VMware Communities: P2Ving domain controllers

Up to Discussions in P2V Assistant Archives

10 Replies Last post: Sep 21, 2006 7:05 AM by VMadmin

P2Ving domain controllers

Apr 24, 2006 11:59 AM

abaum 353 posts since
Jul 1, 2005

All, how do you P2V a w2k3 domain controller? I run though the normal p2v process, but I end up with a vm that doesn't work right. The system event log shows events on disk signatures, replication failures, etc.

adam

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Apr 24, 2006 12:19 PM

boydd 5,707 posts since
Jun 15, 2004 Moderator

You may want to try ghosting it and preserve disk sigs. You could also just create a new vm and run dcpromo on it (easier).

DB

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Apr 24, 2006 1:02 PM

in response to: boydd

abaum 353 posts since
Jul 1, 2005

I would rather not create a new DC since I run DNS/DHCP/WINS and a few other network services on my lab DC's. My production DCs are in a similar config so it's not so simple.

adam

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Apr 27, 2006 1:33 AM

timmerj 58 posts since
Sep 8, 2005

I did a w2k3 domain controller p2v with no problems what so ever. Did you use a win2003 machine in your p2v proces?

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Apr 27, 2006 7:54 AM

in response to: timmerj

abaum 353 posts since
Jul 1, 2005

Yes I did.

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Apr 27, 2006 10:11 AM

in response to: abaum

juchestyle 1,356 posts since
Jun 20, 2005 Moderator

Hey man,

With respect to ghosting, try the the Ultimate boot cd using BartPE. It is actually easier and faster than regular p2v'ing. You can ghost directly to the blank hard drive using the tool. When you build it, it creates an Iso that you can boot a brand new vm into; and it builds you a physical cd for the physical machine. Smooth tools.

Respectfully,
Matthew

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Apr 28, 2006 10:34 AM

eksim 187 posts since
Nov 8, 2005

Hi adam

I will be doing this soon too. Can i check with you if the source server is still in working condition after the P2V?

Regards
eksim

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Apr 28, 2006 11:20 AM

in response to: eksim

abaum 353 posts since
Jul 1, 2005

Yes it is. Once it failed, I just removed the P2V CD and it worked fine. I may have an idea...P2V 2.1 has never worked for so I was using 2.03. Maybe it has a problem. Occasionally I get a reconfig error when using 2.03 so I do the reconfig with 2.1.

I am going to try the new P2V and see if it helps. The reason I used the old one is that 2.1 has a problem with my HP 6i controllers. It doesn't seem to recognize them.

adam

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Aug 11, 2006 8:22 AM

VMadmin 124 posts since
Jan 7, 2004

There is an issue when P2V'ing a DC (Windows 2000 and Windows 2003). It affects the AD's Update Sequence number and can halt DFS replication. I know that PlateSpin PowerConvert and Ghost causes this issue but I'm not too sure if VMware P2V is smart enough to reset the AD "up-to-dateness vector." Check this out as the event log does not always indicate an issue!

For more information, see the following Microsoft articles:

Windows 2000: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885875/

Windows 2003: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875495/

These MS articles were posted in June 2006 and also affects VM's on Microsoft Virtual Server.

I hope this helps!

VMadmin

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Aug 11, 2006 10:21 AM

in response to: abaum

Mike_Laverick 4,059 posts since
Jan 5, 2004 Moderator

why bother with DC p2v

Build clean VM...
Do a AD restore to copy most of the domain objects
and then let the VM AD sync with the rest of the controllers...

I think the big issue with DC's is how time sensitive they are - you really need time cracked on ESX for it dependable

Regards
Mike

Re: P2Ving domain controllers Sep 21, 2006 7:05 AM

in response to: Mike_Laverick

VMadmin 124 posts since
Jan 7, 2004

In our case we have some directory synchronization software that is a pain to reinstall. Obviously, P2V'ing DC's isn't somthing that many people will have to do since, as you pointed out, it is much easier to install another DC from scratch and move Single Master of Operations Roles as needed.

Actions

View as PDF

Up to Discussions in P2V Assistant Archives