Converting from Hyper-V to VMware

When restoring from a Virtual Server Agent (VSA) backup of Hyper-V virtual machines, you can choose to restore VMs as VMware VMs.

This feature is available from the CommCell Console.

Conversion of a virtual machine includes conversion of VHD or VHDX disks to VMDK and conversion of the Hyper-V configuration to create a similar VMware VM. Only base disks are restored. User checkpoints (AVHDs) are not restored.

You can perform VM conversions from streaming backups, from secondary copies, or from IntelliSnap backup copies. You cannot perform a conversion from a Snap copy.

Before You Begin

• Create a virtualization client for the VMware vCenter.

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Console, expand Client Computers > virtualization_client > Virtual Server > Hyper-V > backup_set.

2. Right-click the subclient that contains the backup for the Hyper-V virtual machine to convert, and then select Browse and Restore.

   The Browse and Restore Options dialog box appears.

3. Select Full Virtual Machine.

4. From the Restore as list under Full Virtual Machine, select VMware vCenter.

5. Click View Content.

   The Client tab shows the contents of the most recent backup for the subclient.

6. Select a virtual machine in the left pane.

   The configuration and disk files for the selected virtual machine are displayed in the right pane.

7. Click Recover All Selected at the bottom of the window.

   The Restore VM wizard displays the Destination page.

8. Provide the following information:

   • vCenter Client: Select the virtualization client created for the VMware vCenter.

     The Instance Details area displays the vCenter and user name for the selected virtualization client.

   • Proxy Client: Select a VSA proxy to use for the conversion.

9. Click Next.

10. On the Virtual Machines page, provide the following information:

    • VM and Disk: The VM and Disk column displays the name of the virtual machine and lists virtual machine disks.

    • Change VM display name to: To avoid overwriting an existing virtual machine with the same name on the vCenter, click in the first row of the Change VM display name to column and enter a new name.

    • ESX Server: This column displays the ESX server of each destination virtual machine. To select an ESX server, click in the corresponding row; then click ... and select the ESX server where you want to create the virtual machine.

    • Datastore: This column displays the datastore of each disk for the destination VM. To select a datastore for any disk, click in the corresponding row; then select a datastore from the list.

      Filter a disk: To exclude a virtual machine disk, select Do Not Attach in the row for the disk under the Datastore column. When this option is selected, the specified disk is not uploaded to VMware and attached to the created VM.

11. In the vCenter Options column, select one or more VMs and click Configure to display the VMware vCenter Options dialog box. Any changes you make on this dialog box are applied to all of the selected VMs. The following information is displayed:

    • VM Display Name (if a single VM was selected): Displays the name of the destination VM. You cannot change the value on this dialog box.

    • Edit Destination VM Name (if multiple VMs were selected): Select Prefix or Suffix and enter a string that should be appended to all destination VM names.

    • ESX Server: Click ... to select a new destination ESX server for all selected virtual machines.

    • Datastore: Select a destination datastore for all selected virtual machines.

    • Resource Pool: Click ... to select a destination resource pool for all selected virtual machines.

    • VM Folder: Click ... to select a destination folder for all selected virtual machines.

    • Operating System: Match the operating system of the source VM.

      Note

      The Auto Select option is not supported.

      Network Adapter Configuration: For each network adapter on the VM, you can select an adapter from the list.

      If you select Not Connected, virtual machines are restored with network interfaces in disconnected state.

    • IP Address settings: If a source VM running Windows uses a static IP address, you can configure an IP address for the destination VM:

      1. Click Add Rule.

         The IP Address settings dialog box appears.

      2. Enter the IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway for the source VM.

      3. Use one of the following methods to specify settings for the destination VM:

         Select Use DHCP to enable an available IP address for the specified network connection to be assigned automatically.

         Enter values for the IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway to identify the desired IP address mappings for the destination VM. You can also specify preferred and alternate DNS servers and WINS servers.

         For more information, see IP Address settings.

    • Change Host Name for Destination VM: To specify a different host name for the converted VM, select this option and then enter the name in the Host Name for Destination VM box.

12. Click OK to save VM configuration values for the selected VMs.

13. Click Next.

14. On the Restore Options page, provide the following information:

    • Disk Provisioning: Select the disk provisioning type for the destination VM: Original, Thick Lazy Zero, Thin, or Thick Eager Zero.

    • Transport Mode: Use Auto to have the transport mode selected automatically based on the environment, or select a different value from this list: SAN, HotAdd, NBD, NBD SSL or NAS.

    • Power ON Virtual Machine after Restore: Select this option to power on the virtual machine in the vCenter after uploading disks and completing the conversion. This option is selected by default.

    • Unconditionally overwrite VM with the same name: If a virtual machine with the same name exists on the vCenter, select this option to overwrite the existing virtual machine.

15. Click Next.

16. On the Job Options page, choose to run the job immediately or configure a schedule for the restore.

17. Click Next.

18. On the Summary page, click Finish.

Result

• If the wrong operating system was selected, you might not be able to start the converted VM.

• For converted Windows VMs, disks might be offline. You can bring the disks online manually.

• Generation 2 VMs might fail to boot if the source VM backup was performed before Service Pack 12. On the converted VM, you can change the boot options firmware to EFI.

What to Do Next

You may need to update disk assignments manually for restored virtual machines that have UEFI boot and multiple type of controllers.

Conversion Process

1. Determine the operating system for the converted VM.

2. Create the VM.

3. Add disks to the VM.

4. Write data.

5. Apply a generalized configuration file.

6. Reconfigure the VM to apply CPU, memory, and network settings similar to the source VM.

7. Customize the VM to modify the IP address, start drivers, and modify the destination computer name.