Starting with Nutanix Move (Formerly Xtract) 2.0.2, you can migrate VMs from AWS to
Nutanix AHV. This feature is available as a tech preview. This post is to help estimate
the cost involved in migrating VMs from AWS.
When the source is AWS, Nutanix Move brings up the move-agent as a t2.micro VM instance
in the region where the source VM is hosted. One of the software components in Move is
the source agent, which takes snapshots of the VM to be migrated and mounts those
snapshots in the move agent for the disk reader to read. The disk reader is the software
component in Nutanix Move that reads data continuously from source disks and sends it
over the WAN to the disk writer component in Move.The following figure diagrams this process.
information in mind.
The data transfer rate from AWS to AHV can vary greatly because of various factors, such as
WAN delay. In the example of transferring a 1 TB VM to AHV from AWS, if the WAN speed
was 50 Mbps, the migration cost $106.40, as shown in the following table.
Disclaimer: Cost estimate is based on the information available in public domain.
Nutanix AHV. This feature is available as a tech preview. This post is to help estimate
the cost involved in migrating VMs from AWS.
Preview of the Nutanix Move for AWS Architecture
Nutanix Move is a VM deployed usually in the target cluster where VMs are migrated to. When the source is AWS, Nutanix Move brings up the move-agent as a t2.micro VM instance
in the region where the source VM is hosted. One of the software components in Move is
the source agent, which takes snapshots of the VM to be migrated and mounts those
snapshots in the move agent for the disk reader to read. The disk reader is the software
component in Nutanix Move that reads data continuously from source disks and sends it
over the WAN to the disk writer component in Move.The following figure diagrams this process.
Estimated Cost of Migrating from AWS
We estimate the cost involved in migrating VMs from AWS, keeping the above architectural information in mind.
- AWS: Internet data transfer out cost
AWS charges $0.09 per GB for transferring data out. If you move a 1TB VM, the cost is approximately $92.16 for data transfer alone. - AWS: Regional data transfer cost
Nutanix Move brings up a move agent as a t2.micro VM instance for each region. Data transfer from AWS to AHV happens while Move migrates the VMs, and, if the source VMs are hosted in a different availability zone than the t2.micro instance, AWS’s regional data transfer cost applies. AWS charges $0.01 per GB, so for 1 TB VM, the regional data transfer cost is $10.24. - AWS: EC2 instance cost for move-agent VM
The move-agent VM (t2.micro) is launched by Nutanix Move automatically when the migration plan involves AWS and remains active until the migration is complete. Move leaves this instance running for future migrations, but terminates this instance when all migration plans involving AWS are removed. We have to factor in the cost for running this EC2 instance. It costs about $2 per day.
Cost Estimate for Large VM Migrations from AWS
The data transfer rate from AWS to AHV can vary greatly because of various factors, such as
WAN delay. In the example of transferring a 1 TB VM to AHV from AWS, if the WAN speed
was 50 Mbps, the migration cost $106.40, as shown in the following table.
Details
|
Cost (USD)
|
| AWS: Internet data transfer out cost ($0.09/GB) |
$92.16
|
| AWS: Regional data transfer cost ($0.01/GB) (This is zero if t2.micro and the source VM are in the same region, which tends to be the case. We estimated it here to give the maximum potential cost involved.) |
$10.24
|
| AWS: EC2 cost for move-agent VM (~$2 per day) (If we estimate 50 Mbps as the average throughput, it would take ~48 hours, or two days, for migration to finish.) |
$4.00
|
| Total |
$106.40
|
Disclaimer: Cost estimate is based on the information available in public domain.
