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P2V Best Practices

This document provides best practices for performing a physical to virtual (P2V) conversion using VMware vCenter Converter. It discusses the P2V conversion process, including preparing the physical machine, using vCenter Converter to split partitions and copy data, and optimizing the conversion process for speed. Post-conversion steps are also outlined, such as removing unnecessary software and devices, updating hardware abstraction layers, aligning disks, and cleaning up network configurations.

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Bharath Kumar
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198 views14 pages

P2V Best Practices

This document provides best practices for performing a physical to virtual (P2V) conversion using VMware vCenter Converter. It discusses the P2V conversion process, including preparing the physical machine, using vCenter Converter to split partitions and copy data, and optimizing the conversion process for speed. Post-conversion steps are also outlined, such as removing unnecessary software and devices, updating hardware abstraction layers, aligning disks, and cleaning up network configurations.

Uploaded by

Bharath Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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P2V BEST PRACTICES

Ryan Birk, VCI, VCP 3/4/5

Lets not get physical.


A P2V converts existing physical infrastructure to virtual.
VMware provides a free tool to do this.
Third party tools are available to help you as well.
We will focus on vCenter Converter which is the free

utility provided by VMware.


VMware used to provide a converter plugin for vCenter. In

vSphere 5 the vCenter client is not available. Standalone


client is the only client.

What can you convert?


Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery (formerly

LiveState Recovery)
Symantec Backup Exec
Norton Ghost
Acronis True Image
StorageCraft
Parallels Desktop
Microsoft Virtual PC, Virtual Server and Hyper-V

Live powered on physical systems.

Lets not get physical.

Pre-P2V.
Do an ipconfig /all > c:\ipconfig.txt.
After the P2V you will need to re-enter this information

because even though the data inside the VM remains the


same, youll have new hardware (NICs) presented to the
VM.
Cache your credentials or have local admin credentials

ready.
Its always nice to not have to dig for this data!

P2V Process
Split the partitions into separate .vmdks.
Keeps your disk layout cleaner so that way when your users decide

they dont need that E: drive, your life is easier.

You do this under Data to copy section.

P2V Process: Speed them up.


By default, VMware Converter uses SSL to transmit data. If

youre P2Ving on a local LAN, you might want to turn this off as
it significantly speeds the process up. Talk to your security team
before doing this.
There is an xml file located in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter

Standalone\converter-client.xml

Look in the NFC section:


<nfc>

<useSsl>false</useSsl>Changetofalse.
</nfc>

Post-P2V. - p1
A few steps I recommend after completing the P2V:
Remove vendor software.
HP, Dell, IBM, etc all have software that no longer will apply. Remove it!

There are scripts you can use to get most of the software removed.
(See Kendrick Coleman's VM_Advanced.iso)
Includes an HP and Dell Cleanup utility.
NOTE: Although the script removes a large portion, youll still want to verify it
as the vendors add new software and the cleanup utilities are not updated.

Remove Windows services that are no longer needed.

Post-P2V. p2
Remove non-present devices in Device Manager.
Start>Run and type "cmd" (without quotes).
Set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
devmgmt.msc

..continued

Post-P2V. p3
So much leftover stuff, just dying for you to remove it!

Post-P2V. p3
I know what youre thinking. Thats a lot of right clicking.
There are scripts for this. (See VM_Advanced.iso) and below:
REM http://www.vmdude.fr/tips-tricks/suppression-des-peripheriques-caches/
REM http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272
REM Back up the list of every device in a temporary file
DEVCON Find * | FIND /I /V "matching device (s)" > "%temp%\DevconFind.txt"
REM Course devices and deleting those that are not in the export file
FOR /F "tokens=1 delims=: " %%A IN ('devcon findall * ^| FIND /I /V "matching device (s)"') DO (
TYPE "%Temp%\DevconFind.txt" | FIND "%%~A" > NUL
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 %Debug% DEVCON Remove "@%%~A"
)
REM Remove temporary file
DEL "%Temp%\DevconFind.txt"

Post-P2V. p4
Cleanup Local Area Connections
Often, because there are old hidden devices, Windows says your
new devices are Local Area Connection 3, 4, etc. Be sure to clean
them up.
There is an automated tool for this on VM_Advanced.iso

Be sure that your HALs are updated.


If you went from a multi-processor environment to a single core,
downgrade it.
If you went from a single core to a multi processor VM, upgrade the
HAL.

Post-P2V. p5
Be sure that your disks are aligned.
See the Uberalign tool on VM_Advanced.iso.
A correctly aligned disk can yield a large increase in performance
over a non-aligned disk.

Questions?
Links
VMware Converter
http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/
Kendrick Coleman's VM_Advanced.iso
http://kendrickcoleman.com/images/documents/VM_Advanced.iso

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