Using PlateSpin PowerConvert to Perform Windows-to-Virtual Conversions into XenEnterprise Virtual Machines
Performing Windows-to-Virtual Conversions into XenEnterprise Virtual Machines

Introduction

PlateSpin PowerConvert can be used to perform physical-to-virtual (P2V) conversions of Windows source systems into XenEnterprise Virtual Machines. This can be accomplished today by creating a target Virtual Machine in the XenEnterprise Admin console, booting it up with the PowerConvert Take Control ISO and configuring a physical-to-physical conversion to this target virtual machine. The following document provides a step-by-step walkthrough of how to do perform such a conversion. Additional information can be found in the Getting Started with XenServer 3.1.0 User Guide and the PowerConvert 6.5 User Guide.
Important Notice for XenEnterprise v4.0 Users:
In order to move workloads to XenEnterprise 4.0 a patch for PowerConvert v6.6 is required. Please visit PlateSpin Knowledge Base Article Q20977 for download and deployment details.

Installing PowerConvert

PowerConvert will need to be installed on a Windows server or on a virtual machine running Windows in your network. Instructions on the installation and configuration of PowerConvert can be found in the PowerConvert 6.5 User Guide. Before installing PowerConvert, you will need to install several components on the PowerConvert server. These components must be installed in the following order: 1. IIS 2. The ASP.Net component of IIS 3. The.Net 2.0 Framework
Creating a Virtual Machine in XenEnterprise
To enable P2V conversion, you must first create the target Virtual Machine through the XenEnterprise Admin Console, and boot it up with the PlateSpin ISO image.
Copying the PlateSpin Take Control ISO Image
The first step is to copy the PlateSpin Physical Target Take Control ISO image to the appropriate directory on the XenEnterprise host system. The ISO image is available from the PlateSpin website.
ISO Physical Target Take Control ISO WINPERAMDISK.ISO Physical Target Take Control ISO For Low Memory Servers WINPE.ISO Physical Target Take Control ISO for Unisys ES7000 WINPERAMDISKES7000.ISO Comments Use for VMs that have greater than 384 MB of RAM assigned Use for VMs that have less than 384 MB of RAM assigned Do Not Use
Tip: When creating a VM shell as a target for the conversion assign at lest 384 MB of RAM to the VM. This will provide more resources to the VM during the conversion and will result in better transfer times. If the VM should have less memory assigned after the conversion simply reduce the assigned memory through the XenEnterprise Admin Console. Copy the ISO image into the /var/opt/xen/iso_import directory on your XenEnterprise host system, so that this image will be available as an option in the CD-ROMs section of the VM Install menu of the XenEnterprise Admin Console.

Create VM

In the XenEnterprise Admin Console, click on the Install XenVM button to create a new XenVM. In the Install From pulldown, select either Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP depending on what source operating system you are converting. Enter a name and, optionally, a description for your new VM. Enter an amount of virtual memory for your VM (in Megabytes). At least 384 MB is recommended. Make sure to allocate enough virtual disk space on the target VM to allow for all of the data (and free space) that you want to move from your source machine. Note that the amount of free space associated with a source volume can be resized during the server migration process when you configure the PowerConvert conversion job, but the overall amount of virtual machine disk space cannot be resized. For example, if you allocate 4 GB of virtual disk space for the target VM, and your source system has 3 GB of used space, the maximum amount of free space that you will be able to allocate for the target VM in the PowerConvert job will be 1 GB. Please see Step 3 (Drive Configuration) of the section of the PowerConvert User Guide entitled Converting to Physical Servers (P2P, V2P) for more information. In the CD-ROMs section, select the appropriate PlateSpin ISO image name from the pull down. This will either be winperamdisk.iso or winpe.iso (for VMs with less than 384 MB of RAM).

Installing the VM

Click on the Install button to install this VM. It will boot from the PlateSpin ISO image automatically. Select the Graphical Console tab to see the image boot up.
Booting the VM from the PlateSpin Take Control ISO
When the ISO image has finished booting, you will be prompted for: The URL of the PowerConvert server: Use http://<servername>/powerconvert, where <servername> is the hostname or IP address of the server where PowerConvert is installed. Username: This will be the name of a user that has admin privileges on the PowerConvert server, including domain or machine name. (e.g., domain\username) Password: Password for the above user. Network card: Select the network card that is active, and enter a temporary static IP address for this card, or just hit Enter to use DHCP to generate a temporary IP address. Temporary hostname: This hostname will show up in the PowerConvert interface as the temporary name for the hostname of this VM. It will be over-written with the name you choose in the PowerConvert job. Number of processors: Enter 1, as XenEnterprise currently only supports one virtual CPU for Windows VMs.
SSL encryption: If you have installed PowerConvert on server where SSL encryption is enabled, enter Yes. Otherwise, enter No. PowerConvert network: Unless you have defined your own network in the PowerConvert client, just hit Enter here.
At this point, the PlateSpin controller application will communicate with the PowerConvert server, and register the target machine as a physical target for conversion.
P2V Migration with PowerConvert
Once the ISO image has fully booted up, and the target server appears in the PowerConvert client interface (labeled with the temporary hostname and an Operating System of Unknown OS), you will be able to drag-and-drop a source server onto this target to create and initiate a PowerConvert job. For more details on configuring a PowerConvert job, please see the PowerConvert User guide. In particular, the type of job that needs to be run in order to populate a VM in XenEnterprise is covered in the chapter entitled Converting to Physical Servers.

Post-migration Steps

Install the XenSource paravirtualized device drivers for Windows. See Step 12 of the section Installing a Windows XenVM in the Getting Started with XenServer User Guide.

About PlateSpin Ltd.

PlateSpin provides the most advanced data center automation software designed to optimize the use of server resources across the enterprise to improve business service levels and lower costs. PlateSpins patent-pending OS Portability technology liberates software from hardware platforms, allowing servers to be streamed over the enterprise network from any source to any destination. This freedom of movement ensures the best fit between server resource supply and application workload demands. Global 2000 companies use PlateSpin solutions to lower costs and solve todays most pressing data center initiatives such as server consolidation, disaster recovery, hardware migration and test lab automation. For more information please visit www.platespin.com

About XenSource

XenSource plays the dual role of leading the open source Xen(tm) hypervisor community, while simultaneously selling value-added enterprise solutions based on Xen technology. XenSource is committed to nurturing and growing the Xen community, and dedicates a significant amount of its own engineering resources to developing open source technology to maintain the position of the Xen hypervisor as the world's fastest and most secure hypervisor. In addition to its open source efforts, XenSource develops, markets, and sells valueadded solutions and services based on the Xen hypervisor, including enterprise grade virtualization infrastructure solutions. These solutions allow enterprises to realize the TCO savings that result from increased server utilization, server consolidation, and reduced complexity in the data center. For more information please visit www.xensource.com
2007 PlateSpin Ltd. All rights reserved. PlateSpin and the PlateSpin logo are registered trademarks and PowerConvert, PowerRecon, OS Portability and PowerSDK are trademarks of PlateSpin Ltd. PlateSpin OS Portability, conversion and optimization technology and related products are patent pending. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.