Free P2V solutions

[daveshel]

I've been playing around lately with VMWare Server and VMWare Converter, as well as Microsoft Virtual Server. My aim has been proof of concept for physical to virtual migrations as an alternative to buying new hardware to replace older servers.

I could see eventually spending money, possibly on a VMWare appliance. But before I attempt to sell the idea to the poeple who control the purse, I'd like to see it work for myself. Success has eluded me.

So I'm looking for success stories from anybody who has done P2V with any of the free tools.

Thanks...

 

[Brovane]

I have done P2V with VMware Converter into a ESX cluster. In my opinion it works great and I have had no issue with. I have converted both W2ksrv and W2k3srv to virtual.

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: Brovane
I have done P2V with VMware Converter into a ESX cluster. In my opinion it works great and I have had no issue with. I have converted both W2ksrv and W2k3srv to virtual.

Again, I'm looking to do proof of concept with free tools. My hope is that someday I'd be able to get an appliance, but times is tight.

 

[Brovane]

Originally posted by: daveshel

Originally posted by: Brovane
I have done P2V with VMware Converter into a ESX cluster. In my opinion it works great and I have had no issue with. I have converted both W2ksrv and W2k3srv to virtual.

Again, I'm looking to do proof of concept with free tools. My hope is that someday I'd be able to get an appliance, but times is tight.

So I take you are trying to use VMware Converter Starter and importing into VMware Server?

http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/get.html

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: Brovane

Originally posted by: daveshel

Originally posted by: Brovane
I have done P2V with VMware Converter into a ESX cluster. In my opinion it works great and I have had no issue with. I have converted both W2ksrv and W2k3srv to virtual.

Again, I'm looking to do proof of concept with free tools. My hope is that someday I'd be able to get an appliance, but times is tight.

So I take you are trying to use VMware Converter Starter and importing into VMware Server?

http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/get.html

Yes. I started out with Microsoft Virtual Server and gave that up pretty quickly. Then I tried VMWare Server versions 1.6 and 2.0 with the VMWare Converter. The conversion seems to succeed but I can never get the converted machine to show up in the console. It doesn't seem to have the same file structure as a machine I create in the console.

 

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: Brovane
I have done P2V with VMware Converter into a ESX cluster. In my opinion it works great and I have had no issue with. I have converted both W2ksrv and W2k3srv to virtual.

Same here. Virtualized about 20% of our old physical boxes. The process is about as easy as it gets. Though in certain situations (like DCs or app servers) its best to do a cold image or at the very least stop the app\services before doing he image. I caused a bit of a ruckus when I did a live p2v of a domain controller (which I found out afterwards was not recommended).

The converter is free to use. You can also use vmware server which is free. Though I would look into using ESXi which is their free Hypervisor which operates a lot like the commercial version of ESX (obviously it has some drawbacks but not so much that running it in a production environment is unthinkable).

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: TheKub
Though I would look into using ESXi which is their free Hypervisor which operates a lot like the commercial version of ESX (obviously it has some drawbacks but not so much that running it in a production environment is unthinkable).

I tried the ESXi also, but you need the Infrastructure 3 to do anything with it, and that is not free.

 

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: daveshel

I tried the ESXi also, but you need the Infrastructure 3 to do anything with it, and that is not free.

??? I think you are mistaken. ESXi is free. It has a number of the higher end (read expensive) features disabled but it works well. You do NOT need Infrastructure 3 unless you want the higher end features (centralized management\HA\etc). You install ESXi with nothing but a text interface that allows you to do little else than configure a few settings (like network and host name) all other operations are managed by VMWare Infrastructure Client which you would install on your workstation, and it too is free.

ESXi

TextGet a free license for VMware ESXi and build virtual machines in minutes with this easy-to-deploy, OS-independent hypervisor.

YOUR LICENSE INCLUDES

• VMware ESXi

• VMware Virtual SMP

• VMware VMFS

 

[daveshel]

Do you have a link to the Infrastructure Client?

 

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: daveshel
Do you have a link to the Infrastructure Client?

When you install ESXi on a server you go to your workstation and go to https://IPAddressOfESXiServer and it will have a link to download it.

 

[daveshel]

Now I remember. I couldn't get that to work. I'll have to try putting my test box on a different network segment.

 

[daveshel]

I had a network issue that was preventing the client download. I got that resolved and successfully converted a machine. I like this ESXi product.

 

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: daveshel
I had a network issue that was preventing the client download. I got that resolved and successfully converted a machine. I like this ESXi product.

I like it alot and if you decide to invest in the full version you get even more cool bells and whistles.

 

[yinan]

Platespin works much better than converter. Converter has issues catching up with files that have changed/been added since the migration started.

 

[daveshel]

I'm satisfied with my test lab experience. Now on to building a production box. I have a great server with lost of storage. But it has only 2 NICs. How hard is it to add additional NICs - am I better of waiting to do the installation after I get ahold of the hardware?