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Difficulty: MediumHybrid and VMware Cloud on AWS Migrations

An enterprise is migrating a stateful database application from an on-premises VMware vSphere cluster to a newly deployed VMware Cloud on AWS Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC). The application database is highly active and has a strict requirement of less than 10 minutes of cumulative downtime during the migration cutover window. The migration will occur over a dedicated 1 Gbps AWS Direct Connect connection. To prevent application disruption, the database virtual machines (VMs) must retain their existing on-premises IP addresses after migration.

Which of the following actions should the Solutions Architect take to meet these migration and network requirements? (Select TWO.)

  1. Configure VMware HCX Replication-Assisted vMotion (RAV) to replicate the database virtual machines to the target SDDC and perform a live switchover.Answer
  2. Establish a VMware HCX Layer 2 Network Extension to stretch the on-premises database subnet to the VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC.Answer
  3. C
    Use VMware HCX Cold Migration to transfer the database virtual machines to the target SDDC datastore.
  4. D
    Attach the AWS Direct Connect Gateway directly to both the VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC and multiple customer-managed VPCs to enable transitive routing between the migrated VMs and other application tiers.
  5. E
    Create a Route 53 Private Hosted Zone in a shared services VPC for internal DNS resolution, assuming the SDDC's management VPC will automatically resolve these records without explicit hosted zone association.

Answer

Configure VMware HCX Replication-Assisted vMotion (RAV) to replicate the database virtual machines to the target SDDC and perform a live switchover, and establish a VMware HCX Layer 2 Network Extension to stretch the on-premises database subnet to the VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC.
The correct actions are configuring VMware HCX Replication-Assisted vMotion (RAV) and establishing an HCX Layer 2 Network Extension. HCX RAV allows live migration with near-zero downtime by combining bulk replication with vMotion switchover, meeting the 10-minute downtime limit. The L2 Network Extension enables IP retention by stretching the subnet across on-premises and AWS, preventing application reconfiguration.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the migration downtime constraint.
Since the downtime constraint is less than 10 minutes, standard Cold Migration or Bulk Migration (which reboot the VM) are insufficient. A live migration method like HCX Replication-Assisted vMotion (RAV) is required.
HCX RAV replicates data in the background and uses vMotion for the final cutover, achieving near-zero downtime.
2
Determine the IP preservation requirement.
Identify that the database VMs must retain their IP addresses to prevent application reconfiguration.
Configuring a VMware HCX L2 Network Extension stretches the broadcast domain, allowing migrated VMs to run in the cloud with their original IP addresses.
3
Evaluate network and DNS connectivity constraints.
Verify that transitive routing is not supported directly through a Direct Connect Gateway and that Private Hosted Zones require explicit association.
Correctly identifying these architectural limits eliminates invalid network and DNS configurations.

Key Concept

Selecting the appropriate VMware HCX migration method and network extension strategy to satisfy strict downtime and IP retention constraints.

Alternative Method

As an alternative, if live migration is not supported due to vSphere version mismatches, HCX Bulk Migration can be scheduled, but it requires a VM reboot which might exceed the downtime limit depending on the operating system and database startup times. Thus, RAV remains the primary choice.
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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Hybrid and VMware Cloud on AWS Migrations

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