Assessing Your VMware Footprint Before Exit
Before an organization can leave VMware, it must have a clear picture of everything running on the VMware platform. Performing a VMware footprint assessment is the first critical step in any exit or migration plan.
This assessment phase forms the backbone of your strategy – helping you identify dependencies, gauge risks, and prioritize workloads for transition. Skipping this step is risky because you can’t build a solid migration roadmap without knowing what you have and how it’s tied to VMware.
Pro Tip: “You can’t migrate what you haven’t mapped.”
Read our strategy guide, VMware Exit Strategy: How to Leave VMware Without Disruption.
Step 1 – Build a Comprehensive VMware Inventory
Begin with a thorough discovery of your VMware environment. Start by pulling together an inventory of all VMware assets.
This means gathering detailed information on every virtual machine (VM), host, and relevant component. Key sources and methods include:
- vCenter or vSphere tools: Export lists of VMs, hosts, clusters, and resource pools. VMware vCenter can provide a full VM inventory, including details like operating systems and IP addresses.
- vRealize or ITAM systems: Leverage IT asset management tools or VMware vRealize Suite data to fetch details on configurations, performance, and relationships. These tools often track VMs, templates, and even applications running inside.
- CMDB and asset databases: Consult your Configuration Management Database for data on system owners, business units, and classifications of each VM (e.g., production, test, development).
- Logs and backup records: Analyze operations logs, monitoring tools, and backup software outputs to understand VM utilization history (CPU, memory, storage consumption) and identify any VMs not visible in vCenter.
As you compile this information, make sure to capture essential data points for each workload, such as:
- VM Name and Owner: Identify each VM and its responsible party.
- Purpose / Application: Document what business service or application the VM supports.
- Host or Cluster Location: Note which vSphere host, cluster, or data center the VM runs in.
- Resource Usage: Record current CPU, memory, and storage allocations, plus average utilization. This helps gauge sizing for future migrations.
- Support Dependencies: List any attached storage volumes, backup agents, or monitoring tools specific to that VM.
All this information forms your master VMware inventory. Keep it in a structured format (spreadsheet or database) as this will drive all later planning. This comprehensive inventory is the foundation of your VMware exit plan and will be referred to frequently.
Step 2 – Identify VMware Feature Dependencies
Not all workloads rely on VMware in the same way. The next step is to determine how tightly each workload is coupled with VMware-specific features or integrations.
In other words, perform a VMware dependency mapping for each workload.
For each VM or application, identify which VMware platform features it uses:
- vMotion, HA, or DRS: Does the workload rely on VMware’s live migration (vMotion), High Availability (HA) clustering, or Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) for load balancing? Heavy use of these indicates tight coupling to VMware’s virtualization layer.
- Snapshots and Clones: Check if the VM regularly uses VMware snapshots, cloning, or backup tools that integrate with vSphere. These features require VMware-specific integration and may not have direct equivalents elsewhere.
- vSAN Storage or NSX Networking: Determine whether the workload’s data resides on VMware vSAN (virtual SAN) storage or uses VMware NSX for software-defined networking. Using vSAN or NSX means the environment has custom storage and network configurations that will need reworking outside VMware.
- APIs and Automation: Identify any scripts, VMware PowerCLI routines, or vRealize Automation workflows tied to this VM. Workloads managed by VMware-specific APIs, orchestration tools, or infrastructure-as-code templates have deeper platform lock-in.
- VMware Tools or Agents: Note if the application uses VMware-specific drivers or management agents beyond the standard “VMware Tools” (for example, monitoring agents that assume a vSphere context).
For any workload that uses one or more of these features extensively, flag it as a high-dependency workload.
The more a VM leverages VMware’s unique capabilities, the harder it will be to migrate to a different environment without significant changes.
Understanding these dependencies now will highlight which systems require extra attention or alternative solutions during the exit.
Pro Tip: “The deeper the automation, the harder the exit.”
How long does it take to leave VMware? – VMware Migration Timeline – Phased vs Big Bang Approaches.
Step 3 – Rate Each Workload by Complexity and Criticality
Once you have an inventory and know each workload’s VMware-specific dependencies, the next step is to evaluate how complex each workload is and how critical it is to the business. This is essentially assigning a VMware workload complexity rating combined with a business impact rating.
One effective method is to create a simple matrix or scoring system that classifies each workload as Low, Medium, or High on two axes: technical complexity and business criticality.
- Low Complexity / Low Criticality: These are typically generic VMs with no special VMware-dependent features. They run standard applications or services that are not highly critical to daily operations. Migration Priority: These are your early movers. They can be migrated or replatformed with minimal risk.
- Medium Complexity / Moderate Criticality: These workloads might use some VMware tools or have moderate configuration complexity, and they have a noticeable but not mission-critical role in the business. For example, an internal application with some automated VMware backup jobs. Migration Priority: Treat these as candidates for a pilot migration or thorough testing phase. They require planning, but are not the last to move.
- High Complexity / High Criticality: These are mission-critical systems deeply integrated with VMware’s stack (e.g., using NSX networking, vSAN storage, DRS rules, or complex automation). Outages of these would severely impact the business. Migration Priority: These are late-stage migration candidates. They should be addressed in the final waves of the exit plan, once easier workloads have paved the way and the team is confident.
By rating each application or VM in this way, you create a clear picture of which workloads are simple vs. complex and which are low vs. high impact.
This framework helps you quickly identify the “quick wins” (low complexity, low criticality systems that can move first) versus high-risk workloads that need careful handling. It brings data-driven clarity to migration sequencing.
Step 4 – Group Workloads by Exit Difficulty
With complexity and criticality ratings in hand, you can now categorize your workloads into distinct groups based on overall exit difficulty. In practice, many organizations find it useful to bucket workloads into three groups:
- Easily Migratable: These are the straightforward cases. Workloads in this category are generic VMs with minimal or no VMware-specific features. They might be running common software on standard operating systems with local disks or simple networking. Because they don’t depend on proprietary VMware functions, you could migrate or rehost them on another platform with relatively minor adjustments. These should be scheduled in the early phases of the VMware exit.
- Moderately Dependent: This middle group includes workloads that have some dependencies on VMware tools or configurations but are not the most critical in the environment. For example, a departmental app might use VMware snapshots and some automation, but it’s not a 24/7 critical service. These systems will need careful testing and possibly some replatforming (e.g., switching to new backup methods or adjusting network setups) before migration. They may be good candidates for a second phase or a pilot transition where you iron out migration processes.
- Highly Coupled / Critical: These workloads are deeply entwined with VMware and/or extremely important to the business. They might rely on advanced VMware features (like stretched clusters, custom NSX network micro-segmentation, or specialized VMware integrations) and often have strict uptime or regulatory requirements (think core banking systems or hospital patient databases). Migrating these will be challenging and high-stakes. It’s often wise to schedule them in the final stage of the exit, after you’ve gained experience from migrating easier systems and when maximum resources can be devoted to ensuring a smooth cut-over.
By grouping your workloads this way, you align technical difficulty with migration waves. You can plan your VMware exit in stages: tackle the easy wins first, build momentum and experience, then handle moderate systems, and finally execute on the most complex transitions.
Always consider the organization’s risk tolerance – some may choose to start with a moderately dependent system as a proof of concept, but generally, this grouping informs a phased approach.
Step 5 – Document Your Findings in a Template
All the data you’ve gathered and the analyses from previous steps should now be consolidated into a single document or spreadsheet.
The best way to present this is through a VMware workload assessment template – essentially a table or matrix that captures each workload’s key attributes, dependencies, and an initial migration plan.
This document becomes your definitive baseline for exit planning.
Below is an example of what such an assessment template might look like:
VMware Workload Assessment Template
| Application / VM | Business Owner | VMware Features Used | Criticality | Complexity | Exit Difficulty | Migration Path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ERP Production | Finance | vSAN, DRS, HA | High | High | Hard | Stage 3 – Late migration |
| Dev/Test Cluster | R&D | None | Low | Low | Easy | Stage 1 – Pilot |
| CRM Web Servers | Sales | Snapshots, HA | Medium | Medium | Moderate | Stage 2 – Transition |
In this template, each row represents a workload (an application or a set of VMs supporting a system).
Key columns to include:
- Application / VM: Name of the application or virtual machine (and environment, if needed) – this could also be a service or workload identifier.
- Business Owner: The department or person responsible for the system, ensuring accountability and sign-off.
- VMware Features Used: List any VMware-specific technologies in play (storage, network, HA features, etc.) as identified in Step 2.
- Criticality: Business criticality level (High, Medium, Low) indicating the impact of this system on business operations.
- Complexity: Technical complexity level (High, Medium, Low) reflecting how complicated the system is to migrate (from Step 3’s analysis).
- Exit Difficulty: A qualitative label (or score) summarizing how hard it will be to move this workload off VMware (for example, “Easy” for simple ones, “Moderate” for some dependencies, “Hard” for very complex).
- Migration Path: A rough plan or wave assignment for this workload (e.g., Stage 1 – include in early pilot, Stage 2 – migrate in intermediate phase, Stage 3 – migrate in final phase).
This populated template is essentially your VMware exit inventory report. It centralizes everything you need to know per workload and will serve as the reference point when designing the migration waves, resource plans, and risk mitigation strategies. Make sure it is kept updated and reviewed by key stakeholders.
Pro Tip: “If it’s not on the table, it’s not in the plan.”
Step 6 – Validate Data With Stakeholders
With your assessment template and inventory in hand, it’s crucial to validate this information with those who know the systems best.
Technical data alone isn’t enough – you need context and confirmation. Engage the relevant stakeholders for each workload to verify and enrich your findings:
- Application Owners: Confirm with application or service owners that you’ve captured all components of their system. They can verify functionality, identify any hidden dependencies (such as components on a physical server or in the cloud that you didn’t know about), and assess any planned changes that could affect the migration.
- Security and Compliance Teams: Check with security officers or compliance teams about data sensitivity, regulatory constraints, or encryption and firewall dependencies for each workload. They might highlight, for example, that a certain VM handles PCI or GDPR data, which affects how and where it can be migrated.
- Operations/Infrastructure Team: Have the operations team (system admins, SREs, etc.) review the uptime requirements, maintenance windows, and integration with other infrastructure. They can confirm if a workload has special monitoring, backup, or disaster recovery setups tied into VMware.
During this validation step, encourage stakeholders to speak up about anything missing or misclassified. This collaborative review ensures the inventory is accurate and builds a sense of shared ownership of the migration plan.
It also reduces surprises later – for instance, discovering an “unknown” dependency in the middle of migration can be costly. Once validated, you have a high-confidence baseline to work from, and everyone knows what is included in the VMware exit scope.
Step 7 – Define an ‘Exit Difficulty’ Score
To further quantify and prioritize the migration planning, consider assigning each workload an Exit Difficulty Score or Exit Readiness Score.
This is a composite metric (for internal planning use) that gives a quick numerical sense of how challenging a given workload’s migration will be. You can devise a scoring system (for example, 1 to 5, where five is most difficult) based on weighted factors such as:
- VMware Dependency Level: Workloads using many VMware-specific features get a higher difficulty score.
- Business Criticality: Highly critical systems increase the score due to the risk and required caution.
- Migration Effort: Estimate the level of effort to migrate. A simple rehost (lift-and-shift) might be low effort, whereas a refactor or replacement of the application would be high effort.
- Data Gravity: Consider the size and complexity of the data associated with the workload. Large databases or complex storage (especially on vSAN) add difficulty because transferring or rebuilding that data environment is challenging.
- Integration Complexity: If the workload integrates with many other systems or has lots of incoming/outgoing connections, it’s harder to relocate without breaking things.
For each workload, you might score each factor 1–5 and then calculate a weighted sum or average to arrive at an overall Exit Difficulty Score. The exact formula is up to your team’s judgment (some organizations might weigh business criticality higher, for example).
Once you have these scores, use them to rank the workloads in terms of migration priority: a higher score means the workload is more complex and should likely be later in the migration waves (or get extra contingency planning), whereas lower scores can be tackled sooner.
This numeric approach adds an extra layer of data-driven justification for your migration sequence. It helps communicate to leadership why certain systems will take more time or resources to migrate.
Checklist – Steps to Complete a VMware Exit Inventory
To recap the process of assessing your VMware footprint, use the following checklist to ensure you’ve covered all bases:
- Pull the full VMware asset list – Export and compile a list of all VMs, hosts, and related assets from vCenter or your IT asset system.
- Identify platform feature usage – For each workload, note which VMware features or products it depends on (vMotion, HA, DRS, vSAN, NSX, snapshots, etc.).
- Rate complexity and criticality – Assign a complexity level and business criticality level to each workload based on its characteristics and importance.
- Group by migration difficulty – Categorize workloads into groups (easy, moderate, hard) to structure the order of migration.
- Build the assessment table – Document all findings in a structured template or inventory report and fill in all the fields (owner, dependencies, ratings, planned migration phase).
- Validate with owners and teams – Review the inventory and plan details with application owners, security, and operations to confirm accuracy.
- Assign readiness scores – (Optional) Calculate an exit difficulty or readiness score for each workload to aid in prioritization.
- Finalize the inventory baseline – Treat the completed and validated inventory document as the official baseline for your VMware exit planning.
Following this checklist ensures that your organization has a complete and vetted view of its VMware footprint. Only with this clarity can subsequent exit planning (like target architecture design, scheduling, and risk management) be done effectively.
Pro Tip: “Your assessment isn’t paperwork — it’s your migration risk register.”
Read our matrix on product mappings, Mapping VMware Products to Alternatives (Feature Matrix).
5 Rules for Effective VMware Footprint Assessment
When mapping out your VMware environment in preparation for an exit, keep these five rules in mind to guide your efforts:
1️⃣ Inventory before strategy – Don’t jump into migration plans without first doing a thorough inventory. Knowing what you have is a prerequisite; strategy should follow discovery, not precede it.
2️⃣ Document dependencies feature by feature – Be meticulous in recording which VMware features and integrations each workload uses. Granular dependency mapping prevents oversight. If a future platform won’t support a feature (e.g., no vMotion in cloud), you need to know that now.
3️⃣ Validate with business owners – Technical teams alone shouldn’t be the only ones validating the inventory. Loop in the business or application owners to ensure the planned classification (like criticality) matches reality. This cross-check avoids mis-prioritizing a system that might be more (or less) important than IT realized.
4️⃣ Use simple scoring for readiness – Develop a simple scoring or rating system for migration readiness or difficulty. It doesn’t need to be overly complex – even a “High/Medium/Low” or 1–5 scale works. The key is consistency in how you evaluate each workload’s challenges.
5️⃣ Keep the inventory live – Treat your VMware inventory as a living document. Update it continuously as changes occur (new VMs, decommissioned systems, upgrades enabling new VMware features, etc.). An up-to-date inventory ensures your exit plan stays aligned with the actual environment. It’s not a one-time exercise.
By adhering to these rules, you ensure that the VMware footprint assessment remains effective, accurate, and actionable. The clarity you create in this phase directly translates to leverage in later negotiations and planning. After all, if you know exactly what you have and what you need, you won’t be easily caught off-guard by complexity.
Pro Tip: “Clarity is leverage — Broadcom bets on your chaos.”
Read about our Broadcom Audit Defense Service.
