data flow when cloning a VM between 2 ESXi hosts

[vadm168]

Hi,

To clone a Vm between two ESXi hosts, I did

connect-VIServer my-vcenter

New-VM -Name dest_vm -VM src_vm -Datastore ds02 -VMHost host02

both ESXi hosts are located in the same remote office while the vCenter is in this office. My question is: how does the clone traffic flows? Does it go directly between host01 and host02, ie. vCenter is not the data mover?

Thanks,

[pwilk · Accepted solution]

The data will be moved directly between the ESXi hosts, however at the same time the process will be monitored and managed by vCenter and you can expect some extra traffic going in and out of it. This doesn't mean the move operation will in any way affect your vCenter network connection or its performance. vCenter acts in this situation barely as a watchdog for the move process.

Please let me know if that answers your question.