topic Re: Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E in SmartZone and Virtual SmartZone

Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E

khakipants — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 17:17:46 GMT

We are migrating from VMware to Hyper-V and I need to move our vSZ-E VM. I found this article: https://support.ruckuswireless.com/articles/000014314
I understand that migrating the VM with Veeam or similar migration tools is not supported. I need to start with a new Hyper-V appliance. My question is if it is supported to take a cluster config backup from the VMware appliance and restore it to the Hyper-V VM. The article above seems ambiguous to me about this. I found the follow post about a similar migration, but there wasn't any update on it about the success of this operation.
https://community.ruckuswireless.com/t5/SmartZone-and-Virtual-SmartZone/Smartzone-Migration-from-Hyper-V-to-VMware/m-p/69749

If anyone has experience with such a hypervisor migration, it would be most helpful.

Re: Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E

Stackademic — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 22:43:11 GMT

I just attempted this blindly, I created a Hyper-V VM with a VHD of the same firmware version as my existing ESX VM. I backed up the ESX VM and then imported the backup to my Hyper-V VM but it seems to be putting it in a Crash Mode. I put in a ticket as well but was hoping someone might have followed up with you directly in the meantime?

Re: Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E

khakipants — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 19:51:50 GMT

I did get a reply from support. They assured me that a configuration backup and restore is supported when going from the VMware appliance to Hyper-V. The article 14314 is just saying you need to start with a fresh VM appliance. Backup and restore should be supported as long as the platform is the same (VSZ-e to VSZ-e), the version is the same (6.1.2 LT-GD Patch 5 on both appliances), and the specs are the same (disk size, core count, memory amount).

I am very interested in your Crash Mode issue. I will be doing my migration very soon. In this case, it should be pretty easy to fail back to the old controller if it doesn't go well. However, I do need a migration solution that works. Please keep us posted. 🙂

Re: Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E

Stackademic — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:10:38 GMT

I got ahold of support and they couldn't give me a reason why it was failing. We did find that if I created a new cluster on the Hyper-V guest and just restore the configuration for the vsz itself and not the cluster it seems to work fine. Just as a heads up you will need to reach out to support for a temp license so you can RMA your current serial to the new serial for licensing. If you're ok with downtime you can just contact them for an RMA instead.

Re: Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E

khakipants — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 21:05:43 GMT

Thank you for the update. This information is very helpful. I will attempt to get a temp license as well as attempt the cluster restore first, before trying the configuration restore. I'll post back here once complete to update anyone else who tries this.

Re: Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E

MA — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:15:37 GMT

Hi khakipants,

The cluster backup and restore process is supported only when operating on the same hardware platform. As the migration from VMware to Hyper‑V involves a different hardware platform, cluster backup is not supported. In this scenario, the configuration backup option can be used.

Regards,

Modassir

Re: Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E

khakipants — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:35:10 GMT

Thank you. This is helpful information. I think it would be extremely helpful to put these details in the KB article 14314, instead of just saying "We advise setting up the vSZ from the scratch", which no one can know the meaning of precisely. Also, describing the difference between the configuration backup and cluster backup there would be informative, as many customers don't do that procedure very often I'm sure.

Additionally, details about the licensing transfer process should go in that article. Things like the name of the process, where to call, what to ask for and expected timelines and if there is possible downtime while waiting on licensing to transfer. Do you need to request this transfer a week ahead of time? Or right after migration? Right before the migration? This is another process that is rarely done, except for hypervisor migrations. Our partner/reseller was not helpful with this and getting support to assist with this took multiple attempts.

Just my suggestions. Notably we did our migration using a fresh hyper-v appliance, created a new cluster, and then restored our configuration backup. After that, we contacted support to transfer the license over. This needs to be done while the licensing department is still available, so make sure you have the contact info and plan to do this during their hours of availability.

Re: Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E

MVari — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 22:20:13 GMT

Hi Modassir, my customer is looking at moving from VMware to KVM, would the same process (configuration backup) work or do they need to do a fresh install?

Re: Hypervisor Migration - vSZ-E

abilashpr — Sat, 02 May 2026 06:29:22 GMT

Dear MVari,

A new vSZ instance must be built. A configuration backup should be taken from the old vSZ (VMware) and restored onto the new vSZ (KVM).

-Abi