VMworld


3 Replies Last post: Jan 6, 2009 8:47 AM by Darren Woollard  
muruk Candidate 1 posts since
Dec 8, 2008
Currently Being Moderated

Dec 8, 2008 8:41 PM

P2V procedure required..

 

Hi All,

 

 

Good day,

 

 

please share the procedure for P2V .. i have win 2000(DB) in p3 system.. i need to move to esx 3.5 server as a VM.

 

 

my esx server config is

 

 

 

 

ESX Server Configuration

Server Model

Dell Power edge 2950

RAM

16GB

CPU

8 CPU x 2.327 GHz (Quad Core)

Hard Disk

536.75 GB

No. of NIC

4

 

..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dynamax Candidate 1 posts since
Feb 16, 2008
Currently Being Moderated
1. Dec 15, 2008 2:29 AM in response to: muruk
Re: P2V procedure required..

 

There are various ways

 

 

If your server's data is constantly changing it would be best to do a cold convert which involves booting from the conversion CD. Are you licensed for Convertor Enterprise?

 

 

Otherwise download convertor stand alone to your desktop or through the VC plug in. Usually quicker on stan alone though.

 

 

From there it is a simple wizard which will be questions for you to answer e.g where to store the disk, config files etc. Ip of your VC server and disk partions.

 

 

 

 

 

nunezi Candidate 2 posts since
Jun 25, 2008
Currently Being Moderated
2. Jan 2, 2009 10:35 PM in response to: muruk
Re: P2V procedure required..


 

Hello muruk

 

 

So you would like to P2V a Windows 2000 server with SQL installed to a

ESX 3.5 Environment?

 

 

If so,

 

 

Is the server  heavly utilized? (CPU, Memory, I/O) If the server has

high I/O, I would suggest doing testing on the VM for your environment due to

SQL running on on a VM. Not recommended on high I/O SQL databases. You will get

better performance from certain phy setups over virtual. That's why you shoud

test the VM.

 

 

If the VM performance is sufficient then, I would try to install a

fresh copy of Windows 2000 and SQL, duplicated the settings and restore the DB

on the clean system. I've done testing on Win200 server with SQL that have been

P2V'ed compared to VM's with fresh installs and restored DB and the performance

is greater on a fresh installed VM with a restored DB than on the P2V'ed VM.

 

 

VMware v4 is supposed to do a better job with SQL VM's. VMware 2.x was not

SQL nice, v3.5 is much better but hopefully v4 will keep me from putting highly

I/O'ed SQL boxes on phy servers... 

 

 

To P2V the server used the Converter tool. Be sure to stop SQL and all services that you can. If you have any hardware monitoring software installed be sure to disable the services. You can enable them when the P2V is complete. You might have problems starting SQL on the VM is you have assigned specific CPU's to it. Let us know if you run into any problems.

 

 

And as always, test, test, test before you release to production.

 

 

Have a great New Year!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darren Woollard Candidate 1 posts since
Sep 10, 2007
Currently Being Moderated
3. Jan 6, 2009 8:47 AM in response to: muruk
Re: P2V procedure required..

Hello.

 

I've knocked together a document you may want to have a look at in VMware's VI:OPS website, it covers my approach to P2Vs.

 

Visit : http://viops.vmware.com/home/index.jspa

 

Go into the Strategy section then select select the document entitled

"Proven Practice : Preparing for a Physical to Virtual migration (P2V) - a guide from real world experience."

 

There may be a few snippets of useful information in there for you.

 

Regards,

Darren.

More Like This

  • Retrieving data ...