I would like to get a clear understanding of exactly what VMware Converter is doing when it converts a physical machine into the files that VMware Player will use to bring up the VM. I have heard a couple of conflicting explanations and would like to hear from someone knowledgeable - maybe even point to a white paper - on exactly what takes place.
I have heard that the Converter program does some special things to the physical machine image to make it ready to be run under VMware Player that won't be done if you use something like Acronis True Image software and restore the Acronis backup into a properly configured VM (disk size, RAM, devices, networks, etc.). Specifically, I have heard that there are some special things done to strip out physical device information and replace it with VMware virtual device information. In essence, what that source is saying is that I must use VMware Converter or risk some problem down the line if I use Acronis or some other backup software.
I don't believe this to be the case but I would like some feedback to guide me in the right direction.
I believe that the converter program simply is copying the contents of your source physical system's disks to the virtual disks and creating a vmx configuration file to match what the converter program saw on the physical system. That means that the virtual disk files have a .vmdk extension and possibly some header or trailer information that allows VMware to link these files together to make a virtual disk. In addition, the configuration file with a .vmx extension has information concerning the disk size, amount of RAM, network connections, peripheral devices, etc. that Converter observed on the physical machine. The smarts concerning physical to virtual for anything within the newly created VM is handled by the VMware Player executable software and is not dependent on anything special that VMware Converter performs.
I believe that I should be able to create an Acronis True Image backup of a physical machine and restore it into a properly configured VM without potential problems down the line. Let's say that I have 2 physically identical computer systems (same sized disk, RAM, peripherals, etc.) both loaded with WinXP but with different programs and data. Computer 1 already has been converted using VMware Converter and is running as a VM. An Acronis backup is made of Computer 2. The VM for computer 1 is started but the boot sequence is interrupted so that I can boot from an Acronis boot CD. Acronis comes up and I choose to restore the backup image of Computer 2. The VM is rebooted and now it is Computer 2 that comes up within the VM. This should be a valid way of moving a physical machine into a VM unless there is something special that VMware Converter performs. If there are problems booting the newly restored VM then VMware Converter can be run, "Configure Machine" can be selected and the .vmx file can be modified if necessary.
So which is it? Do I have to use VMware Converter or can I use backup software in a manner as explained above?
Thank you for any assistance.
