Administration

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If you edit a pool and change the host or cluster and the datastores on which linked clones are stored,
you can only rebalance the linked clones if the newly selected host or cluster has full access to both the
original and the new datastores. All hosts in the new cluster must have access to the original and new
datastores.
For example, you might create a linked-clone desktop pool on a standalone host and select a local
datastore to store the clones. If you edit the desktop pool and select a cluster and a shared datastore, a
rebalance operation will fail because the hosts in the cluster cannot access the original, local datastore.
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You can set a minimum number of ready, provisioned virtual machines that remain available for users
to connect to during the rebalance operation. See "Keeping Linked-Clone Desktops Provisioned and
Ready During View Composer Operations" in the Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View
document.
IMPORTANT If you use a Virtual SAN datastore, you can use the rebalance operation only to migrate all the
virtual machines in a desktop pool from a Virtual SAN datastore to some other type of datastore, or the
reverse. If a desktop pool uses a Virtual SAN datastore, Virtual SAN provides the load balancing
functionality and optimizes the use of resources across the ESXi cluster.
Migrate Linked-Clone Virtual Machines to Another Datastore
To migrate linked-clone virtual machines from one set of datastores to another, use the rebalance operation.
When you use rebalance, View Composer manages the movement of the linked clones between datastores.
View Composer ensures that the linked clones' access to the replica is maintained during and after the
rebalance operation. If necessary, View Composer creates an instance of the replica on the destination
datastore.
NOTE Do not use vSphere Client or vCenter Server to migrate or manage linked-clone virtual machines. Do
not use Storage vMotion to migrate linked-clone virtual machines to other datastores.
Prerequisites
Familiarize yourself with the rebalance operation. See “Rebalance Linked-Clone Virtual Machines,” on
page 131 and “Rebalancing Linked Clones Among Logical Drives,” on page 132.
Procedure
1 In View Administrator, select Catalog > Desktop Pools, select the desktop pool that you want to
migrate, and click Edit.
2 On the vCenter Settings tab, scroll down to Datastores and click Browse.
3 On the Select Linked Clone Datastores page, deselect the datastores that currently store the linked
clones, select the destination datastores, and click OK.
4 In the Edit window, click OK.
5 On the Desktop Pools page, select the pool by double-clicking the pool ID in the left column.
6 Select Rebalance from the View Composer drop-down menu and follow the wizard instructions to
rebalance the linked-clone virtual machines.
The linked-clone virtual machines are refreshed and migrated to the destination datastores.
Filenames of Linked-Clone Disks After a Rebalance Operation
When you rebalance linked-clone virtual machines, vCenter Server changes the filenames of View
Composer persistent disks and disposable-data disks in linked clones that are moved to a new datastore.
The original filenames identify the disk type. The renamed disks do not include the identifying labels.
Chapter 7 Managing Linked-Clone Desktop Virtual Machines
VMware, Inc. 133