Developing a Virtual Machine
Conversion Strategy
Nicola Ferrini
IT PRO Trainer
[email protected]
What this Session is About
• Tips / Tricks / Best Practices / Lessons Learned
from Virtual machine conversions
• Practical guidance for creating Dynamic Datacenter
• Management of Heterogeneous virtualization
platform
What this Session is NOT About
• Intro to Hyper-V R2 or SCVMM 2008 R2
• Basic installation and configuration
Server Consolidation
The fastest way to reduce costs
Challenges:
• Underutilized hardware
• Excessive power
consumption
• Expensive space across
datacenter and branch
offices
Server
Utilization
Datacenter Evolution
Traditional
Datacenter
Virtualized
Datacenter
On premises
dynamic Datacenter
- Cloud
Off premises
dynamic Datacenter
- Cloud
Microsoft Delivers Dynamic IT Through
Datacenter Systems Management
Desktop
Data Center
Consolidate Servers Through Simplified
Virtualization And Management
6%
utilization
10%
utilization
Server utilization
Number of physical servers
Power usage
Floor space
9%
utilization
11%
14%
utilization utilization
50%
utilization
How is your Datacenter now??
Conversion Overview
• Physical to Virtual (P2V)
– Convert a physical server to a virtual machine
• Virtual to Virtual (V2V)
– Convert an existing virtual machine from one
technology to another
• Virtual to Physical (V2P)
– Convert a virtual machine into a physical server
• Both P2V and V2V are supported scenarios
using System Center VMM 2008 R2
• 3rd parties have V2P solutions
P2V: Source Server Conversion
Requirements
• Minimum of 512 MB RAM
• Must be in a workgroup environment, in the same domain
as the VMM server, or a member of a domain that has a full
two-way trust with the domain of the VMM server
• Should contain one of the following supported operating
systems:
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–
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–
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Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Server 2008 R2
Server 2008 (32/64-bit)
Server 2003 (32/64-bit) SP2
2000 Server SP4 Rollup Update 1 (Offline P2V only)
2000 Advanced Server SP4 RU1 (Offline P2V only)
XP Professional (32/64-bit) SP2 or later
Vista SP1 or later (32/64-bit)
P2V: Target VM Conversion
Limitations
• Target virtual machine hardware cannot
exceed listed items, or conversion will fail
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–
–
–
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Maximum of 64 GB RAM
Maximum of 4 processor cores
Maximum of 12 network interfaces
Maximum of 2040 GB disk if using VHD
Maximum of 256 TB per disk if using passthrough disks
– Maximum total storage of 517 TB per virtual
machine using VHDs
– Maximum total storage of 66560 TB per virtual
machine using pass-through disks
P2V: Conversion Methods
• Online P2V conversion - Performing a P2V conversion of a
running physical server
– No downtime required
– Requires source server running a Windows Operating system
with Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS)
– Windows 2000 Server does not support Online P2V
– Copies the VSS snapshot over the network
• Offline P2V conversion – Performing a P2V conversion of a
powered down physical server
– Downtime required
– Physical server is booted into WinPE running P2V agent
– Disk is copied at byte level across the network to a VHD at the
target location
– VSS is not utilized
P2V: Conversion Considerations
• Server identity is maintained during conversion
– Having both machines running on the same network will result in conflicts
• Online P2V conversion
– VSS snapshot is a point in time
• If data is changing on the server during conversion, the VM will not have them
– Physical server should go offline once the conversion is complete and you
are ready to keep the virtual machine online
• Only one can be authoritative
– Physical server should be isolated or wiped to prevent collision impacts if
accidentally brought back on the production network
– Some server roles should not be converted using online approach due to
transactional nature
• Domain Controllers
• Offline P2V conversion
– Can be used with any supported OS
– Older OS might require additional software to be installed prior to
conversion
• Windows Installer 3.1
• Patches or drivers for the WinPE version are required
P2V: Conversion Best Practices
• Run Chkdsk and defrag the hard disks of the source server before
conversion
– Bad sectors won’t get transferred
• Use fast network cards to reduce the time to complete a
conversion
• Perform the conversion to a staging server to reduce impact to
production Hyper-V servers
• SAN attached data volumes
– If the target VM can be connected to the same SAN, can use pass-through
for data disks and reattach LUNS versus converting to VHDs
• iSCSI attached data volumes
– If the source server has iSCSI attached data volumes, they can migrate
with no changes
• Develop a quick rollback process for a failed P2V conversion
System Center Virtual Machine
Manager 2008 R2
Maximize Resources
•
•
•
•
Centralized virtual machine deployment and
management for Hyper-V and VMware ESX servers
Intelligent placement of Virtual Machines
Fast and reliable P2V and V2V conversion
Integrated Performance and Resource
Optimization (PRO) of VMs
Increase Agility
•
•
•
Rapid provisioning of new and virtual machines with
templates
Centralized library of infrastructure components
Leverage and extend existing storage infrastructure and
clusters
Leverage Skills
•
•
•
Familiar interface
Monitor physical and virtual machines from one console
Fully scriptable using Windows PowerShell
A centralized, heterogeneous
management solution for the
virtual datacenter
System Center Virtual Machine
Manager 2008 R2
SCVMM 2008 R2 Features
 Hypervisor Management -
 Cluster Integration
 Host Configuration
 Library Management
 Virtual Machine Creation/Provisioning
 Conversions: P2V and V2V
 Intelligent Placement
 Deployment and Storage
 Monitoring and Reporting
 Automation with PowerShell
 Delegation and Self Service
 Performance and Resource
Optimization
Hyper-V, VMware
 Management of Windows Server
 Multiple Virtual Machines Per LUN
 Live Migration
 Storage Migration
 Hot Add of Storage
 Cluster Shared Volumes
 Maintenance Mode
 Rapid Provisioning
2008 R2 and Microsoft Hyper-V R2
Managing P2V and V2V conversions
with SCVMM
Intuitive and easy to use tools provide:
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Core feature of VMM, no additional infrastructure or costs per
conversion
Wizard based experience
Reconfigure storage, memory, CPU, etc.
Efficient disk copy
Preserves network settings and MAC addresses
Automatable through PowerShell
Supported platforms:
•
•
Online - Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista,
and Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 and
Windows 7
Offline - Windows 2000 Server
Performing a P2V Conversion
using SCVMM
• VMM Agent is installed on source computer.
• Inventory of source computer is conducted and hardware
configuration returned to VMM Server.
• VMM transfers the volume data using BITS. Offline P2V
conversion reboots the source computer into Windows PE at
this point.
• The VHD is “fixed up” i.e. Hyper-V components are added to
the installation and configured. Other hardware specific
drivers and software will need to be removed manually and
the completion of the conversion process.
• Finally the VM is created and appears in the SCVMM console.
The VM can optionally be running at this point and the source
computer shutdown completely.
Before starting P2V Conversion…
Windows 2003 SP2 P2V Conversion
• You must copy sp2.cab from the service pack media (or dllcache)
on the source server to “C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center
Virtual Machine Manager 2008\Patch Import” folder
• run the “Add-Patch” cmdlet to add the required files to the Virtual
Machine Manager patch cache
Windows 2000 P2V Conversion
When performing a P2V conversion of Windows 2000 Server or
Advanced Server, the following components must be installed on the
source computer.
•
•
•
•
•
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Service Pack 4
Post Service Pack 4 update – KB891861-v2
Windows Installer 3.1 Redistributable (v2)
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package
.NET Framework 2.0
BITS 2.0 Update KB842773
The LAB!!
DEMO
Performing a P2V Conversion using
System Center VMM
SCVMM 2008 R2 Support for
VMware ESX
• Management of heterogeneous virtualization
infrastructure
– Single console
– Standard management processes and procedures
• Version Support
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–
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VMware
VMware
VMware
VMware
VirtualCenter 2.5
ESX Server 3i
ESX 3.0.2 and 3.5
vSphere 4 (VI3 features only)
• Management of multiple VirtualCenters
– Support for VMotion
– Requires VirtualCenter administrator privilege at Host
and Cluster level
SCVMM 2008 R2 Support for
VMware ESX
• VirtualCenter Support
– Existing port groups
– 1 connection per ESX host up to 35
• Intelligent Placement
– Used for VMware workloads
– Used for VMotion
• VMM Library
– Imports VMware templates using a “move”
– Stores VMware templates
• P2V and V2V Conversion
– P2V to convert guest OS running in VMware VM to Hyper-V VM
– V2V to convert VMware VM on ESX host to Hyper-V VM
Performing Virtual to Virtual
Conversions (V2V)
The source virtual machine can be in the library, in a network share
or managed by a VMware ESX Server and must have one of the
following operating systems installed:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Server 2008 (32-bit)
Server 2008 (64-bit)
2000 Server SP4 or later
2000 Advanced Server SP4 or later
XP Professional (32-bit) SP2 or later
XP Professional (64-bit) SP2 or later
Vista Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
Vista SP1 or later (64-bit)
Before you convert a VMware virtual machine to a Hyper-V virtual
machine, you must uninstall VMware Tools on the guest operating
system of the virtual machine.
DEMO
Performing a V2V Conversion using
SCVMM 2008 R2
Third-Party Products
• Novell PlateSpin PowerConvert
– Multi-platform support, P2V and V2V
– Live test and Server Sync
• Quest Vizioncore vConverter
– P2V, V2V and V2P
– Cold Cloning
• DoubleTake Move
– Migrate physical or virtual workloads with real-time
replication while users are online and productive
– Real-Time Data Movement
– Migrate any combination of Physical or Virtual Servers
(X2X)
Online Resources
Microsoft Virtualization Home:
http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization
Windows Server Virtualization Blog Site:
http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/default.aspx
Virtualization Solution Accelerators
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/cc197910.aspx
Converting Physical Computers to Virtual Machines in VMM (P2V Conversions)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc764232.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb963740.aspx
Converting VMware Virtual Machines in VMM (V2V Conversions)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb963721.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc793147.aspx
Troubleshooting Virtual Machine Conversion Issues
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb740927.aspx
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc917964.aspx
Questions
and
Answers
Thank You!