IP50

VMware Converter Best Practices

Pang Chen
Consulting Architect
VMware Professional Services
Session Objectives

Brief Overview of VMware Converter

For some of you who are new to VMware Converter
VMware Converter Best Practices Checklist
10 steps to help you with smoother conversions
VMware Converter Troubleshooting
Symptoms and possible resolutions to common problems
VMware Converter Overview

VMware Converter is a productivity tool for

Physical machine to virtual machine conversions (“P2V”)
Virtual machine format conversions

Physical Machine

VMware VM

VMware VM
VMware Converter Uses Cases

Physical to Virtual (P2V) Conversions

Server consolidation
Testing and troubleshooting
Disaster recovery

VM Conversions
VM mobility across VMware platforms
Import Microsoft Virtual PC/Server VMs
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) restore
Conversion Steps

1. Clone Machine
Copy the source machine’s disk(s)
Create a new VM and virtual disk(s)
2. Configure Machine
Update Guest OS as needed to make VM bootable
Remove hardware-specific devices
Update Windows registry
Conversion Steps

3. “Clean-Up” Machine
Power on new VM
Detect new hardware as needed
Adjust networking as needed
Clone Machine

Hot Clone Agent

Agent-based
Source machine remains powered on Agent

Local or remote
Relative to VMware Converter application

Cold Clone
Agent-less
Source machine is powered off
Bootstrap using cold clone boot CD
Other Options

Supported Physical Image Formats

VMware Converter imports physical image file directly
Supported formats:
Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery
StorageCraft ShadowProtect

Using Other Third-Party Imaging Applications

Create a disk image
Create a new VM with blank virtual disk(s)
Restore disk image to new VM’s virtual disk(s)
Run VMware Converter Æ Configure
VM Conversion

Import VM
Power off VM
Browse to VM .vmx
Specify destination

or

Convert as “Physical Machine”

Power on VM
Connect over network to Guest OS
Specify destination
Disk Cloning Options

Volume-Based
Available on all options – hot or cold cloning or VM import
Take all or selected partitions on disk(s)
Maintain or resize partitions
Block-level or file-level cloning

Disk-Based
Available on cold cloning or VM import only (not hot cloning)
Clone all disks and maintain size
Block-level cloning
VMware Converter Editions
Feature Starter Mode Enterprise Edition
VM Conversion 9 9
Conversion of Windows OSes 9 9
Hot Cloning: Local 9 9
Hot Cloning: Remote Directly to
Hosted VMware Platform 9 9
Hot Cloning: Remote Directly to
ESX Server Platform
9
Cold Cloning 9
Concurrent Tasks 9
Command Line Tool VCB restore only 9
Bundled with
Pricing/Availability Free Download
VirtualCenter Server

Support Pay Per Incident VirtualCenter Support

VMware Converter 3.0.1 Supported Operating
Systems
Operating System Clone Configure
Windows NT 4.0 (SP4 or higher)
9 9
Workstation and Server
Windows 2000
9 9
Professional and Server
Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit 9 9
Windows Server 2003 32-bit and 64-bit 9 9
MS-DOS 9* manual
Windows 9x 9* manual
Novell 9* manual
Linux 9* manual

* Cold disk-based cloning or VM disk-based cloning required

Best Practices

10-Step Checklist
1. Location
2. Accounts
3. Network
4. VMware Converter Installation Requirements
5. Source Operating System Requirements
6. Cloning Considerations
7. Downtime Considerations
8. New VM Requirements
9. Supporting Files
10. Cleanup (P2V only)
1. Location

Where is…
VMware Converter?
The Destination?

Workstation/Server

Source Machine
?
Central Admin ESX Server
1. Location
Destination Converter Comments
on source machine • Converter Starter limited to local
(local hot cloning) hot cloning to ESX Server
not on source
ESX Server (remote hot
cloning) • Requires Converter Enterprise
or via boot CD
(cold cloning)
• Browse to destination directory
on source machine or specify UNC path
Workstation or not on source
machine • New VM can be subsequently
or Server
imported to ESX Server
(Hosted)
on boot CD
• Requires Converter Enterprise
(cold cloning)

If going to ESX Server 2.5.x host, must connect via VirtualCenter 2.x
2. Accounts

Do you have the proper permissions to…

Install the Converter agent?
Read source files?
Create the new VM?
Log in without a network connection?
2. Accounts

How are you logging into the source?

Use local administrator for physical machines
If importing VMs, need read access to source VM files

How are you logging into the destination?

For ESX Server, use account with permissions to create VMs
For Workstation/Server, use account that has write privileges to
network share
3. Network

Make sure required TCP/UDP ports are open for data transfer

Network Path Ports

Converter to Source 445 and 139
Converter to Destination
443 and 902
(ESX Server or VirtualCenter w/ ESX Server)
Source to Destination
443 and 902
(ESX Server or VirtualCenter w/ ESX Server)
Converter to Destination
445 and 139
(Workstation/Server)
Source to Destination
445 and 139
(Workstation/Server)

Use resolvable fully qualified domain names for components

4. VMware Converter Installation Requirements

Operating System Requirements

Windows NT 4.0 SP6, Windows 2000, XP, and 2003
If importing VM or physical image, Windows level of Converter must
be >= source
Windows NT 4.0 and 2000 will require a reboot
At least 120MB free space
Machine Requirements
Install on source machine or dedicated machine
Converter is built-in with Workstation 6.x
Avoid installing on machines running other dedicated processes
5. Source Operating System Requirements

Windows Services Enabled (Hot Cloning Only)

Workstation service
Server service
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service
Volume Shadow Copy service (Windows Server 2003 and XP)

Other Windows Settings

Disable Windows Simple File Sharing (Windows XP only)
5. Source Operating System Requirements
(continued)
Disk Requirements
At least 200MB free space for hot cloning
No software-implemented mirrored or striped volumes across
multiple disks
At least one NTFS volume (hot cloning)

Applications
Disable antivirus software prior to cloning
6. Cloning Considerations

Size vs. Speed

Preserving or enlarging disk volume sizes defaults to block-level
cloning
Shrinking disk volume sizes changes copying method to file-level
cloning
Block-level cloning is faster than file-level cloning

Volume vs. Disk

VMware Converter creates new virtual disks to match source
machine’s disks
Multiple volumes on a single source disk result in a single virtual
disk
7. Downtime Considerations

Hot Cloning
Shut down applications if possible
Keep users off if possible

Cold Cloning
Machine is not available

VM Import
Power off VM
Power on and treat as “physical machine”
8. New VM Requirements

Disk Space
Sufficient space for new VM’s virtual disks

VM Settings
Number of vCPUs
USB devices
SCSI controller type
9. Supporting Files

Service Packs
Multiprocessor source machines (Windows NT 4.0)

Hot Fixes
Scsiport.sys (Windows 2000 Post SP4)
Hot fix with updated ntoskernel.exe or hal.dll (Windows NT 4.0)
10. Cleanup (P2V Only)

Detect Hardware
Allow Windows to detect new hardware

Configure Network
Install and configure virtual network adapter

Match HAL
Use ACPI Multiprocessor for SMP vCPU VM
Use “Advanced Configuration Power Interface” for 1 vCPU VM
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
VMware Converter agent installation fails

Possible Resolutions:
Reboot source machine and reinstall agent
Use local administrator account for credentials
Verify required network ports are open (remote hot clone)
Disable Windows page file or resize page file on source
Update Windows Installer (MSI)
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
Cloning jumps to 97% very quickly and fails

Possible Resolutions:
Verify Converter agent installed correctly
Verify Windows NT 4.0 or 2000 source rebooted after agent
install
Verify required Windows services are enabled (hot cloning)
Verify required network ports are open
Verify DNS and reverse DNS lookup is correct
Troubleshooting

More Possible Resolutions:

Use English ASCII characters for destination path and VM name
Verify administrator account name does not contain ! or &
characters
Verify UNC path is correct (may require trailing ‘\’)
ESX Server 2.5.x destination requires going through
VirtualCenter 2.x
Use VMware Converter cold cloning
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
VMware Converter reports that requested Windows scsiport.sys
file is incorrect version

Possible Resolutions:
Avoid using scisport.sys version 5.00.2195.7017
Supply a file from a running Windows 2000 VM
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
VMware Converter reports a “number of virtual devices exceeds
the maximum for a given controller” error

Possible Resolutions:
Go to source machine and check registry
Look for
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\SERIALCOMM
Delete CcmPort3 thru CcmPort9
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
Cloning takes a while but VMware Converter fails at 97%

Possible Resolutions:
Verify OS requirements when importing VM
Break any software-implemented disk mirrors in source OS
Review boot.ini for multi-boot systems
Verify registry update permissions are set in source OS
Run “dcomcnfg”
Select Default Properties tab
Set impersonation level to “Impersonate” from “Identity” (default)
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
Windows Blue Screen STOP error when powering on new VM

Possible Resolutions:
Boot up in Windows Safe Mode to test if hardware-specific
services are being loaded
Verify virtual SCSI controller (BusLogic or LSI Logic)
Run VMware Converter Æ Configure on VM
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
No boot disk found when powering on VM

Possible Resolutions:
Reboot, hit F2 to enter BIOS, and change the order of virtual
disks
Re-run VMware Converter and avoid selecting utility partition
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
No keyboard or mouse after powering on new VM

Possible Resolutions:
Remote Desktop to Windows Guest and troubleshoot devices
Choose VMware Workstation or Server destination, create VM,
and then import VM to VMware ESX Server
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
Windows license requires reactivation

Possible Resolutions:
OEM license requires reactivation when hardware changes
Use Guest customization to replace with non-OEM license
Possible workaround if destination host is running the same
hardware as source (P2V to VM running on original host)
SMBIOS.reflectHost = “TRUE” in .vmx may avoid reactivation
Troubleshooting

Symptom:
VMware Tools did not install properly

Possible Resolutions:
Wait for all hardware detection to finish, reboot, and then install
VMware Tools
Manually install VMware Tools instead of using the Guest OS
customization option (ESX Server VMs only)
Verify that virtual CD-ROM is working
Set atapi device to “boot automatic” and cdrom device to “system
automatic” (Windows NT 4.0)
Summary

VMware Converter Overview

Physical to Virtual Migrations
VM Format Conversions
VMware Converter Best Practices 10-Step Checklist
VMware Converter Troubleshooting
Getting Assistance

VMware P2V Jumpstart

Available from VMware Professional Services or VMware
Authorized Consulting (VAC)
Proof-of-concept onsite workshop
Prototype installation of VMware Converter environment
Test conversions
VMware Converter Resources

Documentation
VMTN Æ Documentation Æ Server Virtualization Products
Discussion Forums
VMware Converter
http://www.vmware.com/community/forum.jspa?forumID=357
Questions?

IP50
VMware Converter Best Practices

Pang Chen
Consulting Architect
VMware Professional Services