vmdk and vmx format: betweens ESX 3.02 and ESX 3.5

[Dandan712]

I have an urgent question regarding one of my customers.

They are running ESX 3.02.

We are running ESX 3.5

We have a VM that need to be exported to the customer ESX server, but of course, our ESX servers are not connected to each other. So we will go to the customers site with an external USB drive, providing the VM.

My question is the following: Will it be ok if I put all my VM files ( from my ESX 3.5 server ) to the external drive, and then, at the customer's site, I copy all these files to his ESX 3.02 server ( using for example win scp ) ?

My doubts are because we do not have the same ESX versions( 3.5 versus 3.02 ) and I need to be sure that the vm format will be ok when I'll run my 3.5 VM files into his 3.02 esx server !!!

Many thanks in advance. This is quite an urgent issue.

Note: We already tried to use VM converter to put the VM , first in a vm workstation 6.X format, then re import it from the customer ESX server, but there is an issue to re import it with converter ( ie: vm converter agent error... so we will not use VM Converter in this case )

[Texiwill]

Hello,

You can safely take a v3.0.2 VM and run it on a v3.5 system. VMs are backwards compatible. However, what you propose is forwards compatible, since your customer has v3.0.2 and that is not supported. I would use VMware Converter to convert the VM to s stand alone VM usable by VMware Workstation, then at the customer site use VMware COnverter to import the VM into their environment. THis will handle all the little virtual hardware issues that can crop up. I would not do a direct copy.

Note however that you may run more into legal issues about who owns the VM than anything else. For example if that is a Microsoft VM I do not believe what you are proposing is actually legal.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

[Dandan712]

Hi Texwill,

Yes, I agree with you: the best solution is to use converter... However, as i stated in my post, I've converted my VM to a vm workstation 6.x format, and then, when I wanted to test that I can r-import it to an ESX server, I got error messages from converter : it cannot convert it successfully... So, I'm blocked, I don't know what to do.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

You may need to convert to a WS v5 version of the VM as that is roughly the age of ESX v3.0.2. I would not use a WS v6 version of the VM for this. THat could be your issue.

The problem is that the virtual hardware has changed from v3.0.2 to v3.5 and while v3.5 can run v3.0.2 VMs, the reverse is not always true. You could try using an OVF (export using the VIC, but you would also need to convert during that phase to a much older version of the virtual hardware).

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

[Dandan712]

Yes indeed, I use the VM 5.x format to conver.

I tried to re import the converted vm to my ESX ( just to test ) but the converter went into error.

I think it's because my VM has 3 virtiual drives: maybe the converter does not like this.

Is there any way to bypass

[Texiwill]

Hello,

The number of VMDKs should not matter. Do you have the specific error? Was there anything in the error or log files created that could help. Are you able to boot the VM in player or Workstation? Perhaps it was broken on the first conversion?

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links