Suggestions for running VMware Converter over the internet

[RichKav]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a bit of advice

Currently using VMware Workstation 9 and things are going great, I've P2V'd a couple of local machines on the network using the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Client (5.1) and had no issues at all.

What I am currently looking to do now however is proving somewhat challenging.

I have a web/database server which is in a datacenter that I wish to P2V. The server is running Windows 2008 Server R2 edition and I can connect to the server using Remote Desktop. I have access to the firewall on the server (it only has the default / built in Windows firewall) and I have access to the firewall in the office here.

The server is limited on disk space, it has two physical drives as:

C: 30GB (2.7GB free space)

😧 16GB (5.1GB free space)

The lack of local disk space is naturally preventing me from running the P2V and storing the img locally, then downloading via FTP or similar.

Therefore, I'm wondering what my options are...

Would it be feasible to try and run the P2V from the office (bandwidth is 30Mb downstream, 3Mb upstream)?  If so, what prerequisites would be required in terms of firewall ports or maybe even VPN connections?

Any other suggestions on how best to P2V this machine would be welcomed

[POCEH]

If I recall properly the limititation is < 200ms response time... And of cource VPN is preffered solution. HTH

[RichKav]

Hi there, thanks for the reply.

I can get a VPN set up I guess, will need to install RRAS etc on the host but that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Average ping is around 50ms so that might not be an issue. I wasn't sure what would happen though if the connection timed out. Naturally it would take hours and hours to shift that amount of data, would you happen to know if the converter has a timeout setting or will it keep going until complete.

Are there any other solutions or suggestions as to a better way to do this one?

[POCEH]

Unfortunatly the Converter is very sensitive to network drops and there is no way to recover from failed conversion.

If it applicable it's better to transfer the machine in WS format (USB stick or similar) but you'll loose latest changes...

One more thing - the Converter needs to see ESX on port 902, see manual.

HTH

[RichKav · Accepted solution]

Just a quick update.

Yesterday I installed RRAS on the server I wished to P2V, then using a local Win7 client machine I connected via VPN to the server (ironically, the Win7 client was a VM itself ). With the VPN in place, I did a full install of the Standalone Converter on both the host server and the client machine. I then had the server connect to the Win7 machine and set the P2V process going.

9 hours and 58 minutes later it had finished and I now have the P2V'd machine running here on Workstation 9.

It seems the almost impossible was actually possible