I talked about it in one of the articles of my ultimate guide on Nutanix Move, for versions higher than 5.3.0 of Nutanix Move, the integration of VDDK files is now a mandatory step to be able to add a VMware ESXi cluster on Move.
What is VDDK?
VDDK (VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit) is a set of libraries and utilities provided by VMware that allows applications to perform operations on virtual disks.
These operations include creating, accessing, and managing virtual disks used by VMware environments.
Nutanix Move uses VDDK to perform migrations from VMware environments.
By using VDDK, Nutanix Move can:
- Access VMware virtual disk
- Create and manage snapshots
- Transfer data efficiently
Why do I need to install VDDK manually (since Move 5.3)?
You need to install VDDK manually because it is required for migration and Nutanix Move cannot download it automatically.
This requirement is now common to other migration products that use VDDK.
The integration of VDDK with Nutanix Move has therefore been updated since version 5.3. This change is to align with how other vendors integrate VDDK into their migration tools.
What are the required VDDK versions for ESXi 5.x, 6.x, and 7.x?
For ESXi 5.1: VDDK 6.0.3 is required.
For other supported ESXi versions: VDDK 7.0.3.1 is required.
Note: In Move, if you add a vCenter instead of an ESXi host, VDDK 7.0.3.1 will be required.
To be able to retrieve these files, an active account on the Broadcom website was until now necessary to download the VDDKs. The problem that arose was that the website of the new owner of VMware has suffered a series of malfunctions in recent weeks that made it impossible to download these precious files.
Faced with the wave of discontent on social networks such as X or Reddit, an alternative download solution has been set up!
You can now retrieve the VDDK file you need at the following address: https://broadcom.ent.box.com/v/vddkdownloads
Great news for anyone who needs these files for their migration to Nutanix AHV!