Migrate from esxi 4.1

For *nix OS is more simple than Windows. This example is for linux (Ubuntu) OS.

Remove vmware-tools from guest OS.

#vmware-unistall-tools.pl

Create virtual machine flat disk backup on esxi hypervisor. E.g. by ghettoVCB script:

#ghettoVCB.sh -f vmltemp -c vmspec

where vmltemp

Aserver

and vmspec/Aserver

VM_BACKUP_VOLUME=/vmfs/volumes/Backup
DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT=zeroedthick
VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT=1
POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP=0
ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF=0
ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN=4
POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT=5
SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT=15
ENABLE_COMPRESSION=0
ADAPTER_FORMAT=lsilogic
VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY=0
VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE=1
VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP=all
EMAIL_LOG=0

Prepare KVM storage for copy virtual flat disk.

# lvcreate -L 20G -n vmware kvm2
# mkdir /vmware
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/kvm2/vmware
# mount /dev/kvm2/vmware /vmware

Copy virtual flat disk to local disk.

# cd /vmware/
# mkdir Aserver
# cd Aserver/
# scp root@EsxiHypervisor.my.org:/vmfs/volumes/Backup/Aserver/Aserver-2012-09-02_12-00-01/Aserver_1-flat.vmdk ./

To verify it is a flat disk:

#file Aserver_1-flat.vmdk

/vmware/Aserver/Aserver_1-flat.vmdk: x86 boot sector; GRand Unified Bootloader, stage1 version 0x3, stage2 address 0x2000, stage2 segment 0x200; partition 1: ID=0x83, active, starthead 1, startsector 63, 15952482 sectors; partition 2: ID=0x5, starthead 0, startsector 15952545, 819315 sectors, code offset 0x48

For virtual machine file based:

#qemu-img convert Aserver_1-flat.vmdk -O qcow2 Aserver_1-flat.qcow2

For virtual machine LVM based:

#ls -l Aserver_1-flat.vmdk

-rw------- 1 root root 8589934592 Sep  3 13:49 /vmware/Aserver/Aserver_1-flat.vmdk

#lvcreate -L 8589934592B -n aserver iscsi2
#dd if=Aserver_1-flat.vmdk | pv -s 8G | dd of=/dev/iscsi2/aserver

Define new virtual machine using this virtual disk (qcow2 or LVM)

#virsh dumpxml aserver

<domain type='kvm'>
  <name>aserver</name>
  <uuid>e0261d4a-ac1e-0dba-1aec-8b945102b1cf</uuid>
  <memory>524288</memory>
  <currentMemory>524288</currentMemory>
  <vcpu>1</vcpu>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-1.0'>hvm</type>
    <boot dev='hd'/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <pae/>
  </features>
  <clock offset='utc'/>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/kvm</emulator>
    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
      <source dev='/dev/iscsi2/aserver'/>
      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' unit='0'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='ide' index='0'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='12:14:10:1b:11:16'/>
      <source bridge='br2'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <target port='0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty'>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
    </console>
    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
    <graphics type='vnc' port='-1' autoport='yes'/>
    <video>
      <model type='cirrus' vram='9216' heads='1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </video>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
</domain>

Migrate from esxi 4.1 (Windows server 2003) ⇒

⇐ Virt-backup.pl: backup and restore

⇑ Hypervisor