newbie question: move a workstation version vm to VI3

[eagleh]

Hi there, I know this is a real newbie question. Since I don't have a backup of this vm, I don't want to mess it up. Is Vmware Converter sufficient to handle this transferring? The vm is a Linux OS on a windows workstation, also it is 200G big. Anybody can explain how to proceed without any risk? Do I need to shut down the vm first?

Thanks, EH

[Gerrit_Lehr · Accepted solution]

Well, backing the VM up is always a good idea, even though the Converter does not change anything from the source VM. Shut down the VM, tell Converter the Path to the source VM, select destination ESX and start. Afterward, you should reinstall the VMWare tools.

Kind Regards,

Gerrit Lehr

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[VMKR9]

Vmware conveter will not harm the source vm in any way so a backup would not be required, yes you need to shut down the source vm.

[jitendrakmr]

If you do a cold migration (powering off VM and booting it with VMWare Converter CD) using VMware Conveter then the source VM is not affected at all however with this method sometimes VMware converter gives error saying that "unknown/unrecognized operating system of source machine" then in that case you will probably need other methods like ghosting the source disks first and use ghost images of source disk for further migration etc to move this VM to VI3.

Thanks.

Jitendra Kumar

MCSE 2003, VCP, CCNA, ITIL Foundation

[eagleh]

Thank you all! To be safe, I may try cold migration.