Move hosts to new vCenter

[jeffpoling]

I have a somewhat unique situation. . .here are the details:

Requirement

Move three hosts from an existing vSphere Essentials cluster and vCenter to a new vCenter

Background

The three hosts to be moved and the existing cluster do not have vMotion enabled.  In addition, there are no additional NICs to create a separate vMotion network.  I do not have access to the physical network equipment in order to create a separate VLAN.

From what I can tell, removing a host from the existing cluster requires that it be in maintenance mode.  With no vMotion, this also means VMs need to be shutdown.  Is there any option here for keeping the VMs up and running while removing the hosts from the existing cluster?

Thanks,

Jeff

[weinstein5]

Welcome to the Communiry - Actually it is quite easy - first break apart the cluster - this can be done without shutting down the host - remove it from the existing vCenter environment and add it to the new vCenter -

[jeffpoling]

When I go to the host in the existing cluster and select remove, it prompts me that the host must be in maintenance mode and I cannot go further.  Is there another way to remove those host or do I remove the cluster first?

Jeff

[dhanarajramesh]

Is there another way to remove those host or do I remove the cluster first?
yes you can log in to the host thru ssh and restart the management agents by services.sh restart comment. when you restart the agent, the host will be disconnected from the cluster and you can add the host where ever you want. more over restarting agents will not affect any running vm networks.

[jeffpoling]

Thanks for the posts.  I was able to accomplish what I needed by simply adding the host to the new vCenter.  In that process it informs that the host is already managed and will be disconnected from the other vCenter.  It worked great on one host.  I did encounter an error on two other hosts, but restarting the management agents fixed the error and actually disconnected the host from the original vCenter.

Thanks again,

Jeff