If you have ever been asked to “just build the migration waves,” you already know the trap. VMware migration wave planning is not a calendar exercise. It is a decision exercise, and the decisions get harder the moment your inventory is larger than what a small team can hold in their heads.
The good news is that wave planning is a proven concept in large-scale migrations. Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework describes migration wave planning as organizing workloads into structured waves so you can reduce risk and iterate as you learn (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/migrate/migration-wave-planning ). The idea applies whether you are moving to public cloud or moving off VMware onto a new platform. Controlled batches beat giant “big bang” cutovers.
The headline story every migration team recognizes
Most teams start wave planning with good intentions. They pull VMware inventory, grab RVTools exports, maybe run a Nutanix Collector, and then try to group virtual machines into “Wave 1, Wave 2, Wave 3.” It works for about a week.
Then the questions begin:
- Are these VMs part of VDI or corporate server workloads?
- Which ones support a revenue system, and which ones are test?
- Which ones share storage, databases, or authentication services?
- Which waves need a formal change window, and which can be done quietly?
- Who signs off, and what proof do they need?
If you cannot answer those questions with confidence, you do not have a wave plan. You have a draft list. What teams actually need is a way to move from raw VMware inventory analysis to a migration wave plan that is aligned to business services, change control, and risk.
Why wave planning fails when it stays “too technical”
A purely technical wave plan is seductive because it is easy to generate. Group by cluster. Group by host. Group by datastore. Group by CPU and memory utilization. Those groupings help, but they rarely match how the business experiences outages and change.
Business-aligned waves typically require a different lens:
- Application or service boundaries
- Ownership and operational support teams
- Known maintenance windows
- Dependencies that must move together
- Risk posture and remediation backlog
This is where many programs stall. The technical team has data, but not context. The business has context, but not data. Wave planning becomes a series of meetings where everyone is trying to translate.
More meetings is never the solution. The real solution is a system that can bring the inventory together, normalize it, and make bundling easy enough that you can iterate without losing weeks.
The cost of getting waves wrong
When waves are built on weak inventory and fuzzy context, the downstream costs compound. You see it as:
- Smaller, slower waves than planned. Teams reduce wave scope because they do not trust it, which stretches timelines.
- Extra buffer in target sizing. Uncertainty drives over-provisioning, because no one wants to get caught short.
- Change fatigue. Stakeholders lose patience when waves get rescheduled repeatedly.
- Risk that appears late. Compatibility and OS issues show up at the worst time, right before a cutover.
None of that is a moral failure. It is a natural consequence of building a high-stakes plan on top of fragmented data.
Your VMware migration wave planning playbook in three moves
The fastest way to improve your migration wave plan is to stop aiming for a perfect spreadsheet and start aiming for a living system that can answer hard questions.
Move 1: Build one trustworthy view of your estate
Before you can sequence anything, you need a single view of what you actually have.
That means:
- One inventory view across one or many vCenter environments
- A consistent way to ingest RVTools exports when direct access is limited
- The ability to include Nutanix Collector data so planning is tied to target reality
- A normalized view that shows your estate from data centers to hosts to virtual machines
This is not glamorous work, but it is the foundation of every wave decision that follows.
Move 2: Segment and bundle with intent
Waves are easier when your estate is segmented into categories that matter operationally. A simple example is separating VDI workloads from corporate workloads. They behave differently. They have different change windows. They often involve different teams.
From there, bundling should be intentional. Bundles are not the same as waves:
- A bundle is a coherent set of workloads that belong together.
- A wave is a scheduled execution window that may contain one or more bundles.
When you have bundles, you can design waves around business calendars and operational capacity instead of trying to force reality into a single timeline.
Move 3: Turn bundles into a wave plan with clear entry and exit criteria
The final step is to make waves executable. That means every wave has:
- A named owner and approval path
- A defined cutover window and communications plan
- Entry criteria, like validation that inventory and ownership are confirmed
- Exit criteria, like success verification and post-cutover monitoring
- A rollback approach that is designed, not improvised
This is what turns a “plan” into a program the business can trust.
How the ReadyWorks VM Accelerator supports wave planning
The ReadyWorks VM Accelerator is designed to help teams see their VMware estate, plan faster, and reduce risk.
It is a lightweight assessment that turns raw VMware and Nutanix inventory into clear migration insight. It connects to the ReadyWorks observability and automation platform for hybrid infrastructure, so you can move from visibility to orchestration when you are ready. Here is how the ReadyWorks VM Accelerator supports VMware migration wave planning in the real world.
Step 1: Connect your data without a long setup cycle
You can point the ReadyWorks VM Accelerator to one or many vCenter environments, or upload RVTools or Nutanix Collector files. The goal is to get to coverage quickly so planning is based on real inventory, not partial lists.
Step 2: Normalize and classify so the estate is actually understandable
Instead of looking at raw exports, the ReadyWorks VM Accelerator helps you see your virtual estate from data centers to hosts to virtual machines. It also separates VDI and corporate workloads so your wave planning is not mixing apples and oranges.
Step 3: Surface key risks as inputs to planning, not surprises in execution
Wave planning is not only about sequencing. It is also about avoiding preventable failures. The ReadyWorks VM Accelerator can flag guest OS end-of-life and compatibility concerns. The point is not to turn wave planning into a remediation project. The point is to make sure you are not scheduling avoidable risk into your early waves.
Step 4: Group, bundle, and export for a wave plan that travels
Once the estate is normalized, you can group and bundle workloads to drive sizing, scaling, and migration waves, then share outputs with your team. This is an underrated part of wave planning. A plan that cannot be exported, shared, and reviewed is a plan that will get rebuilt repeatedly.
A simple migration wave plan template you can use this week
If you want a practical model that improves wave execution immediately, start with this structure for each wave:
- Wave name: A human name that the business will remember
- Scope: Which bundles and key services are included
- Owners: Technical owner and business owner
- Change window: Date, time, and downtime expectations
- Dependencies: What must move together, what must be verified before cutover
- Entry criteria: Inventory confirmed, owners confirmed, approvals gathered
- Execution checklist: Key steps and who does them
- Validation: How success is verified and who signs off
- Rollback: What triggers rollback and what it looks like
- Post-cutover monitoring: What dashboards and health checks matter
If you store wave definitions like this and keep them tied to a system of record, your program becomes easier to operate. It stops being a fragile spreadsheet.
Proof of concept plan, build your first defensible wave plan in 10 business days
You don’t need to design every wave before you start. You need to design the first waves in a way that proves the approach works.
Days 1–2: Use the ReadyWorks VM Accelerator to connect vCenter or upload RVTools, and validate inventory coverage.
Days 3–4: Normalize and classify, then separate VDI and corporate workloads to simplify decisions.
Days 5–7: Build 3–5 bundles that represent real business services or operational units.
Days 8–10: Turn bundles into your first proposed migration wave plan with entry and exit criteria, approvals, and a pilot cutover window.
Your next step
Download the ReadyWorks VM Accelerator for a 45-day free trial: https://www.readyworks.com/vm-accelerator
FAQ
What is a migration wave in VMware migrations?
A migration wave is a scheduled execution window where a defined set of workloads move through cutover together, with approvals, communications, validation, and rollback plans.
How many VMs should be in each migration wave?
There is no universal number. Start with waves sized to your team’s operational capacity and the business impact of the workloads involved. Smaller early waves reduce risk and build confidence.
What is the difference between a bundle and a wave?
A bundle is a logical grouping of workloads that belong together. A wave is the scheduled cutover plan. One wave may contain one or more bundles.
How does the ReadyWorks VM Accelerator help with wave planning?
The ReadyWorks VM Accelerator turns raw VMware inventory into a normalized view, separates VDI and corporate workloads, flags key risks like guest OS end-of-life and compatibility, and helps you group and export bundles that become the backbone of your migration wave plan.
