Converting VM from XenServer to VMware

Question

I have XenServer non-paravirtualised VM and I want to convert them fro using in my ESXi infrastracture. Is it possible to do it with Essentials Plus pack ? What tool do I have to use?

Answer 1

Either the VMWare Standalone Converter or the vCenter Converter - never personally done a Xen to VMWare conversion but those are your two best options.

Answer 2

I never done this kind of manipulation. But there is the KB from VmWare that explain how to.

Try it out. (don't forget to backup your vm before trying ;)

Answer 3

My personal "works best" experience for any kind of Linux clients is just dd'ing the disk over to ESX(i):

1. either stop all unnecessary processes on the source and remount all mountpoints read-only (mount -o remount,ro ) or restart the source machine with a live rescue distro (I am quite used to sysrescuecd, but any other with an ssh client and dd in place will do) and ensure network connectivity / configuration
2. start up your destination machine with a live rescue distro, set up the network interface, start the SSH daemon (sysrescuecd already does this as part of the init scripts) and set a "root" password (otherwise you likely will not be able to log in via ssh)
3. check connectivity from the source to the destination machine by pinging it first and performing an ssh login
4. issue dd if=/dev/<src_device> | ssh <destination> 'dd of=/dev/<dst_device>' for every of your connected disks
5. if device names have changed and your boot loader or initrd image can't cope with that, you would need to fix it of course

The VMWare converter failed on various occasions with Linux clients - I only managed to reliably convert Windows clients with it.