Migration With Converter Standalone; Converter Standalone Components - VMware VCENTER CONVERTER STANDALONE 4.3 User Manual

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone User's Guide

Migration with Converter Standalone

Migration with Converter Standalone involves converting physical machines, virtual machines, and system
images for use in VMware hosted and managed products.
You can convert virtual machines that vCenter Server manages for use in other VMware products. You can
use Converter Standalone to perform a number of conversion tasks.
Import running remote physical and virtual machines as virtual machines to standalone ESX/ESXi or
n
ESX/ESXi hosts that vCenter Server manages.
Import virtual machines hosted by VMware Workstation or Microsoft Hyper-V Server to ESX/ESXi hosts
n
that vCenter Server manages.
Import third-party backup or disk images to ESX/ESXi hosts that vCenter Server manages.
n
Export virtual machines managed by vCenter Server hosts to other VMware virtual machine formats.
n
Configure virtual machines managed by vCenter Server so that they are bootable, and to install VMware
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Tools or customize their guest operating systems.
Customize the guest operating systems of virtual machines in the vCenter Server inventory (for example,
n
change the host name or network settings).
Reduce the time needed to set up new virtual machine environments.
n
Migrate legacy servers to new hardware without reinstalling operating systems or application software.
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Perform migrations across heterogeneous hardware.
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Readjust volume sizes and place volumes on separate virtual disks.
n

Converter Standalone Components

The Converter Standalone application consists of Converter Standalone server, Converter Standalone worker,
Converter Standalone client, and Converter Standalone agent.
Converter Standalone
server
Converter Standalone
agent
Converter Standalone
client
VMware vCenter
Converter Boot CD
10
Enables and performs the import and export of virtual machines. The
Converter Standalone server comprises two services, Converter Standalone
server and Converter Standalone worker. The Converter Standalone worker
service is always installed with the Converter Standalone server service.
The Converter Standalone server installs the agent on Windows physical
machines to import them as virtual machines. You can choose to remove the
Converter Standalone agent from the physical machine automatically or
manually after the import is complete.
The Converter Standalone server works with the Converter Standalone client.
The client component consists of the Converter Standalone user interface,
which provides access to the Conversion and the Configuration wizards, and
allows you to manage the conversion and the configuration tasks.
The VMware vCenter Converter Boot CD is a separate component that you can
use to perform cold cloning on a physical machine. Converter Standalone 4.3
does not provide a Boot CD, but you can use previous versions of the Boot CD
to perform cold cloning. See "Prepare for Cold Cloning," on page 15.
VMware, Inc.