3.3.2. Converting a remote KVM virtual machine

KVM virtual machines can be converted remotely using SSH. Ensure that the host running the virtual machine is accessible using SSH.

To convert the virtual machine, run:

virt-v2v -ic qemu+ssh://root@vmhost.example.com/system -op pool --bridge bridge_name guest_name

Where vmhost.example.com is the host running the virtual machine, pool is the local storage pool to hold the image, bridge_name is the name of a local network bridge to connect the converted virtual machine's network to, and guest_name is the name of the Xen virtual machine.

You may also use the --network parameter to connect to a locally managed network if your virtual machine only has a single network interface. If your virtual machine has multiple network interfaces, edit /etc/virt-v2v.conf to specify the network mapping for all interfaces.

If your virtual machine is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and uses a kernel which does not support the KVM VirtIO drivers, virt-v2v will attempt to install a new kernel during the conversion process. You can avoid this requirement by updating the kernel to a recent version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 which supports VirtIO prior to conversion.