Challenges Migrating On-Premises VMs to Azure

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Challenges Migrating On-Premises VMs to Azure

Desalegn Ali Ahmed 20

Dear Team,

We are currently facing the following challenges while migrating our on-premises VMs to Azure:

We are unable to migrate VMs using Azure Migrate because we cannot download the required VDDK 8.0.3 package from Broadcom.
When attempting to use the Azure Migrate Migration Agent (Mobility Service) for Linux-based VMs, the installation fails with the following error:

"The Linux version Mitel Standard Linux release 11.0.84.0 x86_64 running on the source machine is currently unsupported."

As a result, we are unable to replicate and migrate our Mitel Linux VMs using Azure Migrate.

Could you please advise on:

Any alternative method to obtain and use the required VDDK package?
Whether there is a supported workaround for migrating Mitel Standard Linux (MSL) VMs to Azure?

Mitel Standard Linux Release 11.0.84.0 and Kernel 3.10.0-1160.24.1.el7.x86_64

Whether manual migration by exporting the VMs from VMware and deploying them in Azure is the recommended approach?

We would appreciate your guidance on the best path forward.

Kind regards,
Desalegn Ali

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Answer 1

Hi @Desalegn Ali Ahmed Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

We understand that the required VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) package is unavailable and that the Mobility service reports Mitel Standard Linux (MSL) 11 as unsupported. You would like to know whether there is another way to obtain VDDK, whether MSL has a supported Azure Migrate workaround, and whether manually exporting the VMware VM and uploading its disk to Azure is a suitable alternative.

VDDK availability and migration options

Azure Migrate agentless VMware migration currently requires a compatible VDDK package. Microsoft cannot redistribute or host this third-party software.

If you already have a compatible VDDK package, you may use it after validating compatibility with your vCenter Server version.

If the package is unavailable, please contact Broadcom or your VMware entitlement administrator to confirm whether access is available. If the agentless migration requirements cannot be met, Microsoft documentation recommends considering agent-based migration for operating systems supported by the Mobility service. Discovery, assessment, and migration planning can continue while you evaluate the available migration path.

Microsoft documentation:

Mitel Standard Linux and the Mobility service

Mitel Standard Linux is not listed in the supported operating-system matrix for the Mobility service. Therefore, agent-based Azure Migrate replication is not a supported option for these MSL VMs.

We do not recommend changing /etc/os-release, /etc/redhat-release, or similar operating-system identification files to bypass the compatibility check. This would not make the operating system supported and could cause unexpected behavior during replication or migration.

The Mobility-service limitation does not automatically confirm that agentless migration is impossible. Agentless migration may still be evaluated if a compatible VDDK package becomes available and the VM meets the Azure Migrate agentless migration and Azure VM requirements.

However, because MSL is a vendor-customized and non-endorsed Linux distribution, the required guest preparation and support for the Mitel applications must be confirmed with Mitel.

Microsoft documentation:

Manual export and VHD upload option

If VDDK cannot be obtained and agent-based migration is unavailable for MSL, a manual disk migration can be evaluated as a best-effort alternative.

Please note that this is not a guaranteed workaround for the MSL operating system or the Mitel applications.

We recommend the following high-level approach:

Take a recoverable backup or VMware snapshot and perform the initial test using a cloned non-production VM.
Confirm with Mitel that the MSL application and licensing model are supported when deployed in Azure.
Prepare the cloned Linux VM for Azure. Depending on the MSL implementation, this may include:
- Validating that the required Hyper-V drivers are available in initramfs, including hv_vmbus, hv_netvsc, and hv_storvsc.
- Configuring the serial console for troubleshooting.
- Removing source-specific network settings and persistent MAC-address rules.
- Ensuring that swap is not configured as a partition on the OS disk.
- Installing the Azure Linux Agent only if it is compatible with MSL and approved by Mitel.
Export the VMware VM and retain its VMDK disk.
Convert the disk to a fixed-size VHD with a virtual size aligned to 1 MB.
Upload the prepared VHD to an Azure managed disk.
Create an Azure VM from the managed OS disk.
Validate boot, networking, storage, services, licensing, and Mitel application functionality before considering a production migration.

Important: Because this is a migration of a specific VM rather than the creation of a reusable generalized image, do not run waagent`` ``-force`` ``-deprovision+user unless you specifically intend to generalize the image.

Microsoft documentation:

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Desalegn Ali Ahmed 20 Reputation points

2026-10-19T14:35:21.47+00:00

Thank you for your response and support. Although your reply came a bit late, it was still helpful.

In the meantime, I was able to resolve the issue by converting the disk to a fixed-size VHD, uploading it to Azure, creating a managed disk from the VHD, and then creating the VM from that disk.

Thanks again for your assistance.