How to move VMs from VMware Workstation to ESXi 4

[robwm]

Hi,

I have 3 Linux virtual machines running in VMware Workstation. How do I import or copy the files associated with the VMs to the ESX server. I have seen in the forums that I first need convert the VMs to ESX. From there I am not too clear how to get my VMs from a USB hard drive onto the ESX server hard drive. I don't want to use my USB hard drive as a datastore since the ESX server drives are more than enough space.

I have been looking through forums and the documentation but mostly what I find is how to create new VMs. I haven't found any discussion of how to copy your VMware Workstation VMs to the ESX server.

Thanks for you help!

Rob

[admin]

Just use VMware converter to do this, it is free:

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_vcenter_converter_standalone/4_0

[Troy_Clavell]

the easiest and most effective way is to use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.1

Check the release notes to see if you flavor of Linux is supported

[AntonVZhbankov]

Use VMware Converter

---

VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[robwm]

Thanks Guys!

I'll read up some more. Sounds like converting is only part of what it does...

I'm running openSUSE 11.0. I'm pretty sure that's supported. It's a supported guest OS for sure.

[robwm]

I started reading through the VMware Converter User's Guide. I made a copy of my virtual machines to an external USB hard drive. Will it work to convert these static copies or does it only work to convert the actual virtual machine? I am hosting my VMs on Windows Server 2003. My plan it to wipe this computer and install ESXi in its place. I would think this means I will have to convert a static copy of my VMs since the host OS will get wiped.

The Guide suggests that selecting a destination folder is part of the process. Will it work to output the converted VM back to the same USB drive or should I do the conversion only once ESXi is up and running then use the ESXi server as the destination?

How long would you expect it to take to install ESXi, convert 3 VMs, copy them to the ESXi server, and have them up and running? I have seen the installation of ESXi and that goes fairly fast. This conversion process seems a bit confusing from this guide so I am hoping I'll not be struggling for a number of days. My hope is that I could do this in about a full day. My installation should be very basic and will only involve one NIC set to a static IP.

[Nikhil_Patwa]

Hi rob

using VMWare Standalone Converter is the correct way of converting VMs from Workstation to ESXi. Install the converter in any windows environment (I have installed in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003), then you will first require to install ESXi in your server and configure it. Try login to ESXi server from the vSphere Client installed in any workstation, set the root password.

Now use the converter to convert your VMWare workstation VMs to ESXi. Make sure your linux VMs are either copied in the computer that has the converter installed or copied in a USB drive connected to the computer where converter is installed as you will be required to define the source of VM. Select the destination to be VMWare Infrastructure which is ESXi, provide either the IP address or name, username and password of ESXi server. Once all the details are provided the conversion process will start and its pretty fast. I have converted many VMs of different sizes and roughly for a 10 GB VM it will take 1 hour to get converted.

Hope this will help you.

Regards,

Nikhil

[J1mbo]

Will ESX not run Workstation VMs? The other way around seemed to work okay?

Assuming it will, I would attached the USB device to another computer and upload the VM's from it to the ESX server using vSphere Client's datastore browser. Then add to ESX inventory and power on.

Most likely I am missing something.

Please award points to any useful answer.

[Kasraeian]

There's Other way for Importing VM from Workstation to ESX/ESXi but it may look funny.

When Starting the Creation of new VM in Workstation, Chosse "Custom (advanced)" and after that in "Virtual Machine Hardware Compatibility" select "Workstation 5" and check th "ESX Server" check-box.

You have to do it, if you know that you will transfer it to ESX/ESXi server and by doing this, you wouldn't need Converter.

But I prefer Converter myself.

[robwm]

I ended up using VMware vCenter Converter 4.0.1 to get my VMs to my ESXi 4.0 server. Now I get why you guys couldn't explain it any more thoroughly. It's so simple that it's pretty much self explanatory. Just run the app, it makes perfect sense!

It was rather time consuming to perform the conversion but it is far faster than rebuilding all of my servers from scratch! There was a glitch where the linux servers seemed to think they now have two NICs even though VMware has equipped them with one. I just deleted one NIC and configured the other. It couldn't be easier than that.

Kudos to VMware for making this valuable utility! It saved me many many hours!

I would also like to thank everyone that responded. All of you taught me a lot! This was a great learning experience.