Simplifying VM Migrations

For infrastructure administrators, migrating virtual machines from vSphere to SUSE Virtualization has historically been a high-friction, error-prone endeavor. The complexity of mapping networks, storage, and metadata across disparate environments often results in long, manual processes that feel disconnected from the rest of the management workflow.

We recognized that the “lift and shift” experience needed a fundamental UX rethink. By grounding our design process in our core Rancher design principles—being selective, helpful, opinionated, and flexible—we transformed a daunting technical hurdle into a transparent, reassuring, and step-by-step workflow.

The Problem: Complexity and Lack of Visibility

Previously, migration was often treated as an “all-or-nothing” technical execution. Admins struggled with:

• Configuration Silos: Setting up providers, networks, and storage mappings felt fragmented and overwhelming for some users.
• Manual Mapping Fatigue: Without a clear interface, configuring resource mapping for every individual VM was tedious and prone to human error.
• Visibility Gaps: Once a migration started, tracking progress or troubleshooting failed tasks required digging through logs rather than intuitive status dashboards.

The Solution: A Human-Centric Migration Workflow

Our new migration tool in SUSE Virtualization is designed to act as a bridge, prioritizing user intent and visibility.

Unified Configuration

We empower admins to centrally configure providers, including network and storage mappings, before the migration even begins. This ensures that the heavy lifting of infrastructure connectivity is handled upfront, creating a reusable foundation for future migrations.

Designing the Migration Wizard

Instead of overwhelming users by dumping all configuration options onto a single screen, we brought the complexity to our side. We chose to present the right data at the right time based entirely on the user’s immediate context.

We achieved this by building an intuitive Migration Wizard:

• Contextual Progress: The multi-step wizard breaks the migration down into digestible phases (Provider -> Target -> Mapping -> Summary).
• Smart Defaults: For VM owners, the tool automatically applies pre-configured network and storage mappings defined by the admin, hiding unnecessary details unless the user explicitly needs to create a custom mapping.
• The Ultimate Safeguard: The wizard culminates in a comprehensive Overview Page. True to our principle of informing users about the consequences of their actions beforehand, this page acts as a final verification checklist before they hit “Start Migration.”

Once a migration begins, users are taken to the Migration Overview Page. It tracks the real-time status of current migrations and maintains a history of past tasks, giving admins the confidence to monitor and control large-scale moves at a glance.

Granular Control When You Need It

While we design for the majority by automating mappings and providing clean paths, we treat the minority of power-users separately by remaining flexible.

• Hand-Crafted Adjustments: We included individual resource pages for every provider, network, and storage mapping. If an edge case requires a user to edit raw configurations by hand, they can.

Where We Go From Here

Moving from a manual, disjointed process to a structured, wizard-driven experience is a meaningful step forward — but it’s just one step in a longer journey. This is a milestone we’re proud of, and there’s more to come.