Depending on the selected workload and the migration type, PlateSpin Migrate enables you to select different methods for transferring workload data from the source to the target.
For information on how to select a transfer method, see Specifying Replication Options.
The Block-Based Live Transfer method, available for both Windows and Linux workloads, enables PlateSpin Migrate to transfer data at the block level, providing an exact copy of the source workload.
For Windows workloads, PlateSpin Migrate leverages the Microsoft Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) (Windows 2003 SP1 and later) with applications and services that support VSS.
For Linux workloads, PlateSpin Migrate leverages the LVM snapshot feature, if it is available on the host. If the feature is unavailable, PlateSpin Migrate uses its own block-level data transfer mechanism. For live block-level migration of Linux workloads with customized kernels, you might have to rebuild the PlateSpin blkwatch module included in your PlateSpin Migrate distribution. See KB Article 7005873.
The Block-Based Live Transfer method is the preferred data transfer method for both Windows and Linux workloads.
This method enables PlateSpin Migrate to boot your source machine into a temporary pre-execution environment and transfer the data while the source is offline.
The pre-execution environment underlying the Offline transfer method makes use of a Linux Ramdisk, which contains a minimal set of system files, drivers, and executables, sufficient for an initial, temporary boot. To ensure that the source operating system properly loads and operates in the temporary pre-execution environment, PlateSpin Migrate temporarily modifies its boot files and restores them to their original state after the pre-execution environment has successfully loaded.
The Ramdisk is also used to temporarily boot target physical machines in X2P migrations, as well as to boot taget VMs in semi-automated migrations.
See also, Section 3.3.6, Discovering Target Physical Machines, and Semi-Automated Workload Virtualization Using the X2P Workflow.
IMPORTANT:PlateSpin Migrate 9.3 does not support offline transfer for Windows workloads; only Linux workloads are supported for source offline migration.