Workshops / Server Migration Center

Lift-and-shift a Linux server with Server Migration Center (SMC)

You will migrate a running Linux server, with its web application and MySQL database, into an Alibaba Cloud ECS instance. You will use Server Migration Center (SMC) and work only in the console and a browser terminal.

200 - Intermediate ~100 minutes Region: Philippines (Manila), ap-southeast-6 SMCECSWorkbench

Scenario

A retailer runs its "legacy shop" on a single Linux server. The server runs nginx and MySQL 8.0. The company wants to move the server to Alibaba Cloud without rebuilding it. You will use SMC to copy the whole server, including the operating system, application, configuration and data, onto an ECS instance. Then you will confirm that everything still works.

To keep the lab self-contained, your "on-premises" server is an ECS instance named wsNN-source. Both instances are ready for you. You import the source into SMC with an activation code, as you would an on-premises server, create a migration job that points at your own destination instance, run it to the end and check the result.

What is ready and what you do

Prepared for youYou do in SMC
  • The source instance wsNN-source, with the shop application and its database
  • The empty destination instance wsNN-smc-target
  • The network: ws-vpc, ws-vsw-a and ws-sg
  1. Generate an activation code (Module 2)
  2. Install the SMC client on wsNN-source and import it as a migration source (Module 2)
  3. Name the source wsNN-source (Module 2)
  4. Create the migration job wsNN-smc-job against wsNN-smc-target (Module 3)
  5. Start the job and follow it to completion (Module 3)

No migration source or migration job exists for you before the lab. You create both yourself.

Architecture

Region: Philippines (Manila), ap-southeast-6 VPC ws-vpc 10.10.0.0/16 | vSwitch ws-vsw-a 10.10.1.0/24 | security group ws-sg control traffic (HTTPS 443) wsNN-source "On-premises" server Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 nginx + MySQL 8.0 (shopdb) SMC client (you install it) wsNN-smc-target Destination ECS instance Disks are overwritten by SMC during migration data over VPC TCP 8080 / 8703 SMC console Migration source record Migration job Progress and logs You connect to both instances in the browser with ECS Workbench.

What you will learn

  • How SMC models a migration: a migration source (the server to copy) and a migration job (where to copy it and how).
  • How to import a server into SMC with an activation code, and what the SMC client reports about it.
  • How to create a migration job that writes into an existing ECS instance.
  • The stages of a migration job, and how to pause and resume one.
  • What migrating into an existing ECS instance over a VPC does to the destination.
  • How to check that the application, configuration and data arrived intact.

Modules

  • 0
    Getting started
    Sign in as your RAM user, switch to Philippines (Manila) and find your resources.
    10 min
  • 1
    Explore the source server
    Connect with Workbench, look at the application and leave a proof file.
    10 min
  • 2
    Import your migration source
    Generate an activation code and register the server with the SMC client.
    15 min
  • 3
    Create and run the migration job
    Create the job against your own destination, start it, follow its stages and try pausing it.
    40-50 min
  • 4
    Verify the migrated server
    Check the web page, the database and your proof file on the destination.
    15 min

Before you start

Your participant ID

You received a credential sheet that lists your participant ID (for example ws03). Type it into Your participant ID in the left sidebar. Every wsNN in these pages then changes to your ID.

Cost

SMC itself is free of charge. The account owner pays for the resources the lab uses: the two ECS instances, their disks and public bandwidth, plus any snapshots and temporary disks SMC creates during the job. For an estimate, use the Alibaba Cloud pricing calculator.

One account, many participants

All participants work in the same Alibaba Cloud account, so the SMC console also lists other participants' migration sources and jobs. Always work on the objects whose names start with your participant ID.

Your RAM user can create, change and delete any SMC source or job in the account, and pick any instance as a destination. A job pointed at someone else's instance overwrites their disks. Check the names before every click.

Using your own Alibaba Cloud account?

First complete Run the SMC workshop in your own account to create the source and empty target instances.

Facilitated setup Own-account setup