Move VMs to another Azure region
By: Date: 09/07/2025 Categories: azure Tags:

There are several scenarios where you may need to move Azure IaaS virtual machines (VMs) from one region to another—for example, to improve reliability and availability, enhance manageability, or meet governance requirements. Azure Site Recovery (ASR) enables you to replicate and move Azure VMs to a secondary region.

In this you will learn how to:

  • Verify prerequisites
  • Prepare the source VMs and the target region
  • Copy data and enable replication
  • Test the configuration and perform the move
  • Clean up the source region

Important
Microsoft recommends using Azure Resource Mover for most cross‑region migrations because it simplifies operations, identifies dependencies, reduces move time, and supports automatic cleanup and testing.

Use Azure Site Recovery only when specifically required.

Note
This tutorial covers moving VMs “as‑is” to another region. To move VMs from an availability set to zone‑pinned VMs, refer to Move Azure VMs into Availability Zones.

Prerequisites

Before moving VMs, ensure the following prerequisites are met.
(Per ASR migration requirements.)

✔ Confirm Source and Target Regions

  • VMs must initially reside in the source region you intend to move from.
  • Confirm the source → target region combination is supported.
  • Review scenario architecture and component requirements.

✔ Required Permissions

To enable replication and perform migration, you need:

  • Virtual Machine Contributor:
    • Create VMs
    • Assign to resource groups
    • Assign to virtual networks
    • Write to storage accounts
  • Site Recovery Contributor:
    • Manage all ASR operations in the Recovery Services vault

✔ Certificates and Updates

VMs must have the latest trusted root certificates, otherwise replication will fail:

  • Windows VMs: Install all latest Windows Updates.
  • Linux VMs: Follow distribution guidelines for root certificates and CRLs.

✔ Networking Requirements

  • Ensure VMs are not behind an authentication proxy blocking outbound traffic.
  • If the VM lacks internet access or uses a restricted outbound firewall, review ASR networking requirements.
  • Identify and map all networking components:
    • Load balancers
    • NSGs
    • Public IPs

✔ Resource Availability in Target Region

  • Confirm subscription quotas allow VM creation in the target region.
  • Ensure the VM sizes you need are available in the target region.
  • Manually create all required networking resources (except VNet, which ASR can auto‑create).

Note
ASR will automatically create a VNet in the target region unless you pre-create one and assign it. Other networking resources must be created manually.

Prepare the Environment

1. Create a Recovery Services Vault

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal.
  2. Search for Recovery Services vaults.
  3. Select + Add.
  4. Provide:
    • Name (e.g., ContosoVMVault)
    • Subscription
    • Resource group (e.g., ContosoRG)
    • Region (must NOT be the source region)
      (See ASR geographic availability.)

Enable Replication for Azure VMs

1. Start Replication Setup

  1. Open the Recovery Services vault.
  2. Go to Replicated items → + Replicate.
  3. Select Azure Virtual Machines as the source type.

2. Select Source Settings

  1. Choose the source region of your VMs.
  2. Select:
    • Deployment model: Resource Manager
    • Source subscription
    • Source resource group
  3. Select OK.

3. Enable Replication

  1. ASR retrieves the list of VMs in the resource group.
  2. Select the VM to move and click OK.
  3. In the VM menu, select Disaster recovery.
  4. Under Configure disaster recovery, select the target region.
  5. Accept default settings for this tutorial.
  6. Click Enable replication to begin data copy.
    (A replication job starts.)

Move the VM to the Target Region

Once replication is healthy and synchronized:

1. Initiate Failover

  1. Go to the Recovery Services vault.
  2. Navigate to Settings → Replicated items.
  3. Select the VM.
  4. Click Failover.
  5. Choose Latest as the recovery point.
  6. Select Shut down machine before beginning failover.
    • ASR attempts to gracefully shut down the source VM.
    • Failover continues even if shutdown fails.

Track progress in Jobs.

2. Validate the Move

Once failover completes:

  • Confirm the VM appears in the target Azure region.
  • Ensure the VM boots correctly, is properly sized, and networking is configured as expected.

Clean Up Source Region Resources

After validating:

  1. In Replicated items, right‑click the VM.
  2. Select Commit to finalize the move.
  3. When commit completes, delete any unwanted resources in the source region.

This completes the region‑to‑region VM migration using Azure Site Recovery.

Reference: Move VMs to another Azure region

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