> Expert > Backup and Restore Agents > Virtualization > Virtual Server Agent > Cross-Hypervisor Restores (Virtual Machine Conversion)

Converting from VMware to Hyper-V

When restoring a VMware full virtual machine, you can restore as Microsoft Hyper-V to create a new Hyper-V virtual machine from the last successful full backup. This option enables you to duplicate a VMware virtual machine for the Hyper-V environment, or to migrate a VM from VMware to Hyper-V. Conversion creates Hyper-V Generation 1 VMs.

To get the most up-to-date instance of a virtual machine, power off the source VM and perform a backup before initiating the conversion.

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

  • At least one Hyper-V node must be configured on the CommServe host; otherwise the Restore as option for Hyper-V is not displayed.

  • The destination client must be a Hyper-V server that has the Virtual Server Agent installed.

Hyper-V VM Considerations

  • The Hyper-V VM name can only contain alphanumeric characters or the '-' character; the name cannot contain any Unicode Transformation Format (UTF) characters.

  • The RAM and disk specification for the source VM should match the format of the destination VM.

  • Before you perform a backup for a Linux source VM that runs Red Hat, verify that required Hyper-V drivers are installed on the source VM. Those drivers must be present on the source VM backup in order to boot the VM after conversion.

    1. Enable Changed Block Tracking (CBT) for the source VM.

    2. Take a snapshot of the source VM.

    3. Run the following command to modify the boot image:

      sudo dracut -f -v -N

    4. Run the following command to verify that Hyper-V drivers are present in the boot image:

      lsinitrd | grep hv

    5. Verify that no dracut conf files (for example, /usr/lib/dracut/dracut.conf.d/01-dist.conf) contain the following line:

      hostonly="yes"

    6. Run a new backup to use for the conversion.

Procedure

Perform the following steps to access a VMware backup and create a Hyper-V virtual machine:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers > virtualization_client > Virtual Server > VMware > backup_set.

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

  3. In the Browse and Restore Options window, select Full Virtual Machine.

  4. From the Restore as list under Full Virtual Machine, select Microsoft Hyper-V.

  5. Click View Content.

    A 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 VMDK files for the selected virtual machine are displayed in the right pane.

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

  8. On the Restore Options for All Selected Items dialog, select values for the conversion:

  9. Option

    Steps

    Select a destination client:

    The destination client must be Hyper-V server that is running Windows Server 2012 R2 and has the Virtual Server Agent installed.

    • Select a Hyper-V server from the Destination Client list.

      The new Hyper-V virtual machine is automatically mounted to the Hyper-V server you select.

    Restore location:

    Select one of the following options:

    • New folder

      Select a location for the VM on the destination client:

    • Click in the first row of the Destination Path column and click the browse button (...).

    • Select a folder on the destination client where you want to restore the virtual machine and click OK.

      The destination path can be the path of a cluster shared volume (CSV).

      All virtual machine disks are restored to this path unless you specify different paths for each disk.

    • Hyper V default folder

      Create the virtual machine on the default location of the Hyper-V server when you do not know which volume on the server has the space required to restore the virtual machine.

    VM and Disk:

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

    Change the VM display name:

    To avoid overwriting an existing virtual machine with the same name on the Hyper-V server:

    • Click in the first row of the Change VM display name to column and enter a new name.

    Destination Path:

    To restore each virtual machine disk in a different location:

    • Click each row in the Destination Path column and select a location for the corresponding disk.

    Automatically power on restored virtual machines:

    To power on the virtual machine automatically after the restore operation completes:

    • Select Power On Virtual Machine after restore.

    Overwrite an existing VM:

    If a virtual machine with the same name exists on the destination, select the Unconditionally overwrite VM and VHDs in destination path check box to overwrite the existing virtual machine.

    Register Virtual Machine with Failover Cluster:

    Select Register Virtual Machine with Failover Cluster to register the virtual machine with the failover cluster immediately after the restore. Once the virtual machine is registered, you can migrate it to any Hyper-V server in the cluster.

    Notes

    • To register the Virtual Machine with the failover cluster, the user name entered when creating the virtualization client must be part of the Hyper-V Administrators group.

    • For a Hyper-V cluster, the user account must have full Cluster Permissions (Read and Full Control).
      When the virtual machine is created, it is automatically registered with the failover cluster.

    • If UAC (User Account Control) is enabled on a virtual machine running on 2008 R2 Hyper-V server, you must register the VM with the failover cluster manually.

  10. Click OK.

  11. To ensure that the converted VM is fully functional, continue with Updating a Virtual Machine Converted to Hyper-V.

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