Baffled by vCenter

[maxi-m]

Is there a VCenter overview document so I can get a clear understanding of the correct deployment architecture. We are running one host with VMware Server (on WIN2K3 Ent.) and a second with ESXi both using the free license - I have both the VMware clients running (VM server and VM Infrastructure). What I can't figure out is if vCenter takes the place of the client for managing VM's. My goal is to try and manage my virtual disk space and set up a way to back up my VM's to a SAN. I have been doing snapshots which I've found out can be troublesome, so I'd like to back up my VM's before I delete the snapshots and with the free licensing it can be almost impossible particularly with the ESXi server.

As you can see I'm still pretty unclear of what I need to have running to accomplish this task. I've looked at some of the back up products and a few support ESXi and seem not to require vCenter to run - this may be an easier path to take. Not really sure which way to go.

Thanks in advance, this site has been really helpful so far...

Mike

[depping]

Why not use VMware converter? Install VMware converter on a random windows box and point it to the VM but just tell it it is a physical machine and convert it to an image... This way you can store it anywhere you like with just a simple gui.

Duncan

VMware Communities User Moderator

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[maxi-m]

I'll look into the VM converter - if that will let me access the VM's on the ESXi server that will be excellent and I can use the snapshots as they should be for rollbacks after testing. Does the converter allow you to restore an image?

Thanks for your help,

MB

[depping · Accepted solution]

Yes it does, you could also export to OVF I think and directly import from the VI Client...

http://www.vmware.com/download/converter/

Duncan

VMware Communities User Moderator

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[maxi-m]

I've been reading through the vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0 user guide and it looks it will do exactly what we need. Thanks for the push in the right direction.

Cheers, MB