new environment

[couch0414]

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting. I am fairly new to Vmware and I’m implementing virtual servers. I'm looking for the best way to do the following. I'm taking our Dell 2950, which currently has 2003server loaded, and wanting to convert it to a virtual server. So from what I understand I need to run the converter on the server. Do I need to have another ESXi server out there to push the image to or is there an option to put the image on a USB disk? After I get the image off I will load ESXi on the server and then import the image. How do I import the image? Can I just copy it into the data store?

I have a test environment setup and I’ve been playing with a lot of the tools. I have converted the 2950 to a test server and everything is working. I'm getting ready to get a test 2850 online so I can practice moving the image between servers. I don’t have Vmotion so everything will need to be done on the weekend. I purchased vCenter Server 4 Essentials for vSphere and vSphere 4 Essentials; I hope this is will do what I need.

Thank you very much

Tim Couch

[HannaL]

Its best to install ESX first then you can put vCenter on a VM. Make sure to also installConverter when you install vCenter (it's included for free with vCenter). Make sure to enable the converter plugin and all the converter network/storage requirements are met. Then all you have to do is right click on the ESX host in the vsphere client inventory, select Import Machine. Follow the gui steps and just point it at the fqdn or ip of the physical server you want to convert to virtual and it should work(give it plenty of time). Make sure to check out all the getting started guides but you have the general idea.

esx getting started guide

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40_u1/vsp_40_u1_esxi_i_get_start.pdf

vCenter converter guide

Best practices for using and troubleshooting VMware Converter

Hope that helps

Hanna

[nanair01]

Hey use the P2V converter to convert your Physical Windows Server 2k3 machine to a VM. Hope you have converter plugin installed on your VI client.

Once the conversion is done, then you can right click on the ESX Server, where you want to import the VM to and can select the option "import" and follow the wizard! It is simple. Good luck

If you find this post helpful/rectify your problem do not forget to award points

[AndreTheGiant]

For vCenter in a VM (I suggest this way) see:

For ESXi on a USB stick see:

Andre