Migrate, export and import a VM

Use a disposable VM with no production data. Sign in to the XOA-HL appliance as an administrator and confirm the hosts, storage and the VM are available. Migration and export move or copy a whole VM; neither replaces an independent backup and restore test.

1. Choose the operation

This guide covers migration between hosts of the same pool, XVA export without compression and XVA file import. Cross-pool migration, network remapping, OVA files, import from a URL, disk-only import/export and VMware import are outside its scope. The HomeLab menu hides the VMware import entry.

2. Migrate a VM within its pool

Prerequisites, checked before you start:

• The pool has at least two connected hosts, and you hold administrate permission on the VM and the target host.
• The target host reaches the VM’s networks and storage. Disks on a shared SR need no copy. A disk on storage the target cannot reach, such as a local SR, is copied.
• A maintenance window. A running guest pauses briefly during live migration; a disk copy takes longer and needs free capacity on the target SR.
• A record of the VM ID, current host, each disk and its SR, and a guest check such as a console login or an application test.

1. Open the VM and choose Migrate. It is offered for running and halted VMs, not for suspended or paused ones. Self-service users do not see it.
2. In Migrate VM, use Select a destination host: to pick another host of the same pool. The list excludes the current host. It can also list hosts of other connected pools; do not choose them for this exercise.
3. Read the storage section. If every disk is on a shared SR, no SR is required. Otherwise, XO requires a main SR (Select main SR…) and lets you pick an SR for each VDI. Choose writable SRs with enough free space; those disks are copied.
4. Select a migration network: is optional within a pool. XO preselects the pool’s configured migration network when the target host has an address on it. Any selected network makes XO use the storage-migration path instead of a simple pool migration. Keep the proposed value unless your pool design names another network.
5. Confirm and wait for the task to finish. Do not click again while the migration is pending.
6. Refresh the VM’s General tab. Check the host, power state, console, guest network and application. After a disk copy, check where each disk now resides and the free space on both SRs.

If a simple pool migration reports that an SR is required, XO retries it automatically as a storage migration. It then uses SRs connected to the target host or the pool’s default SR. A migration you expected to be quick can therefore become a disk copy. If a migration fails, preserve the task error and check the VM’s host, power state and disks on every SR involved before retrying. Do not retry with force.

3. Export a stopped VM as an XVA file

You need administrate permission on the VM and enough free space on the computer running the browser.

1. Shut down the guest cleanly and confirm Halted. Record the VM ID, name, disks and their total size.
2. Choose Export. Keep Type set to xva. Keep Compression set to Disabled, the default. The other choices are GZIP (very slow) and, on XCP-ng hosts, Zstd. Importing a compressed XVA is not covered by this guide.
3. Confirm. Download VM shows a download link, OK and Cancel. The link and OK open the same URL, which the message describes as valid once, for a short period. Use only one of them: select the link, then close the dialog with Cancel. The URL contains a one-time access token: treat it as a secret until it is used.
4. The browser saves a file named <date> - <VM name>.xva. Keep the download running until it ends; cancelling it stops the export. Check that the file size is plausible against the recorded disk sizes.
5. On the computer running the browser, record a checksum of the file, for example sha256sum "<file>.xva". Use it to check the file before an import.

By default, at most two XVA exports run at once for a pool. A further download fails instead of waiting. Let running exports finish, then request a new link.

An XVA contains the VM’s disks and configuration. Store it like the data inside it and delete it when the test is over. An export file has no schedule, retention or restore validation, so it is not a backup job.

4. Import the XVA as an isolated copy

1. Open Import > VM (/#/import/vm). The menu entry appears only when you can operate at least one pool.
2. Choose the target pool in To Pool:. To SR: proposes the pool’s default SR. Choose a writable SR with enough free space.
3. Drop the .xva file on the area marked Drop OVA or XVA files here to import Virtual Machines. Check the file name and size in the list. Files without an .xva or .ova extension are ignored. Leave From URL disabled.
4. Select Import and keep the browser tab open until the upload ends. For a single file, XO opens the new VM’s page after success.
5. Keep the imported VM stopped. Record its ID: it is a different object from the source VM even when the name is the same. Rename it so that nobody confuses the two.
6. Before the first start, open Network and remove every virtual interface or arrange verified external isolation. The copy carries the same guest operating system, IP settings, host name, credentials and application identities as the source.
7. Start the copy and check its console and the recorded test data.

XO refuses to start a VM whose interface MAC address duplicates one of its own interfaces or a running VM’s interface. The error code is DUPLICATED_MAC_ADDRESS. Do not force the start; remove or isolate the interface first.

If the import fails (VM import failed), objects can remain. Check the target SR’s disks and the VM list for objects created during the attempt before you retry. Remove only positively identified leftovers, using the disposable VM removal procedure.

5. Clean up

1. Remove the imported test VM with the disposable VM removal procedure.
2. Delete the XVA file from the computer and from any temporary location.
3. Confirm the source VM is still present, on the expected host, with its disks and data unchanged.

If something does not match, keep the records and report the problem with versions and sanitized IDs.