How to perform P2V conversion

How to Perform P2V (Physical to Virtual) conversion

This article explains how to convert a traditional physical server into virtual server.

It may varies by OS platform but you get a general idea of how to process the conversion by reading this article.

Things you need;

- External Hard Disk  (i.e USB disk. It must be larger than the physical machines hard disk space)

- VMware vCenter convertor standalone (It's Free. Download latest converter from VMware)

Caution;

During conversion process, it takes at least 30 min or longer (depending on the target disk size and disk performance) and Server uses more resources (cpu, disk I/O and ram) than usual. we recommend to perform P2V during off peak hours.

1. Install VMware convertor

1. Login to target server (i.e. server that you want to convert) and put VMware convertor installation file (.exe) on the desktop.

2. Initiate installation wizard by clicking (.exe) file.

3. Select "I agree" and click Next.

4. Select "Local installation" and click Next.

5. Click Finish.

6. Done

2. Converting physical machines to virtual machine (P2V)

1. Initiate VMware convertor tool (just click an icon) and find "Convert Machine" from upper left menu (see below image) and click.

2. Select "This local machine" from pull-down menu.

3. Set Parameter as follows;

Destination type: VMware Workstation or other VMware virtual machine (select latest from the list)

VMware product: VMware Workstation (select latest)

Name: any name that you can recognize at post conversion (usually server/system name)

Location: Browse to find external USB disk location

4. Double check above parameters are correct and click Next.

5. Confirm list of conversion items (especially disk layout and size) and click Next to begin conversion.

Tips: To minimize conversion time, exclude partition that you don't need or you can add post conversion (non-critical partition such as Backup). Also select disk as minimum (actual used space) rather than allocated disk space, you can save more time. But don't forget to add partition and re-configure when you exclude partition such as F:/backup. Otherwise your backup will fail in the future.

6. Wait until conversion finishes.

7. Browse USB disk to confirm virtual machine data. You should see two separate files (.vmdk and .vmx) for each physical machines.

END