VMware Converter OR Standalone .. I AM CONFUSSED! Please help

[geobrasil01]

Hello,

I have the vmware converter plugin installed. What is that for? I can find no documentation. The only documentation I can find is for the Standalone. Do they work together or what? Then the documentation always states to install the converter on the source machine and I don't understand which converter they are speaking of. I want to do cold cloning on my SQL servers. This is the standalone version "VMware-converter-4.0.1-161434.exe" and this is the VMware converter "VMware-Converter.exe" I did use the Standalone for a test of my Vista machine as a hot clone and that worked fine. But I don't understand the process for the cold cloning. Can someone point me to the documentation.

My enviornment is PE2950, ESXi 4.0 embedded, vCenter Server vSphere 4.0. I am cloning all W2K8 standard servers. Some SQL, DC's, and the rest file servers. One Application Server.

HELP!

Thanks

Geobrasil

[weinstein5]

When you set up vCenter it will install VMware Converter and give you the ability to conver physical to virtual (P2V) - you can also install the converter software on its own machine - you can either do the ocnversion from this machine or have vcenter manage the conversions with the plugin -

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[geobrasil01]

Yes, I am aware of how to do hot cloning and how the agent installs during the process. My issue is with Cold Cloning. Also you refer to VMware Converter, like so many others. When you say that are you speaking of "Standalone" or the Converter (which is a plug in but also the install agent on machines being converted)? I did my hot cloning without any plugin installed in vCenter. I just installed the the Standalone Converter Software, then hot cloned my machine. So that is why I don't understand the plugin's purpose or use! When I did research on Cold Cloning that is where they refer to the converter not the Standalone Cenverter. But again I can't find any documentation on cold cloning without using a third party imaging software.

Thanks

GeoBrasil

[kkm]

There is a "Bootable" cd iso available from the download site that you could your physical server from. It boots to a WinPE image that allows you to do a "cold clone" of the physical server. The Standalone version, is as was stated by a pervious post is a machine (VM or physical) that can install the converter agent onto a physical machine, and provide you with the "hot clone" capabities.

Try the following link to get the bootable cd image.

http://www.vmware.com/download/download.do?downloadGroup=VC250U4

Hope this helps.

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[joebabbo · Accepted solution]

Geobrasil,

I understand the confusion around the different Converter products. Hopefully I can help you better understand which version is right for you. The reason for the different versions is based on what type of conversion you'd like to do, what Physical OSes (Source) are supported and what your Virtual environment(Target) is going to be.

Couple of warning or best practices:

- VMware does NOT recommend P2V conversion of DC's. It is preferred to build NEW VMs for this.

- Quiesce your applications (SQL, WEb, etc.) before doing a hot-clone (Enterprise plug-in or Stand-alone)

First, for each platform VI3.x, VI4.x there is BOTH an Enterprise version (plug-in) and a Standalone version (Windows & Linux applications)

- VMware comparision chart gives an overview of the differences (http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/get.html)

Non-exhaustive summary below:

Enterprise edition:

Pros:vCenter integration and automation, includes support

Cons: you have to pay for it (you already have it so this doesn't factor into your evaluation. No "multi-stage" conversion (i.e. 1 snapshot converter, deltas on a running machine are lost or manually migrated). No Linux support. Only supports VI as target platform. Includes the "cold-clone" CD.

Stand-alone edition:

Pros:Supports Linux. Support VMware Desktop products (e.g. Workstation, Fusion) as target platforms. "Multi-stage" cloning, intial snapshot conversion than deltas. Source and target service and power control for Windows.

Cons: Pay-per-incident support. No automation, scheduling.

Cold-conversion

Pros: no changes can occur on source server. preserves logical partitions. No service, application conflict with local box. No installation on source box

Cons: Requires downtime for source server. Requires driver support for all devices on physical server to be present in BootCD (WinPE)

Hope this helps

[geobrasil01]

Joebabbo,

This answered the question, thanks!

But I still don't understand what the plugin is for or how to use it, I thought it went alonge with the Standalone? In other words they work in tandem, which allows the standalone to place the converted machine in my virtual environment wherever I choose.

George Knops

Network Coordinator - Associate

Phone: 414-286-2437

[joebabbo]

The plugin is "Converter Server for vCenter", if you will.

Once you install and enable it in your VI client (2-step process), you'll see an option to "Import Machine" into your VI (Cluster, Host, Resource Pool, etc.) This will fire up a familiar looking conversion wizard inside the VI client. You don't need a Standalone Converter install anywhere to perform conversion on VMs or physicals, it'll install the agent itself and 'act' as the Converter Server.

Regards

Addendum:

Sorry I didn't mention this earlier. Since you want to do "Cold Clones" all you need is the BootCD and your Target VI (credentials). The vCenter Converter Enterprise Converter plug-in and Converter Standalone are only necessary for "Hot-Clones" they don't do anything for a Cold Clone scenario.

[geobrasil01]

Joebabbo,

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!! Now that was cool. I am sure it is documented somewhere, but not as obvious as you made it for me.

Hey whoever hands out the points, give this one an addition 100pts.

Thank you so very much!

George Knops

Network Coordinator - Associate

Phone: 414-286-2437

[joebabbo]

LOL

Thanks, glad I could help.

Re: "points" wouldn't that be nice! Unfortunately the only points available are awarded when you mark the appropriate thread as the "Correct Answer"

Regards