additional requirements for the S3 bucket, file name, and workflow.

OVA files

The following considerations apply when you import OVA files:

  • The folder must be named with the prefix migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name and must only contain one OVA file.

  • The S3 object must end with .ova.

  • Only one OVA file can be added in one import task.

  • You can add up to five import tasks in the workflow.

RAW files

The following considerations apply when you import RAW files:

  • The folder must be named with the prefix migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name and must only contain one RAW file.

  • The S3 object must end with .raw.

  • Only one RAW file can be added in one import task.

  • You can add up to five import tasks in the workflow.

VMDK files

The following considerations apply when you import VMDK files:

  • The folder must be named with the prefix migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name.

  • The S3 object must end with .vmdk.

  • The folder must only contain VMDK files.

  • The folder can contain up to 21 VMDK files.

VHD files

The following considerations apply when you import VHD files:

  • The folder must be named with the prefix migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name.

  • The S3 object must end with .vhd.

  • The folder must only contain VHD files.

  • The folder can contain up to 21 VHD files.

VHDX files

The following considerations apply when you import VHDX files:

  • The folder must be named with the prefix migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name.

  • The S3 object must end with .vhdx.

  • The folder must only contain VHDX files.

  • The folder can contain up to 21 VHDX files.

Create a workflow

  1. Go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/migrationhub/orchestrator/, select Create migration workflow.

  2. On Choose a workflow template page, select Import virtual images to AWS template.

  3. Configure and submit your workflow to begin the VM import.

Note

You can customize the migration workflow once it has been created. For more information, see Migration workflows.

Details

Enter a name for your workflow. Optionally, you can enter a description and add tags. If you intend to import multiple VM images, we recommend adding tags to enhance searchability. For more information, see Tagging AWS resources.

Source environment configuration

You need to specify the following parameters to configure your workflow.

  • Server IP – This is an optional parameter where you can provide the IP address of the on-premises server that needs to be migrated. You must setup the Migration Hub Orchestrator plugin on providing the IP address. This enables Migration Hub Orchestrator to run a validation and detect any failure scenarios before import.

  • Disk container – You must specify the Amazon S3 path to your images that you set up in Prerequisites. See the following examples for more details.

    OVA files

    You can use either of the following path style examples for the disk container parameter.

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name/file-name.ova

    RAW files

    You can use either of the following path style examples for the disk container parameter.

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name/file-name.raw

    VMDK files

    You can use either of the following path style examples for the disk container parameter.

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name/file-name.vmdk

    VHD files

    You can use either of the following path style examples for the disk container parameter.

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name/file-name.vhd

    VHDX files

    You can use either of the following path style examples for the disk container parameter.

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name

    s3://bucket-name/migrationhub-orchestrator-vmie-folder-name/file-name.vhdx

    When more than one disk container is added, Migration Hub Orchestrator runs the workflow sequentially. If the first disk container fails, you must recover the failed container or create a new workflow.

  • Add new item – You can add up to five image tasks for the workflow.

Target environment configuration

This section of the Import virtual machine images to AWS template workflow has optional parameters for licensing. For more information, refer to the following documentation.