ESXi

Hello there!

I'm new to VMware and have tried to find this answer prior to posting here, but no luck yet.

We have a client that is going to be virtualizing their servers onto an ESXi 5.  The current client server in question is running Windows 2003 R2 and has an Oracle database on it.  I have read that Oracle databases work just fine with the ESX, but I haven't found any documentation explaining the conversion process from a physical machine.  I would imagine it involves stopping oracle services and then performing the conversion, but wanting to be thorough I decided to ask here.  Thanks, everyone!!

Truman

Welcome to the Communities -  You would use a tool like VMware' Stand Alone Converter or PlateSpin Migrate - both will allow you convert Physical to Virtual (P2V) your Oracle server and you are correct best practice would be to shut down the Oracle Database during the migration.

The difference between the two products is VMware's is free PLateSpin costs but you get more functinality with PlateSpin -

Oracle isn't any different to any other database as far as VMware is concerned. There are plenty of documents on virtualizing Microsoft SQL so you could easily follow them for a high level.

But it appears you already have things worked out - stop the database services so you know it's consistent and let the P2V software do its thing.

Personally though, I'd look for an excuse to migrate to a more modern guest OS :smileyhappy:

Thanks for the reply guys!  I will begin searching for some good reads on converting from SQL to see how applicable it is.  The migration won't take place until Friday so I think that's enough time to prepare.  Any articles in particular that you recommend I look over?

Haha and yeah, it'd be smart but I think they won't upgrade until they absolutely have to.

I found a few helpful links in case someone else runs into the same issue:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/968566#968566

http://communities.vmware.com/message/2187130

http://blog.outsidesys.com/2011/02/16/vmware-converter-p2v-preparation-best-practices/

Knowing what to search for helped a lot here (previously unfamiliar with the term P2V...yep, I'm a n00b).  Thanks again for your input on this.  I consider this question as being adequately answered but I want to wait to mark it that way until Friday when the work is done.  That way I can post how it went.

Just as a final follow up for this - I was able to do the conversion no problem last night.  Everything has gone smoothly so far and tomorrow I will power on the VM to test its functionality.  Thanks for the help!!