Azure Migrate VMware Discovery Checklist

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How To

Requirements Overview

	Requirement	Learn More
✅	A user with Contributor or Owner permissions over the Subscription	Learn More
✅	A user with Application Developer or Higher in Entra ID	Learn More
✅	Prepare Azure Migrate appliance, ensure RDP and authenticate.	Learn More
✅	All required Public or Private endpoint URLs are enabled.	Learn More
✅	All required Ports are allowed through required Firewalls/Proxies.	Learn More
✅	All required credentials are in place, validated and tested.	Learn More
✅	Environment scope is understood and agreed.	Learn More

Data Collection Checkpoints

Customer meets all pre-requisites
A meeting has been conducted to configure and review Azure Migrate and there are no outstanding technical issues
Data collection has been initiated
Dr Migrate has been deployed

VMware Discovery Reference

Microsoft provides comprehensive documentation for deploying Azure Migrate against your VMware estate:

Tutorial: Discover servers running in VMware environment
Support Matrix: Support matrix for VMware discovery

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If you are unable to implement the VMware appliance in your environment due to restrictions, consider using the Physical Appliance to collect assessment data.

VMware Discovery Checklist

Minimum Software Requirements

Microsoft provides detailed VMware requirements. Please review:

VMware Requirements: vCenter Server and ESXi requirements
Server Requirements: Server requirements for VMware
Software Inventory Requirements: Software inventory requirements
SQL Server Discovery: SQL Server instance and database discovery requirements

It is recommended that the Azure Migrate appliance is joined to your Active Directory domain to simplify authentication.

Minimum Appliance System Requirements

Microsoft provides detailed appliance requirements. See Azure Migrate appliance requirements for VMware.

Quick Reference:

32-GB RAM
8 vCPUs
80 GB disk
Windows Server 2019 or later
Static or dynamic IP address with internet access (direct or via proxy)

Minimum Azure Permissions

In order to successfully deploy Azure Migrate, you will need:

At the Subscription level: Contributor or Owner permissions
Entra ID: Application Developer role or higher to register applications

If you are familiar with Azure Migrate and want to connect the discovery appliance in advance of our joint configuration meeting, be sure to:

Choose defaults for the Azure Migrate project; make no changes in Advanced options.
Connect all appliances to the same project.

Required URLs

Public Endpoint connectivity method is recommended for the smoothest experience.

Microsoft provides comprehensive URL requirements based on your deployment method:

Public Endpoint: Public cloud URLs using TCP 443 with SSL bypass enabled
Private Endpoint: Private endpoint URLs using TCP 443 with SSL bypass enabled

For more information on deploying Azure Migrate with Private endpoints, see Discover and assess using private endpoints.

Minimum Port Requirements

For complete port requirements, see Port access requirements.

Quick Reference:

Source	Destination	Port
Appliance	vCenter	TCP 443
Appliance	Azure URLs	TCP 443
Appliance	VMware ESXi hosts	TCP 443
Appliance	Windows Server targets	TCP 5985
Appliance	SQL Servers	TCP 1433
Appliance	Linux Servers	TCP 22

Appliance Download Options

Option 1 – VMware Open Virtual Appliance (OVA)

The OVA can be prepared in advance of our configuration meeting; ensure you can RDP and authenticate.

VMware Appliance OVA

Option 2 – PowerShell Script

The VMware discovery stack can also be installed using a PowerShell Script on a VM that you provision.

Powershell Installer Script

If you are familiar with Azure Migrate, you are welcome to download the PowerShell script and run it choosing options 1,1,1,1,Y.

Credentials

Required Server Credentials

Microsoft provides detailed credential requirements for different scenarios. Please review:

Windows Servers: Windows server credentials for software inventory
Linux Servers: Linux server credentials with sudo privileges or least-privileged access
vCenter Access: vCenter Server permissions - Read-only account with Guest Operations privileges
SQL Server Access: SQL Server authentication requirements - sysadmin role or least-privileged account

For vCenter Server 7.x and above you must:

Clone the Read Only system role
Add the Guest Operations Privileges to the cloned role.
Assign the cloned role to the vCenter Account.

Learn how to create a custom role in VMware vCenter.

Environment Considerations

Microsoft provides detailed information on discovery limits and considerations. See Limitations.

Key Limits:

You can discover and assess up to 35,000 servers in a VMware environment per project
Azure Migrate VMware appliance can discover up to 10,000 servers across multiple vCenter Servers
The appliance supports adding up to 10 vCenter Servers per appliance

Dependency Analysis Best Practice:

One Azure Migrate project can perform dependency data collection concurrently for 1,000 servers per appliance.

If you have more than 1,000 devices being discovered, it is recommended to evenly spread the discovery of the estate across additional appliances, ensuring that no more than 1,000 devices are being discovered by one appliance.

For more details, see Dependency analysis requirements (agentless).

Adjusting Discovery Scope

You can scope the vCenter Server account to limit discovery to specific vCenter Server datacenters, folders of clusters or hosts, or individual servers. Learn how to set discovery scope.

It is recommended to perform a complete discovery of your device estate. Assessment scope can be decided using Dr Migrate, as part of a Rapid or Advanced Assessment.