VMware VCENTER CONVERTER EN-000158-02 manuale d’uso

User's Guide vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.1 EN-000158-02[...]

User's Guide 2 VMware, Inc. You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at: http://www.vmware.com/support/ The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates. If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: docfeedback@vmware.com Copyright © 2008, 2009 VMware, Inc. All righ[...]

Contents Updated Information 5 About This Book 7 1 Introduction 9 Migration with Converter Standalone 9 Converter Standalone Components 10 Converter Standalone Features 10 2 System Requirements 19 Supported Operating Systems 19 Installation Space Requirements 20 Supported Source Types 21 Supported Destination Types 23 Restoring VCB Images in Conver[...]

Index 87 User's Guide 4 VMware, Inc.[...]

Updated Information This User's Guide for vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.1 is updated with each release of the product or when necessary. This table provides the update history of the User's Guide for vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.1 . Revision Description EN-000158-02 n In Table 2-1 , SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 7.0 is removed from [...]

User's Guide 6 VMware, Inc.[...]

About This Book This book, the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone User’s Guide , provides information about installing and using VMware ® vCenter Converter Standalone. Intended Audience This book is intended for users who want to do the following: n Install, upgrade, or use Converter Standalone n Nonintrusively copy and transform physical machi[...]

Customers with appropriate support contracts should use telephone support for the fastest response on priority 1 issues. Go to http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html . Support Offerings To find out how VMware support offerings can help meet your business needs, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/services . VMware Professional Services VM[...]

Introduction 1 VMware ® vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.1 provides a scalable solution to migrate physical-to-virtual and virtual-to-virtual machines. Converter Standalone eases interoperability among the following products. n VMware hosted products can be both conversion sources and conversion destinations. n VMware Workstation n VMware ACE n VM[...]

n Reduce the time needed to set up new virtual machine environments. n Migrate legacy servers to new hardware without reinstalling operating systems or application software. n Perform migrations across heterogeneous hardware. n Readjust volume sizes and place volumes on separate virtual disks and migrate the disks across independent datastores. n V[...]

Converter Standalone creates a VMware virtual machine based on a source physical machine. The migration process is nondestructive, so that you can continue to use the original source machine. To run a converted VMware virtual machine on the same network as the source physical machine, you must modify the network name and IP address on one of the ma[...]

Table 1-2. Hot and Cold Cloning Comparison (Continued) Comparison Criteria Hot Cloning with Converter Standalone 4.0.1 Cold Cloning with Converter Enterprise 3.0.x Advantages n Does not require direct access to the source machine. n You can clone the source machine while it is running. n Creates the most consistent copy of the source machine. n Lea[...]

Hot Cloning of Physical Machines Converter Standalone supports only hot cloning of physical machines. VMware Converter 3.0.x supports cold cloning. You can select which services to keep running on the source machine while the conversion is running. To have the destination virtual machine retain all of the blocks that changed in the source system du[...]

agent vCenter Converter Standalone running on Windows machine powered-on physical machine ESX/ESXi copied volumes source destination network snapshot VM source volumes 3 Converter Standalone completes the conversion process. The agent installs the required drivers to allow the operating system to boot in a virtual machine and personalizes the virtu[...]

The following workflow demonstrates the principles of hot cloning physical machine sources that run Linux to managed destinations. 1 The Converter Standalone agent uses SSH to connect to the source machine and retrieves source information. The Converter Standalone agent creates an empty helper virtual machine based on your conversion task settings.[...]

Cloning Modes Converter Standalone implements volume-based cloning, disk-based cloning, and linked cloning. Table 1-3. Cloning Modes Cloning Mode Application Description Volume based Selects the volumes to copy from the source machine to the destination machine. Volume-based cloning is relatively slow. File-level cloning is slower than block-level [...]

Disk-Based Cloning Converter Standalone supports disk-based cloning to import existing virtual machines. Disk-based cloning transfers all sectors from all disks and preserves all volume metadata. The destination virtual machine receives the same volumes, of the same type as the volumes of the source virtual machine. Disk-based cloning supports all [...]

you can use Converter Standalone to reconfigure it. You can also reconfigure any operating system installed on a multiboot machine if you imported the virtual machine to an ESX host. Before you reconfigure a multiboot machine, you must change the boot.ini file. Converting and exporting virtual appliances You can convert and export virtual appliance[...]

System Requirements 2 This information describes the requirements you must fulfill before you operate VMware ® vCenter Converter Standalone and describes the compatibilities and interoperabilities among the systems on which and with which Converter Standalone works. This chapter includes the following topics: n “Supported Operating Systems,” o[...]

Table 2-1. Supported Operating Systems (Continued) Supported Operating Systems Client Support Server Support Source for Remote P2V Source for Virtual Machine Import Windows Vista (32 bit and 64 bit) SP1 Y Y Y Y Windows 2008 Server (32 bit and 64 bit) Y Y Y Y Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 (32 bit) N N N Y Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 2.1 (32 bit) N [...]

Table 2-2. Installation Space Requirements (Continued) Operating System Installation Component Disk Space Required Decompressed installation file 500MB Client 130MB Server and agent 450MB Supported Source Types With Converter Standalone, you can convert local or remote powered-on machines, VMware virtual machines, third-party virtual machines, syst[...]

You must power off source virtual machines before you convert them. You can convert running virtual machines only if you follow the procedure for converting powered-on machines. You can convert local Linux machines by treating them as remote powered-on machines. You must specify the local IP address and root credentials to proceed. Conversion Limit[...]

Conversion Limitations for Third-Party Virtual Machines or System Images Converter Standalone can convert third-party virtual machines, system images, and ShadowProtect and BackupExec System Recovery images. These conversions have some limitations. Third-party virtual machines and system images have the following limitations: n Virtual machines fro[...]

Table 2-6. Supported Destinations Destination Type Supported Versions VMware Infrastructure virtual machine Managed destinations n ESX 3.x and 4.0 n ESXi 3.x and 4.0 Installable and ESXi 3.x and 4.0 Embedded n vCenter Server 2.x and 4.0 VMware virtual machines Hosted destinations n VMware Workstation 5.x, 6.0.x, and 6.5.x n VMware Fusion 1.x and 2.[...]

Table 2-7. Changes to Hardware Information Because of Conversion (Continued) Affected Area Behavior Serial port Defaults to the physical serial port on destination host machine. Parallel port Defaults to the physical parallel port on destination host machine. When you restore images, the Converter Standalone GUI does not preserve certain other virt[...]

Changes That Conversion Causes to Virtual Hardware Most migrated applications function correctly in the VMware virtual machine because their configuration and data files have the same location as the source virtual machine. Applications might not work if they depend on specific characteristics of the underlying hardware such as the serial number or[...]

Ensure That Windows Firewall Does Not Block File and Printer Sharing If Converter Standalone fails to connect to a remote Windows XP machine and issues a bad username/password error message, ensure that file and printer sharing is not blocked by Windows Firewall. Procedure 1 Select Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools &g[...]

User's Guide 28 VMware, Inc.[...]

Installing and Uninstalling VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 3 This information describes the basic steps for installing and uninstalling Converter Standalone. This chapter includes the following topics: n “Install Converter Standalone in Windows,” on page 29 n “Uninstall, Modify, or Repair Converter Standalone in Windows,” on page 30 n [...]

Procedure 1 Download the latest version of Converter Standalone from the VMware Web site. 2 Check the number of the build, which should be in the local directory to which you downloaded the installer. 3 Navigate to the folder that contains the installer file you downloaded and double-click the VMware- converter-4.x.x-<xxxxx>.exe file, where &[...]

Procedure 1 To start the Converter Standalone installer, do one of the following: u Go to the folder that contains the installer file and double-click the VMware-converter-4.x.x- <xxxxx>.exe file, where <xxxxx> is the number of the build. Check the number of the build to see if it matches the build you installed. u Select Add or Remove [...]

Table 3-1. Command-Line Options (Continued) Option Action /qn Runs the msi command in silent mode. /qb Runs the msi command in basic mode. /qf Runs the msi command in full mode. /l*v <Logfile> Record login information in the file provided in <Logfile>. /x Uninstall VMware vCenter Converter Standalone. ADDLOCAL="ALL" Installs f[...]

Wait for the installation to complete copying the files. If you install the Converter Standalone server, a message appears that informs you that it is started. What to do next Now you can use Converter Standalone to convert physical or virtual machine sources to virtual machine or virtual appliance destinations. Perform a Client-Server Installation[...]

10 If the directory that contains the init file directories ( rc0.d/ to rc6.d/ ) in your distribution is /etc , press Enter. If the directory is different, provide the new path and press Enter. 11 If the directory that contains the init scripts is /etc/init.d , press Enter. If the directory is different, provide the new path and press Enter. A prom[...]

Procedure u Run the sudo ./vmware-install.pl command from the directory you extracted from the installation archive. Wait for the installation to finish copying the files. This command deletes any previous installations and installs a new version of Converter Standalone. If you install the Converter Standalone server, a message informs you that the[...]

User's Guide 36 VMware, Inc.[...]

Converting Machines 4 This information describes how to create a conversion task to convert physical machines to a variety of destinations. You can use local or remote hot cloning, virtual machines, virtual appliances, and third-party system images as destinations. Convert a Machine The approach you take for creating your virtual machine is determi[...]

4 View Setup Options for a New Virtual Machine on page 45 Depending on the selected source machine and destination type, the View/Edit Options page provides setup options for the destination virtual machine or virtual appliance. 5 View the Summary of a Conversion Task on page 64 On the Ready to Complete page, you can view a summary of the new conve[...]

n If the source machine is local, the Converter Standalone server and the Converter Standalone agent must be installed on it. n If the source machine is remote, manually remove from it any previous VMware Converter 3.x installations. n To convert a remote powered-on machine, you must have Administrator credentials. n To convert a remote Windows pow[...]

4 From the inventory list, select the virtual machine to convert. 5 (Optional) If you are connected to a VMware vCenter Server, select an option from the Specify machine with drop-down menu. Option Description Hosts and Clusters View Provides a view of the set of virtual machines that run on a particular host, cluster, or resource pool. This view d[...]

“Supported Source Types,” on page 21 contains supported third-party file types and supported versions. Procedure 1 On the Specify Source page, select Backup image or Third-party virtual machine from the Select source type drop-down menu. 2 Browse for the source virtual machine or image. 3 (Optional) To view information about the selected source[...]

3 Click Next . The Appliance Details page appears. 4 (Optional) View information about the virtual appliance source and select the product configuration for sources that support product configurations. n Click Advanced under the Virtual appliance details pane to toggle between the Basic and Advanced modes of the virtual appliance details view of an[...]

Prerequisites To convert virtual machines to vCenter Server destinations with Converter Standalone, you must have the following vCenter Server permissions set at the datacenter level: n Datastore.Browse Datastore n Datastore.AllocateSpace , full permissions. n Virtual Machine.Inventory n Virtual Machine.Configuration , full permissions. n Virtual M[...]

What to do next On the View/Edit Options page, you can make more precise settings to the conversion task. Select a Virtual Appliance Destination You can export a virtual machine to a virtual appliance, making it available to other users to import into their inventories. The resulting virtual appliance is an OVF 1.0 appliance and contains one virtua[...]

3 In the Virtual machine details pane, type a name for the converted virtual machine and browse to select its destination location. The name can be 80 characters long, is case-sensitive, and must be unique within the virtual machine folder. The name can contain alphanumeric characters, underscores (_), and hyphens (-). 4 (Optional) If you are conne[...]

n Set Up the Network for the Helper Virtual Machine on page 60 When converting physical machine sources that run Linux, Converter Standalone creates a Helper virtual machine on the destination host (ESX or vCenter Server). The Helper virtual machine needs network access to the source machine to clone the source files. Default conversion settings en[...]

Table 4-1. Data Copy Types Data Copy Type Supported Sources and Destinations Description Select volumes to copy Source operating systems that support disk volumes Volume-based cloning allows resizing the source volumes on the destination machine, volume reordering, and selection. Select disks to copy Virtual machine sources and hosted or managed de[...]

Table 4-2. Destination Disk Types Destination Available Disk Types VMware Infrastructure virtual machine Flat Copies the entire source disk size to the destination, regardless of its used and free space. Thin For managed destinations that support thin provisioning, creates an expanding disk on the destination. For example, if the source disk size i[...]

4 In the Type column, select the disk type from the drop-down menu. The options depend on the source machine you select. Available Disk Type Description Flat Copies the entire source disk size to the destination, regardless of its used and free space. Thin Creates a thin provisioned disk. This option is available for managed destinations that suppo[...]

6 (Optional) Click Advanced to create new destination virtual disks, move volumes across destination virtual disks, or delete destination disks. On the Source Layout tab, you can select which volumes to copy to the destination and select the target datastores to accommodate them. On the Target Layout tab, you can configure the destination virtual d[...]

3 (Optional) On the Target Layout tab, create a new target disk. 4 Select a volume to move and click Move Up or Move Down until it reaches the destination target disk. The volumes you selected are saved to the corresponding destination virtual disks. Modify the Settings in the Source Volumes List When you perform volume-based cloning, you can modif[...]

Procedure 1 On the View/Edit Options page, click Data to copy in the left pane. 2 From the Data copy type drop-down menu, select Select volumes to copy and click Advanced . 3 On the Target Layout tab, use the drop-down menus to specify the Target Datastore for each virtual disk. The target disks are copied to the selected datastore. What to do next[...]

5 Click Next to view a summary of the conversion task. 6 On the Ready to Complete page, click Finish to add the task to the task list. Converter Standalone creates thin provisioned disks on the destination datastore. The initial size of the thin provisioned disks is equal to the used space on the source disks. Create a Linked Clone A linked clone i[...]

Change Network Connections on the Destination You can change the number of network adapters to appear on the destination virtual machine. Procedure 1 On the View/Edit Options page, click Networks in the left options pane. The network adapter options appear to the right. 2 Select the number of network adapters to connect from the drop-down menu. 3 S[...]

Advanced Customization Options Before you start the conversion, you can use the View/Edit Options page in the Conversion wizard to adjust advanced settings. These settings include postconversion synchronization between source and destination, postconversion power state of the source and destination virtual machine, VMware tools installation, reconf[...]

Converter Standalone synchronizes the destination machine with the source machine after the conversion is complete. Adjust the Post-Conversion Power State Depending on the selected source machine and destination type, you can control the power state after the conversion. Prerequisites For all sources except virtual appliance sources, you can power [...]

Prerequisites You must set up the sysprep files before you can customize Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, and Windows XP sources. You must save the sysprep files to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%Application DataVMware VMware vCenter Converter Standalone on the machine where the Converter Standalone server runs. For more details on the sysprep location for [...]

4 Customize the following text boxes: a In the Computer Name text boxes, specify a computer name to identify the virtual machine on the network. Valid characters include A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and the hyphen (-). The underscore (_) is nonstandard, but Converter Standalone permits its use. The computer name cannot have more than 15 characters or consist onl[...]

Set the Time Zone You can set the time zone if you are converting a virtual machine to use in a remote location. Procedure 1 On the View/Edit Options page, click Advanced options and select Configure guest preferences for the virtual machine . 2 Click Next to access the guest operating system settings. 3 In the options list, select Time Zone . 4 Se[...]

4 Select how the virtual machine participates in a network. Option Description Workgroup Valid characters include A-Z, a-z, 0-9, space, and the hyphen (-). Maximum length is 15 characters. Windows Server Domain The text box must have a value. Valid characters include A-Z , a-z, 0-9, space, period , and hyphen (-). Each label delineated by a period [...]

3 (Optional) Select Use the following DNS server address and type the preferred DNS server address to configure the DNS server address manually. Optionally, type an alternative DNS server address. 4 Select another option to set or click Next to view a summary of the conversion task. Converter Standalone uses the IP address and DNS server you specif[...]

Procedure 1 From the Data to copy drop-down menu, select the data copy type. Option Description Select volumes to copy Performs volume-based copying. Select disks to copy Performs disk-based copying. Linked clone Creates a virtual machine that shares the virtual disks of the source machine. The options that appear in the drop-down menu depend on th[...]

7 Click Edit Networks to create your own networks for the new virtual appliance. By default, Converter Standalone creates a network called VMNetwork. 8 Create a network and map it to a network adapter. a Click Add . b Enter the name and description in the Network properties window and click OK . Repeat for each network to add to the list. c From th[...]

d (Optional) To make the new property read-only to OVF users, deselect the User configurable check box. e Click OK to add the new property to the custom properties list. 3 (Optional) To edit or delete a product property, select it in the list and click Edit or Delete . You listed the custom product properties to add in the target virtual appliance.[...]

Configuring VMware Virtual Machines 5 You can use Converter Standalone to configure VMware virtual machines that have disks populated by restoration from a backup of a physical host or by some other direct means of copying a virtual machine’s disks. Configuring such machines with Converter Standalone enables them to boot in VMware products. N OTE[...]

Save Sysprep Files To customize the guest operating system of a virtual machine, you must save the Sysprep files to the specified locations on the machine where Converter Standalone server runs. Prerequisites You must download the Sysprep files that correspond to the operating system of the source machine. Procedure 1 Save the Sysprep files to the [...]

Select a Source to Configure You can select a VMware virtual machine as the source for a configuration task. Procedure 1 On the Specify Source page, select a source type from the drop-down menu. 2 (Optional) Select VMware Infrastructure virtual machine as the configuration source if your source system is a virtual machine that runs on an ESX host o[...]

Option Description Remove System Restore checkpoints on destination Prevents the target machine from reverting to a preconversion state. Reconfigure destination virtual machine Installs the necessary device drivers, so that the destination virtual machine can boot without additional configuration. 2 (Optional) Select Configure guest preferences for[...]

6 Click Workgroup/Domain to select how the virtual machine participates in a network. 7 Click Next to view a summary of the configuration task. 8 Click Finish . The configuration task is added to the task list and will run according to the maximum concurrent task setting that you specified. Edit the Computer Information of a Configured Virtual Mach[...]

3 In the options list to the left, select Windows License . The customization text boxes appear to the right. 4 Enter Product ID information for the destination virtual machine. 5 (Optional) Select Include Server License Information if the destination operating system is Microsoft Windows 2000 Server or Microsoft Windows 2003 Server. 6 Select a Ser[...]

3 In the options list to the left, select Network Interface Settings . The list of network adapters appears to the right. 4 Select the adapter to customize and click Customize to open its properties. a On the General tab, enter the IP address and DNS server address. b On the DNS tab, specify the DNS connections by entering DNS suffixes. c (Optional[...]

View the Summary of a Configuration Task On the Ready to Complete page, you can view a summary of the new configuration task before you add it to the task list. Converter Standalone performs task validation at this stage. Prerequisites You must complete all task configuration steps to access the Ready to Complete page. Procedure 1 Click Next on the[...]

Managing Conversion and Configuration Tasks 6 Converter Standalone provides a task manager for managing migrations and configurations for a single conversion. After you create a task using the Converter Standalone wizards to set up how to convert or configure a machine, you can use the Task View of Converter Standalone manager to manage running tas[...]

Add a Task to the Task List VMware vCenter Converter Standalone runs conversion tasks and configuration tasks as they appear in the task list, depending on the maximum number of tasks that is set in Administration menu > Maximum concurrent tasks . Prerequisites You must complete the Conversion wizard or the Configuration wizard. Procedure 1 View[...]

n Cancel a Task on page 75 You can cancel a task in the queue or a task that is in progress. n Delete a Task on page 75 The Delete option removes a task from the task list. Create a Task by Copying an Existing Task You can edit a task in the task list by creating a copy of the task and modifying its settings in the Conversion wizard. The original t[...]

n View Task Progress on page 76 The Task view and the Details view show the progress of tasks. You can check the estimated time left to the completion of a conversion task in the End Time column. n Export the Log Files for a Task on page 76 If problems arise that cause a task to fail, you can review information about the task in the log files or se[...]

Export All Log Files You can export the log files of all tasks that are present in the current server log files. Procedure 1 Select File > Export Logs . 2 Select a location to which to save the files and click Save . All current server log files are saved to the selected directory. 3 Open the log files with a text editor. UFAD and Client Log Fil[...]

Procedure 1 On the main menu, select View > History Filter . 2 Select a level of display from the drop-down menu. Only tasks that correspond to the selected display level remain in the task list. Filter Tasks by Status You can change which tasks appear in the task list based on their running status. Procedure 1 On the main menu, select View >[...]

Glossary BIOS (basic input/output system) Firmware that controls machine startup and manages communication between the CPU and other devices, such as the keyboard, monitor, printers, and disk drives. bridged networking In hosted products, a type of network connection between a virtual machine and the host’s physical network. With bridged networki[...]

custom networking In hosted products, any type of network connection between virtual machines and the host that does not use the default bridged, host-only, or network address translation (NAT) configurations. For example, virtual machines can be connected to the host by separate networks or connected to each other and not to the host. See also bri[...]

folder A managed entity used to group other managed entities. Folder types are determined by the types of child entities they contain. See also child . full clone A complete copy of the original virtual machine, including all associated virtual disks. See also linked clone . GOS (guest operating system) See guest operating system . growable disk A [...]

IDE (1) Acronym for integrated drive electronics, a standard electronic interface used to connect mass storage devices to a computer. The ANSI name for IDE is Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA). See also SATA (serial advanced technology attachment) . (2) Acronym for integrated development environment. independent disk A type of virtual disk that [...]

NTFS file system The correct, redundant use of new technology file system. open virtual appliance (OVA) A packaging format for virtual machines that allows virtual machine templates to be distributed, customized, and instantiated on any OVA supporting VMM. Open Virtualization Format (OVF) A distribution format for virtual appliances that uses exist[...]

resource pool A division of computing resources used to manage allocations between virtual machines. resume To return a virtual machine to operation from its suspended state. When you resume a suspended virtual machine, all applications are in the same state as when the virtual machine was suspended. See also suspend . root user The superuser who h[...]

suspend A state in which settings are preserved and actions are no longer performed. To turn off a virtual machine while preserving the current state of a running virtual machine. See also resume . swap file See page file . task A managed object representing the state of a long-running operation. TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) A reliable trans[...]

virtual machine configuration The specification of which virtual devices, such as disks and memory, are present in a virtual machine and how they are mapped to host files and devices. In vConverter, VMware virtual machines whose disks have been populated by restoring from a backup or by some other direct means of copying undergo configuration to en[...]

Index A Acronis True Image, source 21, 40 adding tasks 74 advanced customization guest operating system 56 installing VMware Tools 56 overview 55 powering machines on and off 56 removing system restore checkpoints 60 synchronizing source and destination 55 C changing the number of tasks displayed 77, 78 cloning cloning modes 46 defined 10 disk clon[...]

overview 45 OVF product properties 63 processors 53 standalone destinations 61 virtual appliance destinations 62 VMware Infrastructure destinations 61 volume-based cloning 49 Windows services 54 Workstation destinations 61 D deleting tasks 75 destination ESX host 23, 42 vCenter Server 23, 42 virtual appliances 23, 44 VirtualCenter 23, 42 VMware ACE[...]

O online cloning, See hot cloning operating systems, support 19 other VMware virtual machine, as source 40 OVF customizing 62 format for virtual appliances 18 product properties 63 properties 41 P Parallels Desktop, source 21, 40 port requirements 26 powered-on machine conversion limitations 22 powered-on machine, source 38 progress viewing 76 R re[...]

TCP/IP port requirements 26 thin provisioning 52 U uninstalling VMware vCenter Converter Standalone in Linux 34 in Windows 30 uses for VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 9 V VCB, See VMware Consolidated Backup vCenter Server, destination 23, 42 vCenter Server support 21 version support 21 viewing a task's progress 76 viewing configuration tas[...]

X Xen, source 21 Index VMware, Inc. 91[...]

User's Guide 92 VMware, Inc.[...]