VMware Cloud Community
jchayka
Contributor
Contributor

Vmware Converter & ESX 2.52

I have 5 2000 Windows servers that I want to convert to virtual machines and place on my ESX 2.5.2 server. FYI I do not have Virtual Center license and only perform activities thru the MUI.

I downloaded the new converter tool and since I do not have the option to save the sourse system to the ESX server I choose to save the image to a Windows share. Where it says what image to create, I choose the first option "vmware server". The conversion completed successfully. It created a .vmdk file and a .vmx file . I used winscp to copy the .vmdk file and the vmx file to the appropriate locations on the ESX server and made sure the permissions were correct. I then registered the .vmx file. For some reason it cannot locate the .vmdk file and it gets an error "Vmfs volume not found.vmdk " If I try to browse to the volume I dont see the .vmdk file. I have confimed that it does exist and is present.

What step am i missing in moving these files to the esx server and being able to link them and bring on line? It there a tool to use and what are the commands?

I even tried Where it says what image to create, I choose the 2nd option GSX server 3.0 to see if that would work but still the same error

Please help

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9 Replies
admin
Immortal
Immortal

Because you are using ESX Server 2.5.x, choose Workstation 4.x to get a VM on your Windows NTFS volumes that has the same virtual hardware level.

Then use scp to copy all the .vmdk files to your ESX Server service console. It needs to be a directory not under /vmfs. If you go through the MUI, you will see one icon with a bunch of files for the .vmdk.

Lastly, go to your ESX Server service console and run (as root) vmkfstools -i .

You will be able to see the new .vmdk file in VMFS. In the MUI, you will see the icon change for the disk-- one disk file instead of a bunch of files.

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jchayka
Contributor
Contributor

Received below error

\[root@vmware01 vmfs]# vmkfstools - i /tmp/cndc01/cndc01.vmdk /vmfs/vm hba0:2:0:1/cndc01.vmdk

SPARSE: "/tmp/cndc01/cndc01.vmdk" : failed to open (12): Disk needs repa ir.

DiskLib_Open() failed. The specified virtual disk needs repair. (12)

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

When you selected Workstation 4.x, did you ask to create 2GB files? You should have multiple .vmdk files that need to be copied over to ESX Server. The vmkfstools converts them into a single monolithic file.

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jchayka
Contributor
Contributor

no i created one large file oif 5 Gig. I will try to create multiple 2 gb files

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

You should use 2GB files. SCP sometimes has problems properly copying larger files.

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jchayka
Contributor
Contributor

I was able to create 2 gb files and copied all the .vmdk files over to the ESX 2.5.2 server. I proceeded to run the vmkfstools on the files and it completed successfully and it now shows up within the MUI as a.vmdk file.

I also copied over the .vmx file to the correct location and assigned the correct permissions. I registered the .vmx file and edited the Hard disk to point the the correct .vmdk file

New problem.. when I try to start the sysytem I get an error that says "Power on Failed"

What else do i need to do?? I am missing something...

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Jasemccarty
Immortal
Immortal

I would configure a new VM from the MUI, with all the appropriate settings, and point to the existing .vmdk that you imported.

You will probably have much better success with it running then.

Jase McCarty - @jasemccarty
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admin
Immortal
Immortal

The .vmx may have some configurations that will not work in ESX Server. As jasemccarty says, it will be easier to create a brand new VM, and then instead of creating new vmdks, use the existing ones and point to them.

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jchayka
Contributor
Contributor

I created a new VM and associated it with a existing vm and it works great.

Another question. Using the vmkfstools utility to import .vmdk files into vmfs file system.

I need to import a server whose .vmdk files add up to over 24 gig. They are currently stored on a windows server. I will use scp to move the files to the vmware server.in order to use the vmkfstools. Outside of the VMFS file system which is 200 gig I only have a 10 gig /vmimages directory and it will not accommodate the .vmdk's

Can I copy the .vmdk files to the vmfs partition and then run the vmkfstools to import or do they need to be located outside of the vmfs file system in order to import

Thanks

Jeff

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