So I have just been through this and I have the process worked out. What you need to do is:
1. Install SnapCenter to a new server (I tested this with both SnapCenter 3.0.1 and 4.0. 4.0 is far superior in my opinion, the dashboards and reports are much improved).
2. The only critical configuration you need to do in SnapCenter is:
- Add at least one RunAs Credential
- Add your SVM(s) to the Storage section (do not try and add the cluster, add the SVMs themselves via their management LIFs)
3. From the SnapCenter Server, add a new host and select the "Host OS" as "vSphere" . This installs the SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere, which must be deployed to a Windows Server. It could be your VSC Windows Server you would already have, or to the SnapCenter Server itself which is supported, or any other server. I installed it to the VSC Windows Server for simplicity.
4. In the Host deployment you must enter details about your vCenter, including an account which has Administrator access to the entire vCenter
5. Restart the vSphere Web Client or the VCSA/vCenter
6. Login to the vSphere Web Client and confirm you have a new SnapCenter for VMware vSphere Plugin available
7. Download the "NetApp Import Utility for SnapCenter and Virtual Storage Console" from the NetApp ToolChest (contact your account manager if you dont have access)
8. Extract the Utility onto your VSC Windows Server. View the included PDF for instructions on how to use the tool (the example command syntax is especially useful as you dont need to use all of the available options)
9. Run the SCV-Import.bat and import all data into your SnapCenter
10. In the SnapCenter Plugin for vSphere in the Web Client, confirm you can see your VSC backups which have now been imported into the Policies and Resources sections
12. Uninstall VSC 6.2.1 and remove it from vCenter via the "https://<vcenter>/mob" webpage. Unregister the "com.netapp.nvpf.webclient" and "com.netapp.nvpf" extensions (in that order)
13. Deploy the VSC 7.0 or 7.1 Virtual Appliance and follow the install guide
14. Restart the vSphere Web Client or VCSA/vCenter
15. Verify the VSC 7.x Plugin is listed in vSphere, then add your storage to it
There are a couple of caveats I've found to all this:
1. VSC 6.x would use default snapshot labels which you could then use for SnapVault relationships. These labels are not retained on the backup policies that are migrated to SnapCenter. You can edit each policy and either create a new label (which means updating your Protection Policies in ONTAP) or just update the policies with the old VSC labels (VSC_JOB_HOURLY, etc). I just put back the old labels so existing SnapVault relationships would continue to work.
2. Metadata about backups created by VSC is imported in to SnapCenter. However, you can only use the SnapCenter Plugin to restore from the Primary VSC Backups (local snapshots). You can't use SnapCenter to restore from secondary locations such as Vault or Mirror destinations that were created via VSC.
3. You can restore from older VSC backups only at the VM level. You can't right-click a datastore and use the SnapCenter Plugin to restore from a VSC backup, but you can do this at the VM itself. SnapCenter backups can be restored from any level, but VSC seems to only work at the VM.
4. In 6.2.1 you would install it, add your Cluster Mgmt IP, and it would detect your SVMs, LIFs, datastores, etc. In Version 7.0 and 7.1, no matter what I try, I add my cluster and it never adds my SVMs. It also never updates the dashboard which is meant to show storage consumption, performance, volumes presented, etc, but it's always empty. Also, when I view a host or a datastore and try to view the NetApp Storage information (which VSC is meant to provide) it is always empty. If I drop back to 6.2.1 the information reappears immediately. It's not a permissions issue with the ONTAP Role from what I can tell. In reality other than applying host settings there isn't much use for the VSC anymore anyway.
That's how I got my VSC backups migrated over to SnapCenter, hopefully it helps.
