Moving a live system to VMWARE ESX 1

[heyyunus]

Hi,

We are planning to buy VMWare ESX server, under this plan we want to move our existing servers which are running on different hardware to the VMWARE ESX.

In clear words, Is it possible to make a VMWARE image out of a live system and then use that image in the VMWARE server and retire the old hardware.

Thanks
Yunus

 

[jmd0252]

We are getting ready to do the same thing. Moving 3 - 4 different boxes, maybe more. It is my understanding, that VMware has a utility, that will "make a vm copy", of the server, and then let you load that copy into the ESX server, creating a virtual copy of the original machine. I have not seen it work,, so use this for what it is.

 

[heyyunus]

Can you tell me the name of the utility or procedure so that the same can be read and understood how it will work.

Thanks
Yunus

 

[LarryTheCucumber]

The VMWare is P2V Physical to Virtual.

It work very well, read the doc's.

We have used it to move 4 servers.
Works very well.

 

[heyyunus]

P2V is any tool or any wizard that can be ran from the VMWare console.

Sorry i am very new to VMWare ESX, I have some experience with VMWare Workstation product.

Thanks
Yunus

 

[LarryTheCucumber]

VMware P2V Assistant is a specific tool to move physical server to VMWare ESX virtual servers.

http://www.vmware.com/download/p2v/

 

[heyyunus]

Thanks for all your help.
I am going through the documentation.

-Yunus

 

[comtec17]

P2V is a seperate tool from VMWare ESX or Virtual Center. You must purchase this seperatly and read the docs carefully as not all systems can use this tool.

 

[heyyunus]

Yeah i think my hardware is compatible, i was looking at the supported H/W chart.

I currently have all my physical boxes on Dell Poweredge 1300 Series server which i want to virtualize to VMWare ESX Server which will run on HP DL 380 G4 server.

Lets see, how easy it will be and what difficulty i will face in migration.

Thanks
Yunus

 

[comtec17]

Also make sure you plan you ESX install accordingly and not just start moving tons of servers to it. Make sure that the servers you are moving are worth moving. For example, if the server is hardly utilized, 10% cpu, 25% RAM, 10% NIC, 20% disk I/O then you are ok, but if your current servers are running 70% cpu, 50% RAM, 60% NIC, and 50% disk I/O then that server should not be moved over.

 

[heyyunus]

But those are all heavily used servers which i want to virtualize, any specific reason, why i should not do it.

Thanks
Yunus

 

[Chacalinc]

Guys, I used the utility Drive Snapshot in order to make the ghost image and then recreate it in a virtual disk, then run the P2V utility. The good thing with Drive Snapshot is that you don't need to see if you have a compatible hardware for your boot CD (from VMWare of course) and you don't need to boot your server with the P2V's boot CD, the server can be online.

Cheers.

Chacal, Inc.

 

[comtec17]

You should not do it as it will saturate the VMWare ESX server. VMWare is for use when you have many servers that do not utilize much power or resources that can be consolidated. There is nothing special about VMWare that will stop your current servers from using 75% CPU power on a physical machine to only 5% on a Virtual Machine.

 

[heyyunus]

But will a better hardware on which VMWare is running not take care of the performance issue.

I think HP DL 380 G4 server is robust enough in this case.

-Yunus

 

[tfg13]

comtec17 is on to something here. If you have 4 servers running at 70% on dual 1.8GHz processors, and you move them to 1 server running dual 3.8GHz processors, what do you think will happen? Do the math, and you'll notice it just doesn't add up.....

 

[johnny99]

As an alternative to P2V you should checkout Platespin at

http://www.platespin.com/products/PowerConvertMain.aspx

This product can also convert a virtual server back.

/johnny