Dugie’s Pensieve

Ok, here’s the good bit you’ve been waiting for:  Part II.   I have my SCVMM server set up, and I want to P2V a physical server into a Virtual Machine.

Getting Jiggy with It, and kicking of the P2V

• Open up the SCVMM Admin Console
• Add in my Virtual Server Host
• Go to: Actions | Virtual Machine Manager | Convert Physical Server
• Run through the Convert Physical Server Wizard - type in the Computer name, credentials, etc.
• Notice in Process Explorer on the physical candidate a process called “vmmAgent.exe” - must come back and check this out
• It’s asking for driver.cab and sp1.cab; So glad that I always keep the i386 folder from the build media with the server!
• The P2V has started and files are be copied to the SCVMM serer from the physical box whilst it is still running
• Notice the physical candidate isn’t under much load at all.  CPU is at about 23%, Network is really busy, still working fine, not at all worried
• Notice that the transfer of the physical candidate up to the virtual machine is happening via BITS
• Feeling stupid so I copy a couple of extra files up to the physical candidate whilst the P2V is in process - lets see what happens
• The copy finishes
• I notice that SCVMM mounts the VHD and copies over some files over - I really must come back with process monitor and do some snooping
• P2V Process finishes
• I turn off the physical candidate
• I power on the Virtual Machine
• Looks like it worked
• Reboot the Virtual Machine because it detected new hardware
• Install the Virtual Machine Additions 13.715
• Reboot
• Look around in the event log, notice “Product: Microsoft System Centre Virtual Machine Manager 2007 P2V Agent — Installation complete successfully.“
• Everything else looks ok, Virtual Machine runs quite well and does as expected

Final Thoughts on the SCVMM Install and P2V process

• It’s really nice that you don’t have to leave the installer to do pre-requisites
• It would lovely if I could copy (and paste) the Summary Page text as raw text into my change logs - might jam off an email to the beta team.
• I like the Job Status Tracking window, separate windows might work very well on dual monitor systems.
• The Convert Physical Server wizard, especially the page “Conversion Information” needs a copy to clipboard, or something
• The new interface is nice and polished, a welcomed change from Beta 1
• I have soooo many questions about what goes on “under the hood” with the P2V, but these are for another time and another post

Now this post is really rough around the edges, I might come back and clean it up, but then again I might not just yet.  I wanted to share my experiences with everyone so far. 

Anyway there is lots and lots of more testing to do, so I’d better keep going.  Until my next post, here is some screen shots of the P2V in action: