---
title: "Relocate to STACKIT: VMware Migration Overview"
description: "Plan VMware Relocate to STACKIT through discovery, target design, landing-zone readiness, migration waves, controlled cutover, validation, and optimization."
scfTrail:
  tags: ["relocate", "vmware", "coriolis", "acura"]
  maintainers:
    - user: "lukas.weberruss"
      role: true
      website: true
  steps:
    - style: "compass"
      id: "rapid-discovery"
      title: "Rapid Discovery"
      trailContext: "Start in Assess with a rapid inventory of VMware compute, storage, operating systems, and first capacity assumptions. Keep uncertainty visible for deeper Discovery instead of treating provisioned capacity as target sizing."
      pageId: "migration/assess/rapid-discovery/overview/#rapid-discovery-process-at-a-glance"

    - style: "stairs"
      id: "discovery-evidence"
      title: "Discovery"
      trailContext: "Enrich the estate baseline with dependencies, application criticality, operating constraints, and representative CPU, memory, storage, and network measurements needed for Relocate design and wave grouping."
      pageId: "migration/design-and-mobilize/discovery/overview/#what-discovery-typically-captures"
      imageSrc: "migration/design-and-mobilize/discovery/files/discovery-analysis-flow.svg"
      imageAlt: "Discovery analysis flow combining technical evidence and application-owner input into migration decisions"
      imagePosition: right
      imageWidth: 48

    - role: "sub"
      id: "source-readiness"
      title: "Qualify VMware Sources"
      trailContext: "Test guest compatibility, source health, snapshots, recovery points, endpoint access, datastore headroom, and transfer paths before assigning a VM to a Relocate wave."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-source-readiness#readiness-decision"

    - style: "chairlift"
      id: "confirm-relocate"
      title: "Design"
      trailContext: "Confirm that the workload should remain VM-based and that moving its runtime placement with minimal redesign fits better than a Rehost rebuild or a platform change."
      pageId: "migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate/#understanding-relocate"
      imageSrc: "migration/files/r-strategy-method.svg"
      imageAlt: "R-strategy method with seven migration paths and Relocate as the VM-estate movement path"

    - role: "sub"
      id: "design-data-path"
      title: "Design the Data Path"
      trailContext: "Choose direct transfer, staged synchronization, or another controlled data path from measured volume, change rate, bandwidth, security boundaries, and recovery requirements."
      pageId: "migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate/#data-path-guidance-in-relocate"
      imageSrc: "contributors/stackit/files/migration/relocate-data-path-illustration.svg"
      imageAlt: "Secured VMware-to-STACKIT transfer path"
      imagePosition: right
      imageWidth: 34

    - style: "chart"
      id: "size-target"
      title: "Map Target Capacity"
      trailContext: "Translate measured demand into a current STACKIT machine type and per-volume capacity, availability, IOPS, and throughput decisions. Record CPU-overprovisioning and sizing headroom explicitly."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/stackit-vm-target-sizing-and-storage#target-mapping-record"

    - style: "hut"
      id: "landing-zone-boundary"
      title: "Landing Zone"
      trailContext: "Establish the governed cloud foundation before migration waves depend on it. Keep shared Platform Landing Zone capabilities separate from workload-specific Application Landing Zones, and derive both from enterprise controls and Discovery evidence."
      pageId: "migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview/#understanding-landing-zones"
      imageSrc: "contributors/stackit/files/migration/landing-zone-layers-illustration.svg"
      imageAlt: "Platform and application landing zone layers"
      imagePosition: right
      imageWidth: 32

    - role: "sub"
      id: "platform-controls"
      title: "Provide Shared Platform Controls"
      trailContext: "Verify that project structure, identity, security, networking, logging, cost controls, and baseline automation are available before productive migration waves begin."
      pageId: "migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview/#core-components"

    - role: "sub"
      id: "landing-zone-accelerator"
      title: "Provision the Foundation as Code"
      trailContext: "Use the STACKIT Landing Zone Accelerator to establish reusable governance, management, connectivity, and application landing-zone modules before migration tooling or target VMs depend on them."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/landing-zone-foundation-opentofu.mdx#overview"
      imageSrc: "contributors/stackit/files/migration/landing-zone-accelerator-architecture.svg"
      imageAlt: "STACKIT Landing Zone Accelerator architecture from bootstrap through platform capabilities to application landing zones"
      imagePosition: right
      imageWidth: 50

    - role: "sub"
      id: "application-landing-zone"
      title: "Define the VM Application Landing Zone"
      trailContext: "Derive the workload-specific target from the Platform Landing Zone and Discovery evidence. Keep the Accelerator baseline, manual Security Group approval, and migration-tool or VM content as explicit responsibility boundaries."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate#landing-zone-and-workload-boundary"

    - role: "sub"
      id: "application-landing-zone-build"
      title: "Prepare the VM Target Pattern"
      trailContext: "Create the workload project with the Accelerator, verify its routed network, DNS, Secrets Manager, automation identity, state storage, and Observability endpoint, then approve Security Groups manually."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate#vm-application-landing-zone-build-sequence"

    - role: "sub"
      id: "landing-zone-tool-handoff"
      title: "Hand Off the Approved Target"
      trailContext: "Give Coriolis or Acura the same approved project, network, DNS, Security Groups, quotas, target mappings, Observability endpoints, and rollback boundaries. The selected tool consumes the Application Landing Zone; it does not define or replace it."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate#tool-handoff-contract"

    - style: "chart"
      id: "plan-waves"
      title: "Migration Plan"
      trailContext: "Group VMs by verified dependencies and technical constraints, begin with a representative low-risk pilot, and define ordered runbooks, maintenance windows, cutover gates, and rollback boundaries."
      pageId: "migration/design-and-mobilize/migration-plan/overview/#core-activities"
      imageSrc: "migration/design-and-mobilize/migration-plan/files/migration-plan-phase-module-model.svg"
      imageAlt: "Migration Plan model connecting portfolio evidence, wave governance, runbooks, and controlled execution"
      imagePosition: right
      imageWidth: 48

    - role: "sub"
      id: "freeze-wave-control"
      title: "Freeze the Wave Control Record"
      trailContext: "Approve exact source and target mappings, tests, recovery points, shutdown and startup order, traffic switch, decision deadline, rollback method, evidence locations, and source-retention rules."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook#entry-criteria"

    - style: "rocket"
      id: "enter-relocate-flow"
      title: "Migrate"
      trailContext: "Begin Migrate only with approved source and target states. Preserve topology assumptions, synchronize state, control traffic cutover, and require objective continuity and telemetry evidence."
      pageId: "migration/migrate/migrate/overview/#relocate-flow"
      imageSrc: "migration/files/migrate-wave-flow.svg"
      imageAlt: "Controlled migration wave flow from readiness through synchronization, cutover, validation, and handover"

    - style: "gondola"
      id: "execute-tool-path"
      title: "Select and Execute One Tool Path"
      trailContext: "Choose one approved migration tool for the complete wave. Keep its endpoint, mapping, replication, test-migration, final-sync, and cutover sequence together through completion."
      description: "Select Cloudbase Coriolis or Hystax Acura. Prepared presentation views pin one complete path; the timeline leaves the choice explicit."
      alternatives:
        - id: "coriolis"
          label: "Cloudbase Coriolis"
          assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook#coriolis-execution-path"
          trailContext: "Deploy Coriolis with the STACKIT Installer, configure endpoints and minion pools, execute disk Transfers, rehearse the Deployment, then run the final Transfer and production Deployment."
        - id: "hystax-acura"
          label: "Hystax Acura"
          assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook#hystax-acura-execution-path"
          trailContext: "Prepare Acura and its VMware replication integration, store full and incremental replicas on STACKIT, rehearse the orchestration plan in isolation, then execute final cutover."

    - style: "hut"
      id: "coriolis-implementation"
      title: "Coriolis Technical Implementation"
      center:
        trailId: "migration/trails/stackit/vmware-to-stackit-with-coriolis"

    - style: "shield"
      id: "validate-or-rollback"
      title: "Validate or Roll Back"
      trailContext: "Verify VM state, data consistency, dependency order, application behavior, security controls, monitoring, backups, and measured performance before the rollback deadline expires."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook#shared-validation-and-rollback-gate"

    - role: "sub"
      id: "retain-source"
      title: "Protect the Source Retention Window"
      trailContext: "Declare the target system of record, keep source VMs powered off and access-controlled, preserve migration evidence, and delete sources only after retention and recovery gates pass."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook#completion-and-source-retention"

    - style: "chart"
      id: "optimize-loop"
      title: "Optimize"
      trailContext: "After accepted cutover, collect representative STACKIT runtime evidence and turn performance, stability, and cost findings into controlled infrastructure changes with rollback checkpoints."
      pageId: "migration/migrate/optimize/overview/#from-theory-to-implementation"
      imageSrc: "contributors/stackit/files/migration/optimize-evidence-loop-illustration.svg"
      imageAlt: "Evidence-based VM optimization loop"
      imagePosition: right
      imageWidth: 34

    - style: "summit"
      id: "rightsize-target"
      title: "Rightsize the Relocated VMs"
      trailContext: "Reassess machine type, CPU overprovisioning, volume capacity, and storage performance from target telemetry. Change one dominant dimension at a time and validate application outcomes."
      assetId: "migration/assetcontainer/stackit/optimize-relocated-vm-rightsizing#select-a-rightsizing-action"

  presentations:
    - id: "coriolis-path"
      label: "Coriolis overview"
      description: "Framework overview of VMware Relocate strategy, landing zone, migration controls and optimization with Coriolis."
      default: true
      launch: true
      preset: "focus"
      fullscreen: true
      steps:
        - "rapid-discovery"
        - "discovery-evidence"
        - { id: "source-readiness", role: "hidden" }
        - "confirm-relocate"
        - { id: "design-data-path", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "size-target", role: "hidden" }
        - "landing-zone-boundary"
        - { id: "platform-controls", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "landing-zone-accelerator", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "application-landing-zone", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "application-landing-zone-build", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "landing-zone-tool-handoff", role: "hidden" }
        - "plan-waves"
        - { id: "freeze-wave-control", role: "hidden" }
        - "enter-relocate-flow"
        - { id: "execute-tool-path", role: "hidden", alternative: "coriolis" }
        - { id: "validate-or-rollback", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "retain-source", role: "hidden" }
        - "optimize-loop"
        - { id: "rightsize-target", role: "hidden" }

    - id: "hystax-acura-path"
      label: "Hystax Acura overview"
      description: "Framework overview of VMware Relocate planning, migration controls and optimization with Hystax Acura."
      preset: "focus"
      fullscreen: true
      steps:
        - "rapid-discovery"
        - "discovery-evidence"
        - { id: "source-readiness", role: "hidden" }
        - "confirm-relocate"
        - { id: "design-data-path", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "size-target", role: "hidden" }
        - "landing-zone-boundary"
        - { id: "platform-controls", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "landing-zone-accelerator", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "application-landing-zone", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "application-landing-zone-build", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "landing-zone-tool-handoff", role: "hidden" }
        - "plan-waves"
        - { id: "freeze-wave-control", role: "hidden" }
        - "enter-relocate-flow"
        - { id: "execute-tool-path", role: "hidden", alternative: "hystax-acura" }
        - { id: "validate-or-rollback", role: "hidden" }
        - { id: "retain-source", role: "hidden" }
        - "optimize-loop"
        - { id: "rightsize-target", role: "hidden" }
source_url: "https://framework.stackit.cloud/migration/trails/stackit/large-scale-vmware-esxi-to-stackit/"
source_file: "docs/migration/trails/stackit/large-scale-vmware-esxi-to-stackit.mdx"
---

## Steps

### 1. Rapid Discovery

Stage: `compass`

Start in Assess with a rapid inventory of VMware compute, storage, operating systems, and first capacity assumptions. Keep uncertainty visible for deeper Discovery instead of treating provisioned capacity as target sizing.

Page: [/migration/assess/rapid-discovery/overview/#rapid-discovery-process-at-a-glance](/migration/assess/rapid-discovery/overview/#rapid-discovery-process-at-a-glance) — source: [/raw/migration/assess/rapid-discovery/overview.md](/raw/migration/assess/rapid-discovery/overview.md), section `#rapid-discovery-process-at-a-glance`

### 2. Discovery

Stage: `stairs`

Enrich the estate baseline with dependencies, application criticality, operating constraints, and representative CPU, memory, storage, and network measurements needed for Relocate design and wave grouping.

Page: [/migration/design-and-mobilize/discovery/overview/#what-discovery-typically-captures](/migration/design-and-mobilize/discovery/overview/#what-discovery-typically-captures) — source: [/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/discovery/overview.md](/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/discovery/overview.md), section `#what-discovery-typically-captures`

### 3. Qualify VMware Sources

Test guest compatibility, source health, snapshots, recovery points, endpoint access, datastore headroom, and transfer paths before assigning a VM to a Relocate wave.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-source-readiness/#readiness-decision](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-source-readiness/#readiness-decision) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-source-readiness.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-source-readiness.md), section `#readiness-decision`

### 4. Design

Stage: `chairlift`

Confirm that the workload should remain VM-based and that moving its runtime placement with minimal redesign fits better than a Rehost rebuild or a platform change.

Page: [/migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate/#understanding-relocate](/migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate/#understanding-relocate) — source: [/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate.md](/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate.md), section `#understanding-relocate`

### 5. Design the Data Path

Choose direct transfer, staged synchronization, or another controlled data path from measured volume, change rate, bandwidth, security boundaries, and recovery requirements.

Page: [/migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate/#data-path-guidance-in-relocate](/migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate/#data-path-guidance-in-relocate) — source: [/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate.md](/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/design/relocate.md), section `#data-path-guidance-in-relocate`

### 6. Map Target Capacity

Stage: `chart`

Translate measured demand into a current STACKIT machine type and per-volume capacity, availability, IOPS, and throughput decisions. Record CPU-overprovisioning and sizing headroom explicitly.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/stackit-vm-target-sizing-and-storage/#target-mapping-record](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/stackit-vm-target-sizing-and-storage/#target-mapping-record) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/stackit-vm-target-sizing-and-storage.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/stackit-vm-target-sizing-and-storage.md), section `#target-mapping-record`

### 7. Landing Zone

Stage: `hut`

Establish the governed cloud foundation before migration waves depend on it. Keep shared Platform Landing Zone capabilities separate from workload-specific Application Landing Zones, and derive both from enterprise controls and Discovery evidence.

Page: [/migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview/#understanding-landing-zones](/migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview/#understanding-landing-zones) — source: [/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview.md](/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview.md), section `#understanding-landing-zones`

### 8. Provide Shared Platform Controls

Verify that project structure, identity, security, networking, logging, cost controls, and baseline automation are available before productive migration waves begin.

Page: [/migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview/#core-components](/migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview/#core-components) — source: [/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview.md](/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/landing-zones/overview.md), section `#core-components`

### 9. Provision the Foundation as Code

Use the STACKIT Landing Zone Accelerator to establish reusable governance, management, connectivity, and application landing-zone modules before migration tooling or target VMs depend on them.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/landing-zone-foundation-opentofu/#overview](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/landing-zone-foundation-opentofu/#overview) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/landing-zone-foundation-opentofu.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/landing-zone-foundation-opentofu.md), section `#overview`

### 10. Define the VM Application Landing Zone

Derive the workload-specific target from the Platform Landing Zone and Discovery evidence. Keep the Accelerator baseline, manual Security Group approval, and migration-tool or VM content as explicit responsibility boundaries.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate/#landing-zone-and-workload-boundary](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate/#landing-zone-and-workload-boundary) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate.md), section `#landing-zone-and-workload-boundary`

### 11. Prepare the VM Target Pattern

Create the workload project with the Accelerator, verify its routed network, DNS, Secrets Manager, automation identity, state storage, and Observability endpoint, then approve Security Groups manually.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate/#vm-application-landing-zone-build-sequence](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate/#vm-application-landing-zone-build-sequence) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate.md), section `#vm-application-landing-zone-build-sequence`

### 12. Hand Off the Approved Target

Give Coriolis or Acura the same approved project, network, DNS, Security Groups, quotas, target mappings, Observability endpoints, and rollback boundaries. The selected tool consumes the Application Landing Zone; it does not define or replace it.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate/#tool-handoff-contract](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate/#tool-handoff-contract) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vm-application-landing-zone-relocate.md), section `#tool-handoff-contract`

### 13. Migration Plan

Stage: `chart`

Group VMs by verified dependencies and technical constraints, begin with a representative low-risk pilot, and define ordered runbooks, maintenance windows, cutover gates, and rollback boundaries.

Page: [/migration/design-and-mobilize/migration-plan/overview/#core-activities](/migration/design-and-mobilize/migration-plan/overview/#core-activities) — source: [/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/migration-plan/overview.md](/raw/migration/design-and-mobilize/migration-plan/overview.md), section `#core-activities`

### 14. Freeze the Wave Control Record

Approve exact source and target mappings, tests, recovery points, shutdown and startup order, traffic switch, decision deadline, rollback method, evidence locations, and source-retention rules.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook/#entry-criteria](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook/#entry-criteria) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook.md), section `#entry-criteria`

### 15. Migrate

Stage: `rocket`

Begin Migrate only with approved source and target states. Preserve topology assumptions, synchronize state, control traffic cutover, and require objective continuity and telemetry evidence.

Page: [/migration/migrate/migrate/overview/#relocate-flow](/migration/migrate/migrate/overview/#relocate-flow) — source: [/raw/migration/migrate/migrate/overview.md](/raw/migration/migrate/migrate/overview.md), section `#relocate-flow`

### 16. Select and Execute One Tool Path

Stage: `gondola`

Choose one approved migration tool for the complete wave. Keep its endpoint, mapping, replication, test-migration, final-sync, and cutover sequence together through completion.

Select Cloudbase Coriolis or Hystax Acura. Prepared presentation views pin one complete path; the timeline leaves the choice explicit.

### 17. Coriolis Technical Implementation

Stage: `hut`

### 18. Validate or Roll Back

Stage: `shield`

Verify VM state, data consistency, dependency order, application behavior, security controls, monitoring, backups, and measured performance before the rollback deadline expires.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook/#shared-validation-and-rollback-gate](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook/#shared-validation-and-rollback-gate) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook.md), section `#shared-validation-and-rollback-gate`

### 19. Protect the Source Retention Window

Declare the target system of record, keep source VMs powered off and access-controlled, preserve migration evidence, and delete sources only after retention and recovery gates pass.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook/#completion-and-source-retention](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook/#completion-and-source-retention) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/vmware-relocate-wave-runbook.md), section `#completion-and-source-retention`

### 20. Optimize

Stage: `chart`

After accepted cutover, collect representative STACKIT runtime evidence and turn performance, stability, and cost findings into controlled infrastructure changes with rollback checkpoints.

Page: [/migration/migrate/optimize/overview/#from-theory-to-implementation](/migration/migrate/optimize/overview/#from-theory-to-implementation) — source: [/raw/migration/migrate/optimize/overview.md](/raw/migration/migrate/optimize/overview.md), section `#from-theory-to-implementation`

### 21. Rightsize the Relocated VMs

Stage: `summit`

Reassess machine type, CPU overprovisioning, volume capacity, and storage performance from target telemetry. Change one dominant dimension at a time and validate application outcomes.

Asset: [/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/optimize-relocated-vm-rightsizing/#select-a-rightsizing-action](/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/optimize-relocated-vm-rightsizing/#select-a-rightsizing-action) — source: [/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/optimize-relocated-vm-rightsizing.md](/raw/migration/assetcontainer/stackit/optimize-relocated-vm-rightsizing.md), section `#select-a-rightsizing-action`