Transfer vmdk from VMware Player to ESXi

[nusa]

Hi,

I don't know if this has been answered, but I couldn't find. How to transfer large files of vmdk from VMware Player under Windows to ESXi ? Using 'Upload files / folder' on ESXi took ages. Using WinSCP, the vmdk at ESXi became corrupted. Which method do you use ?

Thanks.

[a_p_]

You probably should use VMware Converter. Uploading vmdk files created in VMware Player may not work in ESXi due to the vmdk format.

André

[nusa]

Hi Andre,

Thanks for quick reply. Using Converter then WinSCP ?

[a_p_]

Using Converter then WinSCP ?

You can use VMware Converter to directly convert a VM to ESXi. No need for WinSCP.

André

[nusa]

Hi Andre,

Yes, that's correct, you don't need WinSCP. I just launch my Converter 4.3.0, I can select the source type as "VMware Workstation or other VMware virtual machine", but for destination type, is "VMware Infrastructure virtual machine" the correct one ?

[a_p_]

... is "VMware Infrastructure virtual machine" the correct one ?

Yes.

André

[nusa]

OK, Andre, let me try that, and this will take a while as the size is around 80 GB ...

Thanks

[nusa]

Hi,

Using Converter to transfer 80GB vmdk ( 50 + 30 ) took around 2.5 hours ! But it works. Any other faster way ?

[a_p_]

That's about what you have to expect with a 100 MBit/s network. It also depends on the ESXi's storage, i.e. whether it operates in write-back or write-through mode.

André

[continuum]

> Any other faster way ?

Is almost at once good enough

if you can install a NFS-server on your VMplayer host you can present the VM to your esxi so that it can be started at once - and then maybe later use vmotion ...

to make it work the VMplayer VMs must use diskformat "monolithicFlat" - thats the one piece preallocated one.
That type can be changed to "vmfs" format easily.

Then you would launch viclient, add the NFS storage, create a new VM on normal esxi-storage and let it use the rewritten vmdk on the NFS-storage.
With the to-be-imported vmdk on a NFS-share you can also use vmkfstools to import the file. Seems quite fast to me - and has a predictable progressbar ...

[nusa]

@Andre & @continuum, thanks for your reply.

On the vSphere Cleint -> Datastore Browser, you can 'Upload File' or 'Upload folder'. When should we use it and when should not use it ?

[a_p_]

Although in some circumstances it is possible to upload/download complete virtual machines, I'd recommend you use VMware Converter to do this job. I usually use the datastore browser to e.g. download log files and/or to upload ISO files which can be attached to the VM's virtual CD-ROM drives.

André