Error converting Symantec BESR 8.5 with Converter 5.0.1

[Dreckly]

Hi,

  I will be working on a customer's system from my office, so we've taken a copy of their Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery (ver 8.5) files and I'm trying to put them through the VMware Standalone Converter, but I'm having some problems, so I'm hoping someone can help...

  A little background, this is VMware vCenter Converter Standalone version 5.0.1 build 875114, running on 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise.

  I have copied the BESR images to the local C: drive (hoping that would help).

  Basically, I open the converter, click on "Convert Machine", selected source type "Backup image or third-party virtual machine" and browsed to the .sv2i file from the backup.

If I click Next, or click "View Source Details..." then I get the error "The source parameters are invalid" across the GUI.

That's it...

  So, it appears that the converter doesn't like the .sv2i file.

  Unfortunately, there's nothing which tells me what the problem is and I can't see any way of making the logging any more useful.

  Looking at "vmware-converter-worker-1.log" I see the following:

2012-11-22T18:33:35.167Z [06656 info 'Default'] Impersonating user TestAdmin in session 52bf6f9c-9e0b-00cf-d26c-7695b7fea6f0
2012-11-22T18:34:51.084Z [05256 info 'Default'] Could not find the session object cache, will create a new one
2012-11-22T18:34:51.085Z [05256 error 'Default'] [sv2iParser,235] Invalid xml file
2012-11-22T18:34:51.085Z [05256 error 'Default'] [sv2iParser,180] Invalid xml file
2012-11-22T18:34:51.085Z [05256 error 'Default'] [ParseComputer] Failed to wrap C:\Temp\Machine1\Machine1.sv2i in directory C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-temp\vmware-TestAdmin-1009\xtuljocgtropmovk: V2ILIB_GETINFO
2012-11-22T18:34:51.085Z [05256 info 'Default'] Scheduled timer canceled, StopKeepAlive succeeds

So, the sv2iparser thinks the .sv2i (XML) file has problems, but it's on the converter list of compatible products...

I've looked at the .sv2i file and my first thoughts were that the ImageFile entry was causing the problems - it was originally pointing to the original (customer's) backup folder as a UNC path (\\server\share\filename), so I changed that to a local path.

No change.

The next point I noticed was that the HistoryFile entry points to a file which only exists on the backup server, nothing that I have with the backup images... removing that made no difference.

Discussing with the customer, they're able to do convert this, so I'm presuming it's a fault with my system.

In the converter-gui-9.log, I see the following, which look concerning:

2012-11-22T18:33:35.302Z [08684 error 'Default'] SourceSelectPluginModel::BuildFilter 3rd party type microsoftVirtualPCVM not found
2012-11-22T18:33:35.302Z [08684 error 'Default'] SourceSelectPluginModel::BuildFilter 3rd party type parallelsVM not found
2012-11-22T18:33:35.302Z [08684 error 'Default'] SourceSelectPluginModel::BuildFilter 3rd party type vmwareVCBBackup not found
2012-11-22T18:33:35.302Z [08684 error 'Default'] SourceSelectPluginModel::BuildFilter 3rd party type livestateBackup not found
2012-11-22T18:33:35.302Z [08684 error 'Default'] SourceSelectPluginModel::BuildFilter 3rd party type shadowProtectBackup not found
2012-11-22T18:33:35.302Z [08684 error 'Default'] SourceSelectPluginModel::BuildFilter 3rd party type acronisBackup not found
2012-11-22T18:33:35.302Z [08684 error 'Default'] SourceSelectPluginModel::BuildFilter 3rd party type vmwareVM not found
2012-11-22T18:33:35.302Z [08684 error 'Default'] SourceSelectPluginModel::BuildThirdpartyHostedExtVector 3rd party type vmwareVM not found

I've tried searching the interweb and reading the knowledge base, ie:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&e...

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1004588&sl...

But that didn't make any difference...

Can anyone give me some pointers?

Thanks

[continuum]

Use the BESR LiveCD to restore the image from network into a newky created VM.
Then use Converter later - with "configure machine" option to patch the new VM

[Dreckly]

OK, thanks for that ... I'll have to consider that the last resort though, as I am no longer at the customer's premesis (it's a long drive) and I don't have a copy of BESR with me.

At least I know that there's another option - so thanks.

However, I would like to pursue this further - it seems to be a bug to me...

Any further suggestions?

Are the SourceSelectPluginModel::BuildFilter errors "normal", for example?

Does anyone have any ideas how to increase verbosity in the logging?

Anyone know which sv2i parameters are used, and which are ignored?

Thanks,

[KMTR]

Edit the sv2i file in the source location. You are calling missing partitions. BESR 8.5 works w/ Converter 5.1.

:smileycool:

Regards.