3.3. Converting a virtual machine
Once you have prepared to convert the virtual machines, use
virt-v2v to perform the actual conversions. This section provides the steps to convert the virtual machines, and the command syntax for virt-v2v.
Note that conversions are resource intensive processes that require copying the whole disk image for a virtual machine. In typical environments, converting a single virtual machine takes approximately 5-10 minutes. In Example 3.4, “Typical virt-v2v conversion time” a virtual machine with a single 8GB disk is copied over SSH on a 1GigE network on three-year-old consumer hardware:
Example 3.4. Typical virt-v2v conversion time
win2k3r2-pv-32.img: 100% [===========================================]D 0h02m57s virt-v2v: win2k3r2-pv-32 configured with virtio drivers.
The size of the disk to be copied is the major factor in determining conversion time. For a virtual machine on average hardware with a single disk of 20GB or less, a conversion usually takes less than 10 minutes.
3.3.1. Converting a local virtual machine using virt-v2v
virt-v2v converts virtual machines from a foreign hypervisor to run on KVM, managed by libvirt. The general command syntax for converting machines to run on KVM, managed by libvirt is:
virt-v2v -i libvirtxml -op pool --bridge bridge_name guest_name.xml virt-v2v -op pool --network netname guest_name virt-v2v -ic esx://esx.example.com/?no_verify=1 -op pool --bridge bridge_name guest_name
For a list of
virt-v2v parameters, refer to Chapter 7, References.
