Hi all,
Just getting into the VM game and could with a bit of help.
I have three VMs (2 x win2k and 1 win2k3) running on a VMware Server 1 server.
Is it possible to convert these into VM's that will run under ESX specifically VI3?
Thanks,
Richard
Yes you can use Converter for this, I just documented the procedure.
fyi...if you find this post helpful, please award points using the Helpful/Correct buttons...thanks
How can I migrate my Vmware Server VMs to ESX?
There are several methods for doing this that are listed below:
Method 1 Vmware Converter running directly on Vmware Server (Cold clone)
Install Vmware Converter on to the Vmware Server and reboot if prompted
Shutdown the VM to be converted
Run Converter and select Import Machine
Click Next at the Welcome screen and Next again at the Source screen
Select Standalone virtual machine, backup or disk image as your source and click Next
Browse to your VMs vmx file and click Next
Select either Import all disks and maintain size or Select volumes and resize to save or add space, select your volumes and enter a new disk size if necessary and click Next
Click Next at the Destination screen
Select VMware ESX Server or VirtualCenter virtual machine as your destination and click Next
At the destination login screen enter your VC/ESX server name and login credentials and click Next
Enter a Virtual Machine name and folder and click Next
Select a Host/Cluster and click Next then select a Datastore and click Next
Enter your NIC information and click Next then click Next again at the customization screen
Click Finish when it completes
Edit your new VMs settings and remove any extra hardware if not needed, ie. USB devices, serial and parallel devices, Floppy drive and change the SCSI adapter to LSI Logic if needed
Power on your new VM and uninstall VMware tools (VMware server version)
Restart server
Remove old virtual machine hardware
o Open CMD prompt and type SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1 and then DEVMGMT.MSC
o Select Show Hidden Devices from top menu
o Remove old greyed-out non-present hardware, ie. old processor, disk drives, IDE/SCSI controllers, storage volumes, etc.
Reboot and install VMware tools (ESX version) and you are finished
Method 2- Vmware Converter running directly on Virtual Machine (Hot clone)
Install Vmware Converter on to the Virtual Machine and reboot if prompted
Run Converter and select Import Machine
Click Next at the Welcome screen and Next again at the Source screen
Select Physical Computer as your source and click Next
Select This local machine and click Next
Select either Import all disks and maintain size or Select volumes and resize to save or add space, select your volumes and enter a new disk size if necessary and click Next
Click Next at the Destination screen
Select VMware ESX Server or VirtualCenter virtual machine as your destination and click Next
At the destination login screen enter your VC/ESX server name and login credentials and click Next
Enter a Virtual Machine name and folder and click Next
Select a Host/Cluster and click Next then select a Datastore and click Next
Enter your NIC information and click Next then click Next again at the customization screen
Click Finish when it completes
Edit your new VMs settings and remove any extra hardware if not needed, ie. USB devices, serial and parallel devices, Floppy drive and change the SCSI adapter to LSI Logic if needed
Power on your new VM and uninstall VMware tools (VMware server version)
Restart server
Remove old virtual machine hardware
o Open CMD prompt and type SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1 and then DEVMGMT.MSC
o Select Show Hidden Devices from top menu
o Remove old greyed-out non-present hardware, ie. old processor, disk drives, IDE/SCSI controllers, storage volumes, etc.
Reboot and install VMware tools (ESX version) and you are finished
Yes you can use Converter for this, I just documented the procedure.
fyi...if you find this post helpful, please award points using the Helpful/Correct buttons...thanks
How can I migrate my Vmware Server VMs to ESX?
There are several methods for doing this that are listed below:
Method 1 Vmware Converter running directly on Vmware Server (Cold clone)
Install Vmware Converter on to the Vmware Server and reboot if prompted
Shutdown the VM to be converted
Run Converter and select Import Machine
Click Next at the Welcome screen and Next again at the Source screen
Select Standalone virtual machine, backup or disk image as your source and click Next
Browse to your VMs vmx file and click Next
Select either Import all disks and maintain size or Select volumes and resize to save or add space, select your volumes and enter a new disk size if necessary and click Next
Click Next at the Destination screen
Select VMware ESX Server or VirtualCenter virtual machine as your destination and click Next
At the destination login screen enter your VC/ESX server name and login credentials and click Next
Enter a Virtual Machine name and folder and click Next
Select a Host/Cluster and click Next then select a Datastore and click Next
Enter your NIC information and click Next then click Next again at the customization screen
Click Finish when it completes
Edit your new VMs settings and remove any extra hardware if not needed, ie. USB devices, serial and parallel devices, Floppy drive and change the SCSI adapter to LSI Logic if needed
Power on your new VM and uninstall VMware tools (VMware server version)
Restart server
Remove old virtual machine hardware
o Open CMD prompt and type SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1 and then DEVMGMT.MSC
o Select Show Hidden Devices from top menu
o Remove old greyed-out non-present hardware, ie. old processor, disk drives, IDE/SCSI controllers, storage volumes, etc.
Reboot and install VMware tools (ESX version) and you are finished
Method 2- Vmware Converter running directly on Virtual Machine (Hot clone)
Install Vmware Converter on to the Virtual Machine and reboot if prompted
Run Converter and select Import Machine
Click Next at the Welcome screen and Next again at the Source screen
Select Physical Computer as your source and click Next
Select This local machine and click Next
Select either Import all disks and maintain size or Select volumes and resize to save or add space, select your volumes and enter a new disk size if necessary and click Next
Click Next at the Destination screen
Select VMware ESX Server or VirtualCenter virtual machine as your destination and click Next
At the destination login screen enter your VC/ESX server name and login credentials and click Next
Enter a Virtual Machine name and folder and click Next
Select a Host/Cluster and click Next then select a Datastore and click Next
Enter your NIC information and click Next then click Next again at the customization screen
Click Finish when it completes
Edit your new VMs settings and remove any extra hardware if not needed, ie. USB devices, serial and parallel devices, Floppy drive and change the SCSI adapter to LSI Logic if needed
Power on your new VM and uninstall VMware tools (VMware server version)
Restart server
Remove old virtual machine hardware
o Open CMD prompt and type SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1 and then DEVMGMT.MSC
o Select Show Hidden Devices from top menu
o Remove old greyed-out non-present hardware, ie. old processor, disk drives, IDE/SCSI controllers, storage volumes, etc.
Reboot and install VMware tools (ESX version) and you are finished
Alternately if your VM's have SCSI virtual drives you can just copy the vmdk file to the ESX server using WinSCP and then use vmkfstools -i to import it. Then create a new VM and tell it to use an existing drive. If it has an IDE drive you have to convert it to SCSI first. See these links...
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=620362򗝊
Many, Many thanks.
I'll give that a try.
Nice one
I just documented this procedure also that I mentioned above...
Method 3 Use FastSCP and vmkfstools to copy the disk to ESX and convert it to VMFS3 format
If your Server VM uses IDE disks you will have to convert them to SCSI disks prior to using this method since ESX does not support IDE hard drives. To convert your disks to IDE follow the steps in this VMware knowledge base article: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1881 Once you complete the conversion to SCSI you can proceed with the below steps.
Download FastSCP (http://www.veeam.com/veeam_fast_scp.asp) and install on the VMware Server, FastSCP requires the dot net framework 2.0 so download and install this first if you do not have it (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en ), alternately you can use WinSCP (http://winscp.net/eng/index.php) which is a bit slower then FastSCP
Once FastSCP is installed run it, click Add Server enter your ESX server name/IP, the default port of 22, username and password and click Finish
Connect to your ESX server, browse to your /vmfs/volumes//temp/Win2003vm1-new.vmdk myVM1.vmdk This will make a copy of your vmdk file in your VMs directory, you can also change the destination file name to match your VMs name.
o In the VI Client, edit your VMs settings, remove the current hard disk (dont delete it yet) and add new new hard disk, select Use an Existing Disk and browse to the new vmdk file in your VMs directory.
o Power on the VM and if it boots OK you can delete the original virtual disk, you can use FastSCP for this or right-click on your Datastore in the VI Client and select Browse your Datastore with the VI Client to delete the two original virtual disk files
One question I meant to ask was this:
What's the difference between BusLogic and LSI Logic SCSI adaptors?
Is there a preferred adaptor for use on ESX hosts?
Thanks,
Richard
They are basically 2 different virtual hardware SCSI adapters. BusLogic adapters should be used with Windows 2000 VM's and LSI Logic should be used for Windows 2003/XP VM's. There is a slight performance difference between the two with LSI being the better adapter. Some OS's like Win2K will not support the LSI adapter.
ESX Server 2 Storage Subsystem Performance in ESX Server: Buslogic vs. LSI Logic - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/ESX2_Storage_Performance.pdf
once again, many thanks
Thanks for this artical. it sure is a help.
Ajay Nabh
HI All,
Just install 2 x ESX on VMWaorkstation and add openfiler NAS to this. Now I got One VM Image and got 4 VMDK files ( Exchange 2003)
I create 1 200 GB LUN and connect to ESX through ISCSI. ESX got 20GB Local HDD.
Where do i need to put those 4 x VMDK files? if i put all onto NAS is that going to boot/start that vm?
Or do i need to put OS VMDK on to 20GB HDD and rest onto NAS? If so how do i connect back to those disk
bit confuse lol
Hi Cosy
as far as I think you can boot from NAS. good idea would be to put you data vmdk on NAS and OS vmdk on local HDD. I hope you are nor running this system for production!!!
Cheers
Ajay
Interested in this topic since this is similar to what I'm planning on doing. However, what if you are using the same box for the ESX server (I'm want to move my VM's off the box, rebuild it as an ESX server, then set everything back up). What is the recommended way of doing this. I may have a SAN by the time I set this plan in action if that makes things easier.