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arcticeye
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Copy VM from another PC/Server

Hi fellas,

Thanks for let me join your group and participate.

I have the following question. If that's already answered I would be pleased if you let me know the link.

I have a brand new ESXi5 server and i have lots of machines already in production on another Linux Server (using SMB Shares). How could I connect via network or at least usb to take that to the new ESXi5 using vsphere 5 client?

Thank you very much,

Kind Regards,

Matias

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nielse
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You should be able to rightclick a VM and then select clone VM. Then you can clone the VM to the local storage on the ESXi 5 host.

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5

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nielse
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If you are already running VM's on your Linux server you could export the directory they are running from through NFS. Then mount the NFS directory on your ESXi 5 box, power down your VM's on the old host and import them on the new ESXi 5 host.

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
arcticeye
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Thank you very much. And I would really like also how to do that at least from the VSphere(how to see network NFS directories). Could you or anyone show me?

Thanks again,

Regards,

Matias

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nielse
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Select your new ESXi host, go to Configuration -> Storage -> Add Storage. Select "Network File System" and next, then fill in the IP, the NFS share and a name for the share, hit next and then finish. The share will be shown there. From there you can right click on the name and do "browse datastore" and import vmx files into your new ESXi host :-).

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
arcticeye
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In Ubuntu, when I try to install nfs, asks me to remove:

ia32-libs{u} lib32asound2{u} lib32bz2-1.0{u} lib32gcc1{u}
  lib32ncurses5{u} lib32stdc++6{u} lib32v4l-0{u} lib32z1{u} libc6-i386{u}
  nspluginwrapper{u}

I'm afraid this affect the disponibility of my server. I have VirtualBox running and the network, as importants software.

What do you people guess?

Thank you again for your time,

Matias

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nielse
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Do you get this when you run "sudo apt-get install nfs-kernel-server nfs-common portmap" ?

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
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arcticeye
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Right !

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nielse
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The packages which are listed aren't needed for neither VirtualBox nor the network. Do keep in mind that if you have VirtualBox VM's you will have to convert these to VMware format. You can't just run the VirtualBox VM's in a VMware environment.

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
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arcticeye
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Yes! I've already converted it. Anyway thank you very much for the tip.

I will tell you if everything goes well Smiley Happy

Matias

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arcticeye
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Hi Niels,

Now I'm little out of topic..I have the licence for VMware vSphere Hypervisor , i installed it but i don't see where to put the code. It says I have 60days left.

Thanks

Matias

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nielse
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You can change the license under Configuration -> "Licensed Features" (in the Software box) and then choose "Edit..." in the right corner :-). There you can assign the new key.

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
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arcticeye
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Great, I was able to connect the network disk and it's working!

My question still is.. what if I wanted to have the VM Ii'm running in the other server via networking in the local. Is there any way to copy the vm to the local pc?

Thanks again, you rock man.

Matias

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nielse
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You should be able to rightclick a VM and then select clone VM. Then you can clone the VM to the local storage on the ESXi 5 host.

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
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arcticeye
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Great! Thanks again.

You don't live in Argentina because if you were to live here i would invite you with a good barbecue.

Have another question. I'm running Corel Autocad, etc, I see in video settings it's disabled and cannot activate. Without that option corel and other 3d apps work horribly. Any suggestion to make it work? Do you think I should open a new thread for that?

Matias

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nielse
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I think you need to share more memory to the virtual machine for the video settings (edit settings -> Video Card). I am not well known with 3D apps in VM's so a new thread will probably get you further 🙂

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
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arcticeye
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Thanks! It worked.

Now, I couldn't Clone the VM. As you said, in the official manual you read the same than your wrote "Right clic in the virtual machine then option Clone". But I don't see that option when right clicking.. may it be that is a network storage?

Cheers,

Matias

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nielse
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I forgot you are running a single host; the clone option is something vCenter related. You can clone a VM on a single host with a workaround:

Browse to the datastore:

  • Click on the host > Configuration tab
  • Right-click on the datastore with the VM you want to clone > Browse Datastore
  • Create a new folder in the store
  • Right click on the VM folder and select Copy (must be done in the right pane of the Datastore Browser)
  • Paste the VM to a new sub folder (otherwise the VM will overwrite itself)
  • Once copied, rename and move the folder if desired
  • Select the .vmx file within the cloned VM and select 'Add to Inventory'

I do not know for sure if you can copy it to the local disk, in case this doesn't work you will have to copy the VM on the same storage and then scp the data from the storage host to the ESXi host.

You can enable SSH on the host in the Configuration tab > Security Profile (under Software) -> Choose properties on the services part -> Select SSH from the list and finally choose Options and change the policy to "start and stop with host" and start the specific service.

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
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nielse
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Another (and probably better way) is to use the export OVF template option. You will have to power off your VM.

Select the specific VM -> go to File -> Export -> Export OVF Template. Save the VM as a template and then finally import it again by using File -> Import OVF template.

In that way you can put the VM on the local disk.

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
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arcticeye
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Great.. I'm trying the 2nd option. Which is the difference between OVF and single file?

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nielse
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OVF is officialy supported and should be working fine. The SCP one is another option but takes more time and isn't the best way to do it.

@nielsengelen - http://foonet.be - VCP4/5
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