Need a good walkthrough to migrate a VM in an unlicensed VMWare
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Outside of my scope of knowledge and I hope to learn from your post!
Is it possible to boot to a live CD, xfer off the VM, load it up in VMWare Workstation, export it nicely? This hinges on how ESXI stores it's files (VM's) being the same as what I see in Workstation, which very well might not be the case.
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Will it? Sometimes I hear that the free version will do it but every time I've asked for clarification I've been told that it won't do it. It was my understanding that the way that it worked to get around the lack of backup API was to backup via the filesystem, but when I've asked about that I was told that it did not do that.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Will it? Sometimes I hear that the free version will do it but every time I've asked for clarification I've been told that it won't do it. It was my understanding that the way that it worked to get around the lack of backup API was to backup via the filesystem, but when I've asked about that I was told that it did not do that.
The original release of VMWare 5.0 had a bug and the backup API was not locked.
Unfortunately, these two servers are not running that version.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Will it? Sometimes I hear that the free version will do it but every time I've asked for clarification I've been told that it won't do it. It was my understanding that the way that it worked to get around the lack of backup API was to backup via the filesystem, but when I've asked about that I was told that it did not do that.
I have never tested it myself. They've been advertising it since late 2013, so I kind of assumed it works. They have a paper with VMware talking about it but curiously don't go into the technology at all. Would be worth a shot regardless.
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@coliver said:
Unitrends can backup that VM.
No, Unitrends cannot backup the VM.
Unitrends will install an agent and backup the GUEST not the VM. This is different and I can already do that if I want by using Windows Backup.@coliver said:
The other option, which I believe @thanksaj posted not too long ago, allows you to convert between the two technologies. I think you can find it here: http://mangolassi.it/topic/3888/converting-from-vmdk-to-vhd-x/3
I am not converting technology (now), I simply want to move the VM from VMWare host 1 to VMWare host 2.
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For those who do not know what I am talking about when I say Ghetto.
ghettoVCB.sh - Free alternative for backing up VM's for ESX(i) 3.5, 4.x & 5.x
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@JaredBusch said:
@coliver said:
Unitrends can backup that VM.
No, Unitrends cannot backup the VM.
Unitrends will install an agent and backup the GUEST not the VM. This is different and I can already do that if I want by using Windows Backup.Ah, good to know, their marketing and techs have been spinning it quite differently.
@coliver said:
The other option, which I believe @thanksaj posted not too long ago, allows you to convert between the two technologies. I think you can find it here: http://mangolassi.it/topic/3888/converting-from-vmdk-to-vhd-x/3
I am not converting technology (now), I simply want to move the VM from VMWare host 1 to VMWare host 2.
Oh, I see...
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@coliver said:
Ah, good to know, their marketing and techs have been spinning it quite differently.
Well, I should qualify that statement. When I last researched it a year ago, that is what it was.
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@JaredBusch said:
No, Unitrends cannot backup the VM.
Unitrends will install an agent and backup the GUEST not the VM. This is different and I can already do that if I want by using Windows Backup.Which is exactly what I kept asking @KatieUnitrends and was told that this was not the case, but I could think of no possible alternative.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@JaredBusch said:
No, Unitrends cannot backup the VM.
Unitrends will install an agent and backup the GUEST not the VM. This is different and I can already do that if I want by using Windows Backup.Which is exactly what I kept asking @KatieUnitrends and was told that this was not the case, but I could think of no possible alternative.
Does anyone have an ESXi Free server they could test it out on? I don't have any spare hardware right now or I would.
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@coliver said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@JaredBusch said:
No, Unitrends cannot backup the VM.
Unitrends will install an agent and backup the GUEST not the VM. This is different and I can already do that if I want by using Windows Backup.Which is exactly what I kept asking @KatieUnitrends and was told that this was not the case, but I could think of no possible alternative.
Does anyone have an ESXi Free server they could test it out on? I don't have any spare hardware right now or I would.
There was more than one thread on the subject on SW it is simply their physical agent installed in the guest VM instead of using the VMWare API
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@JaredBusch said:
@coliver said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@JaredBusch said:
No, Unitrends cannot backup the VM.
Unitrends will install an agent and backup the GUEST not the VM. This is different and I can already do that if I want by using Windows Backup.Which is exactly what I kept asking @KatieUnitrends and was told that this was not the case, but I could think of no possible alternative.
Does anyone have an ESXi Free server they could test it out on? I don't have any spare hardware right now or I would.
There was more than one thread on the subject on SW it is simply their physical agent installed in the guest VM instead of using the VMWare API
So, a filesystem backup... basically the same thing they do for Xen.
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@JaredBusch said:
There was more than one thread on the subject on SW it is simply their physical agent installed in the guest VM instead of using the VMWare API
Yes, and several where they stated that that was not true. I asked specifically and was told that I was mistaken for thinking this. But I had based that assumption off of it being said in the threads.
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@coliver said:
So, a filesystem backup... basically the same thing they do for Xen.
No, they have a full image system for Xen. That is why they bought PHDVirtual.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@coliver said:
So, a filesystem backup... basically the same thing they do for Xen.
No, they have a full image system for Xen. That is why they bought PHDVirtual.
Oh, that is good to know. I wasn't aware of that.
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@JaredBusch said:
I am not converting technology (now), I simply want to move the VM from VMWare host 1 to VMWare host 2.
Clean method, copy the VHD and VMX off the datastore to your local machine, upload it to the other server, import and be done with it.
Lazy man method. Use Vmware converter. It doesn't care about whatever underlying hypervisor, or at least it didn't the last time I pulled this off. That's assuming it's not transactional data, because deltas can be a bitch.
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@PSX_Defector said:
Clean method, copy the VHD and VMX off the datastore to your local machine, upload it to the other server, import and be done with it.
The server can be shut down all weekend as the email will get spooled by Postini (no idea why it hasn't converted yet). I guess that really is fairly simple, I just have never done it.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Yes, and several where they stated that that was not true. I asked specifically and was told that I was mistaken for thinking this. But I had based that assumption off of it being said in the threads.
Well, if they insist, it would be possible to do it all via SSH as that is how GhettoVCB works. I find that unlikely though.
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Yeah, it's really that simple. Probably run faster than using some USB drive or some other hokey method.
Other things to consider, but I would assume you didn't do this, is to consolidate all your snapshots and bring it into a single file. But if you were doing this on a DC, woe is you anyways. Make sure to grab all the VHDs, sometimes folks put the things everywhere and anywhere. I keep my stuff clean, one folder, one VMX, one VHD store.
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@PSX_Defector As of last week I no longer have any snap shots because I want to have as little data to move as possible. So I can shut the guest down and just move files.
The system has 5x 300GB 10k SAS drives in a man RAID0. Drive 4 is in predictive failure.
Performance is horrible lately. I am so pissed at myself for not checking the array config after the Dell guy replaced drives 2 years ago.
