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- vCenter Converter
- VMware vCenter Converter
- What vCenter Converter Does
- Performance and Reliability
- Management
- Interoperability
- SPOTLIGHT
- Example: An Environment Using vCenter Converter
- vCenter Converter Community
- vCenter Converter Documentation
- FEATURES
- Performance and Reliability
- Interoperability
- Management
- Convert a Physical Linux Server to a VMware VM
- Install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone
- Migrate a physical server to a virtual one
- Conclusion
Linux vmware vcenter converter standalone
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You can install Converter Standalone components only on Windows operating systems. Converter Standalone supports Windows and Linux operating systems as sources for powered-on-machine conversions and virtual-machine conversions. You cannot reconfigure Linux distributions.
| Supported Operating Systems | Converter Standalone Support | Source for Powered On Machine Conversions | Source for Virtual Machine Conversions | Configuration Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Server 2012 (64-bit) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows 8.1 (32-bit and 64-bit) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows 10 (32-bit and 64-bit) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2016 (64-bit) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2019 (64-bit) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows 11 (64-bit) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2022 (64-bit) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CentOS 6.x (32-bit and 64-bit) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| CentOS 7.x (64-bit) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| CentOS 8.x (64-bit) | No | No | No | No |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x (32-bit and 64-bit) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x (64-bit) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x (64-bit) | No | No | No | No |
| Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (32-bit and 64-bit) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (32-bit and 64-bit) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (64-bit) | No | No | No | No |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (64-bit) | No | No | No | No |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (64-bit) | No | No | No | No |
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vCenter Converter
VMware vCenter Converter
What vCenter Converter Does
Performance and Reliability
Quickly converts local and remote physical machines into virtual machines without any downtime. Simultaneous conversions enable large-scale virtualization implementations.
Management
Centralized management console allows you to queue up and monitor many simultaneous conversions, both local and remote, such as in headquarters and branch offices.
Interoperability
Offers broad support for source physical machines, VMware and Microsoft virtual machine formats, and certain third-party disk image formats.
SPOTLIGHT
Environment Using vCenter Converter
Example: An Environment Using vCenter Converter
vCenter Converter Community
vCenter Converter Documentation
FEATURES
Performance and Reliability
— Multiple simultaneous conversions enable large-scale virtualization implementations.
— Quiescing and snapshotting of the guest operating system on the source machine before migrating the data ensures conversion reliability.
— Hot cloning makes conversions non-disruptive, with no source server downtime or reboot.
— Sector-based copying enhances cloning and conversion speed.
Interoperability
vCenter Converter supports many source physical machines, including Windows and Linux desktop and server editions. It also supports conversion of third-party virtual machines like Hyper-V and Amazon EC2 instances.
Management
— Centralized management console allows users to queue up and monitor multiple simultaneous remote, as well as local, conversions.
— Easy-to-use wizards minimize the number of steps to conversion.
— Support for both local and remote cloning enables conversions in remote locations such as branch offices.
Convert a Physical Linux Server to a VMware VM
When you implement a virtual infrastructure, you may want to convert your physical servers to virtual ones to improve your datacenter consolidation. In this topic, we will see how to convert a physical Linux server to a VMware VM. To make this conversion, I used VMware vCenter Converter Standalone.
Install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone
To host VMware vCenter Converter Standalone, you need a physical or virtual machine based on Windows Server. Usually, when I run this tool, I use a virtual machine. Then, I run the executable to process the product installation. In the first window, just click Next.
Next, accept the End-User Patent agreement and click Next.
Then accept the license agreement and click Next.
Next, choose a destination folder for VMware vCenter Converter Standalone and click Next.
Then choose a setup-type: local installation to deploy only VMware vCenter Converter Standalone, or Client-Server installation if you want to install agent and client additionally. I choose local installation because I don’t want to convert the server where I deploy VMware vCenter Converter Standalone.
Next, choose if you want to join the VMware CEIP or not, and click Next.
To run the installation, click Install.
When the installation is finished, you can run the Converter Standalone Client.
Migrate a physical server to a virtual one
In the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone client, click Convert machine.
Then, choose if your source is powered on or off. Be careful: if you choose Powered Off, you won’t be able to convert the physical server. When you select Powered on, you can choose Windows or Linux remote server or local machine. I choose Remote Linux machine.
Then, specify the IP address or name and the root credentials.
Next, specify the destination. If the destination ESXi is managed by vCenter, specify the vCenter name or IP. Otherwise, specify the ESXi name or IP address. In the example below, I’m connecting to vCenter with administrator credentials.
Then, choose the destination VM folder or datacenter, and click Next.
Then, choose the destination ESXi (or cluster) and the datastore. You can also choose the VM version.
In the next screen, you can manage the VM configuration. First, you can choose which data to copy and you can get the information about partition on the source server.
Then, you can edit the CPU and memory information of the virtual machine. You can also change the disk controller.
When you convert a physical server with many network adapters, you may want to not convert all of them to virtual network adapters. To do so, select the number of network adapters to connect. You can also select the controller type (like VMXNET 3).
In the next screen, you can enable some post-processing settings, such as power off source machine and power on destination machine.
Next, you can set the IP address in the destination machine. If you choose to make a conversion from a powered-on machine, do not specify the same IP address as the source in order to avoid conflicting IP addresses.
In the next screen, a conversion summary is shown. Review the settings and click on Finish to run the conversion.
After you’ve clicked on Finish, the migration will start running.
When the conversion is finished, you can check the VM version, VMware tools and configure the IP address in destination VM.
Conclusion
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone is an easy tool that enables you to convert physical servers (Windows or Linux) to virtual machines. If you have a small number of machines to convert, you can use this tool because it’s free. If you need to convert thousands of VMs, you should use another tool that brings more automation (such as Double-Take Move).
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Software by Romain Serre