I need to migrate server from physical to GCP cloud

Question

I'm looking for ways to migrate the server from physical to GCP cloud but there is a lot of challenges to be considered.

My plans are :

1. Lift and shift the data | thinking of this if not using velostrata
2. Migrate using GCP velostrata.

Migrate using velostrata was not so clear there is no defined way to do it. link -> https://cloud.google.com/migrate/compute-engine/docs/4.5/how-to/prepare-vms-servers/physical-servers

By going through the documentation it looks to be migrated to VMware first then to the GCP cloud.

Can you guys let me simplified the steps and confirmation on this?

Answer 1

GCP has a couple of options to migrate instances.

Import disk

The import tool supports most virtual disk file formats, including VMDK and VHD

This feature has the following limitations:

• Linux virtual disks must use grub as the bootloader.
• UEFI bootloaders are not supported for either Windows or Linux.
• Linux virtual disks must meet the same requirements as custom images, including support for Virtio-SCSI Storage Controller devices.
• When installed on Windows virtual disks, application-whitelisting software, such as Cb Protection by Carbon Black, can cause the import process to fail. You might need to uninstall such software prior to import.
• If you are importing a virtual disk running RHEL, bring your own license (BYOL) is supported only if the python-boto package is installed on the virtual disk prior to import.
• Operating systems on virtual disks must support ACPI

If you decide to go this route I recommend you to look and use the compatibility precheck tool

Velostrata

Velostrata supports 4 different sources of machines.

• On-premise VM
• Azure
• AWS
• Physical server

The guide you share indicates that you need to download "Migrate for Compute Engine Connector ISO image" (included in the link), save it in an USB and make it bootable.

Then you will need to continue with the steps here

You can also use the path you suggest to do a P2V migration to VMware environment using a tool such as VMconverter

Once your machine is in a VMware environment follow the on-premise Velostrata migration guide