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InforMed_Direct
Contributor
Contributor

Converting ESX 3.5 VM that's been backed up using FastSCP

I'm currently looking at our disaster recovery plan for which we've installed ESX 3.5 server. We're just a small company so using VirtualCentre is overkill for us. I've installed Veeam's FastSCP and successfully copied a test VM off the ESX Server to a backup location on a Windows server.

I then wondered whether is was possible to use VMware Converter to convert this pure ESX 3.5 copy into a VMware workstation VM. However, when I try and run the converter, it reports "Unable to open file F:\Data\Virtual Machines\Test\Test.vmdk. That's not surprising as the VMDK file on disk is called Test-flat.vmdk, not Test.vmdk.

I've had a quick look in the VMX file and in there, the disk is called Test.vmdk:

scsi0.present = "true"

scsi0.sharedBus = "none"

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

memsize = "256"

scsi0:0.present = "true"

scsi0:0.fileName = "Test.vmdk"

scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"

ide0:0.present = "true"

So why is the file called Test-flat.vmdk in the file system? Can I simply rename it?

Thanks, Rob.

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InforMed_Direct
Contributor
Contributor

Ohh hang, can't rename the 8GB Test-flat.vmdk to Test.vmdk as there's already a 1KB Test.vmdk file there.

I'm confused ?:|

Cheers, Rob.

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InforMed_Direct
Contributor
Contributor

PS. I can succesfully use VMware converter to copy the VM directly from the ESX server so I think the VM is intact, just not from the copy made remotely.

Cheers, Rob.

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theanykey
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

In order to read an ESX virtualmachine as a source for converter, the VM must reside on /vmfs. If you move that VM to anything other then /vmfs, you can not use converter on it.

InforMed_Direct
Contributor
Contributor

Hmm, that's a shame. What metholodgy do people use for backing up a VM on ESX server in case of disaster recovery? I guess that this pure backup using FastSCP could be restored onto another ESX server by simply copying back? If so, then that's what we'll do. We were struggling a bit with having an entire backup of a big VM with lots of disk space. We were considering still using Acronis True Image which is what we use at the moment in case of software disaster (not much use for hardware disaster) and taking an image of the C: drive and, in disaster, restoring the E: data drive from tape/backup-to-disk.

Cheers, Rob.

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

> I then wondered whether is was possible to use VMware Converter to convert this pure ESX 3.5 copy into a VMware workstation VM.

You do not need converter at all.

Assume you have the test.vmdk and the test-flat.vmdk on a windows-host - then you can either rewrite the test.vmdk following this guide

http://sanbarrow.com/vmdk/monolithicFlat-with-WS-and-ESX.html

or look here http://sanbarrow.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1162

Ulli


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

InforMed_Direct
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for that - most useful. Will give it a go.

Cheers, Rob.

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InforMed_Direct
Contributor
Contributor

See thread for solution.

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