V2V: Converting Virtual Machines in VMM

Applies To: Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1

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Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) allows you to copy existing VMware virtual machines and create Hyper-V or Virtual Server virtual machines. You can copy VMware virtual machines that are on an ESX Server host, in the VMM library, or on a Windows share. Although V2V is called a conversion, V2V is a read-only operation that does not delete or affect the original source virtual machine.

Requirements

This section lists the V2V requirements for converting VMware ESX Server-based virtual machines.

Source Virtual Machines

For a successful virtual-to-virtual (V2V) conversion, the source virtual machine must have one of the following operating systems installed.

Supported Operating Systems for V2V Conversions in VMM 2008 and VMM 2008 R2

The source virtual machine consists of the following files:

• A .vmx file, which is a VMware virtual machine configuration file. A .vmx file is the text file that describes the properties and structure of a virtual machine, including name, memory, disk assignments, and network parameters.

• One or more .vmdk (virtual hard disk) files, which are not passed directly as input to the wizard but are listed in the .vmx file. A .vmdk file is a VMware virtual hard disk that contains the virtual machine's guest operating system, applications, and data. Supported VMware virtual hard disk formats include the following:

  • monolithicSparse

  • monolithicFlat

  • vmfs

  • twoGbMaxExtentSparse

  • twoGbMaxExtentFlat

  Note

  VMM does not support VMware virtual machines with virtual hard disks that are connected to an integrated drive electronics (IDE) bus. Therefore, you cannot perform a V2V conversion of a VMware virtual machine that is on an IDE bus.

Requirements for the Destination Host Server

In VMM, a host is a physical computer on which you can deploy one or more virtual machines. To run V2V, you need a host on which to place the converted files while the virtual machine is converted.

Requirements for the host server include:

• Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Virtual Server R2 SP1 or later

• Cannot be in a perimeter network (also known as a screened subnet, or DMZ) where the firewalls or IPsec settings prohibit communication.

• At least 256 MB RAM plus memory for the virtual machine

  By default, the amount of memory reserved for the target host is 256 MB. This is in addition to the memory required by the V2V process for each source computer. If the host does not have enough memory, you will get a placement error in the Convert Virtual Machine Wizard.

How to Perform a V2V Conversion

During the conversion process, the VMM converts the VMware .vmdk files to .vhd files and makes the operating system on the virtual machine compatible with Microsoft virtualization technologies. The virtual machine created by the wizard matches VMware virtual machine properties, including name, description, memory, and disk-to-bus assignment.

In VMM, there are three ways to perform a V2V conversion depending on the location of the VMware virtual machine:

• Directly from an ESX Server host

• From the VMM library

• From a Windows or Network File System (NFS) share

In every case, the virtual machine must be turned off. V2V cannot copy running virtual machines.

Directly from an ESX Server Host

To perform a V2V conversion on a VMware virtual machine on an ESX Server host:

1. Add the VMware VirtualCenter server that is managing this ESX Server host to VMM

2. Configure security for the ESX Server host so that the host has OK status in VMM. This involves providing credentials and, if you are managing your VMware infrastructure in secure mode, retrieving and accepting a certificate and in some cases a public key. For more information, see Configuring Security for a Managed VMware Environment in VMM (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=145051).

3. Shut down the virtual machine on the ESX Server host. You cannot migrate a VMware virtual machine to a Hyper-V host while the virtual machine is running.

4. In the Migrate Virtual Machine Wizard, change the default filter to show "All Hosts" or any other host group that contains Hyper-V hosts.

For more information, see Managing a VMware Infrastructure in VMM.

From the VMM Library

To perform a V2V conversion on a VMware virtual machine in the VMM Library:

1. Copy the .vmx file and each .vmdk file for the VMware virtual machine to the Virtual Machine Manager library.

2. Manually refresh the library share or wait for the library refresher and then select the virtual machine to be converted.

3. Run the Convert Virtual Machine Wizard. For detailed steps, see V2V: How to Perform a Conversion.

From a Windows or Network File System (NFS) share

The Windows or NFS share should contain the files composing the VMware virtual machine, including at a minimum the .vmx and all .vmdk files. The account under which the VMM server is running, and the machine account of the destination host, must have read permissions to the files on this share.

To convert a VMware virtual machine that is defined in the vm.vmx file located on share \\servername\share\dir, from the command line, run the New-V2V cmdlet and point the –VmxParameter to the URI path of the .vmx file.

For example, $vm = $c | new-v2v -vmhost $vmhost -path d:\ -vmxpath \\servername\share\dir\vm.vmx.

Performing V2V from the Command Line

You can perform a V2V conversion from Windows PowerShell by using the New-V2V cmdlet.

For more information about using the New-V2V cmdlet, see How to Convert Virtual Machines Using a Script (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=162940).