Using vCenter Converter in standalone mode

Taking physical machines and making them virtual is a complex task. That’s why you’ll need tools like VMware’s vCenter Converter to handle the conversion.

A four-step wizard walks you through the conversion. You start with the source – whether it’s a powered-on machine that’s currently running part of your client’s business, or whether it’s a virtual machine that’s running on another virtualisation platform. If you’re porting from a Microsoft Virtual Server virtual machine you can’t go straight from a VHD file; you need the full VMC file to manage a conversion. If you’re working with a virtual machine image you can see the virtual hardware that your VMware image will need to emulate.

Once you’ve chosen an image to convert, either target it at an existing Virtual Infrastructure server, or save an image for use with VMware Server. Additional options allow you to pre-install VMware’s user interface tools as well as changing key installation preferences. Once you’ve chosen all the options you wish to use, you just click Finish, and the conversion starts to run – leaving you with a VMware Server image you can use with the rest of your client’s consolidated servers.