Restore esx image backup on vmware server?

[vmmuch]

I am looking to purchase ESX to load on a single host server for a small business at which it is only feasible to purchase a single copy of ESX. I am wondering if it is reasonable to have another windows machine provisioned with the free VMware Server for use as a warm spare. I am envisioning using Consolidated Backup or scripts to copy the vmx and vmdk files to the windows computer and have it ready to start the pre-loaded copy of the virtual machine in the event of hardware problems on the ESX server. Does this seem feasible? Are there any caveats that would prevent this from working quickly?

Most of the discussions I have seen center around using another ESX server to start the machine. I have not seen any discussions of using the VMWare Server product in this capacity. I am on the right track here?

Thanks.

[Gerrit_Lehr]

Unfortunatly, you will not be able to run the VCB Images directly in VMWare Server. However, what you could do is use the free VMWare Converter to convert the VCB Image to a VMWare Server VM. But, assuming you are running Windows VMs, you could also directly clone ESX VMs to VMWare Server VMs while they are running.

Kind Regards,

Gerrit Lehr

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[vmmuch]

Thanks for the quick response. I ran some searches and found different techniques that were all described as "cloning." Could you point me in the right direction regarding which one you had in mind? Also, did you mean the clone could be performed while the guest machine is still running? That would be fantastic.

[Gerrit_Lehr]

Yes, cloning is used in various contexts

Using VMWare Converter you can create a clone which is capable of running on VMWare Server from a running Windows System without interruption. In this case, the ESX Server is not even involved, since you tell VMWare converter to treat the VM like a physical Windows System (VMWare Converter then doesnt get the difference). The result is a clone of the running VM, ready to be powered up on VMWare Server. Of course, we are talking about a disk-only clone, which means the current Systemstate (Memory, IO State etc.) is not cloned (because the destination VM power off anyway), like it would be in case of a ESX Snaphot. But I reckon this is not necessary?!

Kind Regards,

Gerrit Lehr

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[azn2kew]

Your best choice is to use VMware Converter because it gives you the choice to expand/reduce/exclude disk drives when converting. You of course can copy the whole VM folders that contains all .vmdk, .vmx, .log files to remove shared location using WinSCP or Veeam FastSCP as well and than turn it on with VMware Server using the "Browse" and "Add to Inventory" feature which is fine as well. You can also use command line utility if you want to import/export virtual machines using vmkfstools -i source/destination. If you want latest copy of all your Virtual Machines than using VMware Converter and schedule windows task to run converter daily, weekly and store it somewhere locally.

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Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant