Azure Migration Appliance - AHV

Question

Azure Migration Appliance - AHV

Callum 20

hello All,

I’m trying to configure Azure Migrate with Nutanix AHV. Since AHV doesn’t support agentless discovery, I understand that agent‑based discovery is required.

I’ve created the Azure Migrate project and downloaded the AzureMigrateInstaller, but I’m unsure where the appliance should be installed. Can you confirm whether the Azure Migrate Appliance must be installed on a dedicated Windows Server rather than one of the AHV guest VMs?

Thanks,

Lakshma Reddy Vattijonnala 1,575 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-27T16:51:27.35+00:00

Hi @Callum I hope you have had a chance to review the information shared earlier, and that it has been helpful. If you still have any questions, please let us know in the comments so we can assist you further.
Lakshma Reddy Vattijonnala 1,575 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-28T17:24:39.29+00:00
Hi @Callum @Callum Thank you for the update. It is good to hear that the Azure Migrate appliance has been deployed and server discovery has completed successfully.

For your current objective of Azure VM right-sizing and cost estimation, you do not need to install the Mobility Service on the source servers. The Azure Migrate Discovery and assessment appliance collects the configuration and performance metadata required to create an assessment. For physical or other virtualized servers, it connects to Windows servers through CIM/WinRM and to Linux servers through SSH. Software inventory and agentless dependency analysis also use the credentials configured on the appliance and do not require the Mobility Service.

You can therefore proceed with the following assessment steps:

Confirm that the servers appear under Azure Migrate > Servers, databases and web apps > Discovery and assessment > Discovered servers.

For a performance-based assessment, allow discovery to collect data for at least one day. Ideally, wait for the full performance-history duration that you intend to select in the assessment settings to obtain a higher-confidence recommendation.

Create or select a server group and run an Azure VM assessment.

Review Azure readiness, recommended VM sizing, and the estimated monthly compute and storage costs.

The Mobility Service becomes relevant only when you proceed with agent-based migration and replication of the physical servers. At that stage, you must deploy a separate replication appliance. The replication appliance must not be installed on the existing Azure Migrate Discovery and assessment appliance or on a source server that you intend to replicate.

To begin that workflow, open Azure Migrate > Servers, databases and web apps > Migration and modernization > Discover, select Not virtualized/Other, confirm the target Azure region, and create the required resources. Then select Install a replication appliance and download the appliance installer and registration key. The registration key is valid for five days from download.

After the replication appliance is installed and registered, install the applicable Mobility Service package on each source server by following the instructions associated with that appliance. For the physical-server migration flow described in Microsoft’s tutorial, the agent is preinstalled manually or through enterprise deployment tooling before replication is enabled.

Microsoft documentation:

Azure Migrate appliance

Support matrix for physical server discovery and assessment

Discover physical servers with Azure Migrate

Migrate machines as physical servers to Azure

Replication appliance support requirements

If you have further questions regarding this answer, feel free to click "Comment". If you find the answer helpful, please click "upvote". This helps the community by allowing others with similar queries to easily find the solution.
Lakshma Reddy Vattijonnala 1,575 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-30T23:22:55.83+00:00

Hi @Callum I hope you have had a chance to review the information shared earlier, and that it has been helpful. If you still have any questions, please let us know in the comments so we can assist you further.

Answer accepted by question author

Lakshma Reddy Vattijonnala 1,575 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Callum Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

We understand that you would like to confirm whether the Azure Migrate appliance must be deployed on a dedicated physical server or whether it can run as a guest VM on your Nutanix AHV cluster.

The Azure Migrate Discovery and assessment appliance does not require a separate physical server. It can be deployed on a Windows Server guest VM hosted on the AHV cluster, provided that the VM meets the supported appliance requirements.

For the current physical-server discovery appliance, please ensure that the appliance VM meets the following requirements:

Windows Server 2022 or Windows Server 2025
8 vCPUs
32 GB RAM
Approximately 80 GB of disk storage
A static or dynamic IP address
Outbound internet connectivity to the required Azure endpoints over HTTPS port 443
Local or domain administrative permissions on the appliance server

Because Nutanix AHV does not use the native VMware or Hyper-V discovery workflow, please select Physical or other (AWS, GCP, Xen, etc.) as the source type. The appliance discovers Windows servers remotely through WinRM/CIM and Linux servers through SSH. The discovery process itself is agentless. The Mobility Service agent is required later when configuring agent-based replication for migration.

Recommended steps:

Provision a clean Windows Server 2022 or 2025 VM on the AHV cluster that meets the above requirements. Do not install the appliance on a domain controller or on a server hosting other migration or replication components.
In the Azure Migrate project, generate the project key and download the Azure Migrate appliance installer package.
Verify the downloaded package hash against the value provided in the Azure portal, extract the package, and run AzureMigrateInstaller.ps1 from an elevated PowerShell session.
Register the appliance with the Azure Migrate project and add the AHV guest servers individually, in bulk, or by using a CSV file.
For Windows server discovery, allow WinRM 5986 over HTTPS. If the HTTPS prerequisites are not configured, communication can fall back to WinRM 5985 over HTTP. For Linux servers, allow TCP port 22.
After configuration, confirm that the servers appear under Azure Migrate > Servers, databases and web apps > Discovery and assessment > Discovered servers.

Please use caution before enabling the HTTPS-only WinRM option. When this option is enabled, every Windows target must have a valid Server Authentication certificate whose common name matches the hostname. The certificate must not be expired, revoked, or self-signed. Otherwise, discovery can fail for both existing and newly added servers.

For the migration phase, a separate replication appliance is required. The replication appliance must not be installed on the Azure Migrate Discovery and assessment appliance or on any source machine that you intend to migrate. For new agent-based migrations, please use the current simplified replication appliance workflow available in the Azure Migrate project and validate the latest appliance requirements from the support matrix.

If discovery continues to fail, please share the exact error displayed in Appliance Configuration Manager, along with the results of the following tests from the appliance VM:

Test-NetConnection <server-FQDN-or-IP> -Port 5986
Test-NetConnection <server-FQDN-or-IP> -Port 5985
Test-WSMan <server-FQDN-or-IP>

Microsoft documentation:

If you have further questions regarding this answer, feel free to click "Comment". If you find the answer helpful, please click "upvote". This helps the community by allowing others with similar queries to easily find the solution.

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2 additional answers

Your answer

Lakshma Reddy Vattijonnala 1,575 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-27T16:51:27.35+00:00

Hi @Callum I hope you have had a chance to review the information shared earlier, and that it has been helpful. If you still have any questions, please let us know in the comments so we can assist you further.
Lakshma Reddy Vattijonnala 1,575 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-30T23:22:55.83+00:00

Hi @Callum I hope you have had a chance to review the information shared earlier, and that it has been helpful. If you still have any questions, please let us know in the comments so we can assist you further.

Answer 1

Callum 20

@Lakshma Reddy Vattijonnala @Jose Benjamin Solis Nolasco Thanks for the information. I’ve set up the appliance on a Windows VM and finished the discovery. Everything looks good except replication, which we’re not planning yet , I’m focusing on assessments and costing. I still can’t find where to download the Mobility Service agent, so please share the link if you know it.

Jose Benjamin Solis Nolasco 12,026 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-28T11:56:27+00:00
@Callum Im glad you almost have everything you need so If you’re only doing discovery, assessment, and Azure cost estimation, you don’t need to download or install the Mobility Service agent.

The Azure Migrate appliance you already configured handles discovery and performance collection without installing an agent on the source servers. Microsoft documents this as agentless discovery for physical and other supported environments.

The Mobility Service agent is required later, when you start an agent-based migration/replication. At that point, Azure Migrate uses a separate Replication appliance, and the Mobility Service is installed on each server being migrated.

So for your current objective:

Discovery → Already completed

Assessment → No Mobility Service required

Cost estimation → No Mobility Service required

Actual replication/migration → Mobility Service required

You can continue with Azure Migrate > Discovery and assessment > Assessments and create your assessment based on the collected configuration/performance data.

Answer 2

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

@Callum I hope you are doing well,

To answer your question: The Azure Migrate Appliance can absolutely be a guest VM running on your Nutanix AHV cluster. It does not need to be a separate bare-metal physical server outside of your environment.

When the documentation mentions using a "dedicated" Windows Server, it just means that the Windows Server OS instance should be dedicated solely to the Azure Migrate Appliance software. You should not install the appliance script on a VM that is already acting as a domain controller, database, or file server.

Recommended Next Step: Simply provision a new Windows Server (2016, 2019, or 2022) guest VM on your AHV cluster. Ensure it meets the minimum hardware requirements for the appliance (typically 16 GB RAM, 8 vCPUs, and 80 GB of free disk space). Once that VM is up and running, transfer the AzureMigrateInstaller file to it, run the script, and follow the prompts to register the appliance to your project!

Help make this community better for everyone: if this answer resolved your issue, please accept it or leave an upvote. If not, share more details in a comment so we can continue the discussion and find the right solution