Category Archive

VMware has just announced support for their 61st OS supported by Fusion 2.0 - Mac OS X Server 10.5 (Leopard). This is great news for those looking to test things like the new Active Directory wizards, calendar server and enterprise blogging that come with the new version of the server. Not to mention that because it’s supported by Fusion 2.0, you can do it on your laptop.

Check out the full blog post on Fusion 2.0 Leopard Server support at the VMware VMTN blog site here.

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As described in the VMware announcement:

[A] new security technology called VMware VMsafe™ that protects applications running in virtual machines in ways previously not possible in physical environments. The VMsafe APIs allow vendors to develop advanced security products that combat the latest generation of malware. VMsafe technology integrates into the VMware hypervisor and provides the transparency to prevent threats and attacks such as viruses, trojans and keyloggers from ever reaching a virtual machine. Twenty security vendors have embraced VMsafe technology and are building products that will further enhance the security of virtual machines, making the virtual environment unmatched in the level of security and protection it provides compared to physical systems.

“VMware already has the most trusted virtualization platform for running applications, and we are now raising the bar on security in ways that physical systems simply cannot match,” said Raghu Raghuram, vice president of datacenter products and solutions. “The industry has come out in full force to support VMware VMsafe technology with plans for a whole new class of security products that offer customers new advantages to running applications in virtual machines.”

So it looks like VMsafe will be a method that security vendors can use in order to ensure that operations in the virtual world will remain just as protected as our meatspace servers

In Dianne Green’s keynote today, you’ll note that almost all of the typical security players have signed up to be part of this platform - I’m guessing it could be quite lucrative, with TCOs everywhere looking for bigger, better tinfoil hats.

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VMware has recently updated the VMware Thinstall page and is now offering a download of what they call “Project North Star” - a Thinstall product.

Also not that there is a thinstalled version of Firefox available for download from the same page.

Through Dianne Green didn’t speak a whole lot about Thinstall at VMworld today, it’s good to see VMware at least touch on it a bit as the appvirt vendors are keen to find out what sort of developments are to come.

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More purchases and conglomeration on the way this year.

The buzz at VMworld Europe, before it has even started, is that Novell is to purchase Canadian data center management software company Platespin. Novell has now posted the news on their site, and many are scrambling to figure out where this will lead them as the software is very popular in the VM market. (UPDATE: Platespin have posted their announcement regarding the Novell acquisition as well)
Novell is starting to grow again: it now owns SuSE Linux, Ximian (original makers of Gnome), and just recently purchased open colaboration vendor SiteScape.

If you’d like more info about the acquisition, feel free to register for the Novell-Platespin webinar.

From the Platespin announcement:

On February 25, 2008, Novell announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PlateSpin Ltd. The combination of Novell’s platform and automation management with PlateSpin’s leading solutions for workload relocation, protection and provisioning will give customers the agility to cross physical and virtual boundaries so IT can work together. Both organizations are focused on helping customers maximize the strategic value of the heterogeneous data center. Novell and PlateSpin will deliver products for complete workload lifecycle management and optimization for Linux, UNIX, and Windows operating systems in the physical and virtual data center. Below you will find details about the acquisition and what it means to current and future PlateSpin customers and partners.

From the Novell announcement:

The acquisition of PlateSpin will allow Novell to offer customers a full solution stack with a powerful virtualization platform and a best-in-class heterogeneous management solution. Together, Novell and PlateSpin will solve many of the data center challenges that customers face today, including:

• Relocation: PlateSpin provides a completely integrated product suite that automates the assessment and migration phases of data center initiatives, like server consolidation, data center relocation and hardware upgrades, to help customers reduce costs, power consumption and space in the data center.
• Protection: PlateSpin’s disaster recovery solutions offer affordable workload protection that leverages virtualization technology to protect both physical and virtual servers in the data center, for improved security and business continuity.
• Provisioning: Using PlateSpin’s technologies, customers will have a single approach to imaging and configuring physical and virtual workloads regardless of platform. This eliminates the manual install process and dramatically reduces the time to provision new server workloads. It will also enable customers to address changing resource requirements at peak demand times as well as in test lab scenarios.
• Optimization and Management: Novell and PlateSpin optimize the balance between physical and virtual infrastructure by automatically monitoring and making infrastructure adjustments based on server availability and workload demand. By automating the process and increasing the visibility into how workloads use physical and virtual resources over time, customers will be able to increase server utilization and optimize their data centers by better addressing common workload movement challenges.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Lately I’ve been scouring the web for used gear because there seems to be an influx of incredibly powerful stuff at amazing prices.

This all came about with me wanting to learn ESX 3.5, and needing the hardware as well as the network to run a feasible set up, with DRS, HA and Storage Vmotion. And I did it - on the cheap.

The first thing that you should know about ESX 3.5 is that it now works with many non/budget-RAID SATA chipsets, though not supported. Two that are readily available are Intel’s ICH5 and Silicone Image’s Sil SATA line. This typically depends on the BIOS you are using, but in regards to the ICH5, you’ll want to disable IDE compatibility mode, and as for Sil - you’ll sometimes want to turn on the RAID (though some Sil single channel cards also work, ie the Vantec SATA 1-port).

The second is that drive space is inexpensive. A 500GB SATAII Western Digital drive will only set you back about $100 CAD/USD. Two of these gives you redundancy! Combine the cheap drives with software like FreeNAS or OpenFiler, and you have yourself a 1TB iSCSI NAS for a fraction of the cost/MB of larger solutions. Just don’t pretend it’s foolproof… With any proper iSCSI, you’ll want some nice and spiffy ethernet cards, and in my case I used the tried-and-true Intel Pro 100 successor, the Pro 1000. You can find the Pro1000 GT for roughly $40, and a PCIe version of similar capabilities for about the same amount. The PCI version is compatible with VMware ESX 3.5, OpenFiler, FreeNAS, and Windows Server 2008. I hear the same goes for the PCIe version, and I will be able to let you know shortly.

Since we’re on the topic of networking, you’re going to either want two gigabit (gbit) switches, or a nice gbit switch with more ports and VLAN ability. I lucked out, and got a used 3Com SuperStack III (3C17706) for next to nothing. I’ve seen plenty of somewhat lesser-known (but just as nice) gigabit HP Procurve, Extreme Networks, and even Dell gear at plain stupid prices on ebay and Craigslist. Seriously. I’m talking 50$ for a 24 port 10/100/1000 switch! The trick on ebay is to not bid at all on stuff until it is about to end… then just pick it up. Well I guess everyone has figured that out by now, but it still works. Don’t draw attention to it by watching it like a hawk - just set up instant messaging reminders, and swoop in. As for Craigslist, I have RSS feeds for things I am interested in: 1U, 2U, 3U, 4U, 6U, rack, rackmount, etc. I check these on a regular basis, and make sure to email right away. Craigslist people are friendly, but will typically sell to the person who a) emails first, b) offers to pick it up the soonest, and c) doesn’t give them a hard time.

Now we’re into routing, mostly because I want to talk about it. This setup does not require any routing at all, but it’s a bit better to have a protected connection to the internet. My personal opinion here is to avoid Cisco at all costs, as recently the re-licensing has made buying one used a lot more expensive than in the past. That said, I do, in fact, own a Cisco router - what can I say! It’s like the gold standard. Of course my opinions are my own, and not that of my employer. For a cheaper routing solution, look to used Juniper, SonicWALL, and even open source stuff like Astaro (which also happens to run in VM…) Peronsally, I run a home licensed Astaro ten user virtual machine, a Juniper 5GT wireless, and barely use the Cisco 2611. That’s just me. If you’re having a hard time finding the Astaro licensing, just let me know, but rest assured it does exists, and is perhaps the EASIEST way to turn on VPN so you can have access to your virtual lab anywhere.

Alright, now we’re at the meat and potatoes - CPU and memory, the power behind all of this. Now, if power isn’t really a big deal, but you want to learn the cool features like the afore-mentioned DRS, HA and Storage Vmotion, the main thing you will want is memory. I’ve found that buying enthusiast RAM on Craigslist is VERY easy. Pick a brand like Crucial, OCZ or Kingston HyperX, and you’re bound to have masses of kids who all read the same articles, and are all selling the same RAM used, pretty much at the same time. Watch the trends, and you can easily build 4 boxes running over 3GB or RAM each, for cheap. Dirt cheap.

If you’re going the consolidation route, your best bet (used) is an Opteron solution. While you can find Opteron 185 and 175 chips on ebay, I find that they are asking a fortune for them because they are socket 939, and are considered top of the line for the specific platform. If you opt for the 165 dual core version, you can use cheap enthusiast RAM with great timings, and get a pretty good processor at the same time. It also means that you can get a motherboard to support both pretty much anywhere at bargain basement cost, and one that will typically have a Sil SATA chipset, or you can add one later.

In the case of the multi-box scenario - I’m using 4 Intel P4 3.0GHz HyperThreading processors. Not powerhouses by any means, but when it comes to storage, you can get Intel P4 motherboards that have ICH5 chipsets very easily because they well so prolific at the time - just make sure to watch those temps.

I think that kinda sums it up, as far as a used, cheap, VMware ESX 3.5 lab goes.

If you have any questions, feel free to shout them out.

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VMware VDI 2 can now be downloaded from the main VMware site, as of today!

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure allows you to provision desktops as if they were terminal server sessions, but gives users access to their very own desktop.

From VMware’s page on VDM / VDI:

“VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is an end-to-end solution for virtual desktop management that gives you the ability to deliver desktops from the data center for greater control and flexibility. With VMware VDI, you get:

• VMware Infrastructure 3, the proven virtual infrastructure software suite, including VMware VirtualCenter for management
• VMware Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM) 2, the enterprise-class connection broker that connects remote users to centralized desktops and manages VDI environments”

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From the official announcement:

The VMware Fusion Team is happy to announce that VMware Fusion 1.1.1 is now available, addressing 15 issues reported by our customers.

VMware Fusion 1.1.1, a free update for current VMware Fusion customers and available in all the languages Fusion currently ships in, also adds a nifty new feature to transparently remap keyboard shortcuts when going back and forth between applications in the virtual machine and the Mac, regardless of what view the virtual machine is in.

For example, VMware Fusion now remaps Command –X from the keyboard to Ctrl-X in the virtual machine whether in Full Screen, Single Window or Unity. The same remapping happens for Command-Z/-C/-V/-P/-A/-F. Previously, VMware Fusion only did this remapping in Unity mode.

What this means to users, is that when copying something from the Mac side to paste into the virtual machine, and vice versa, you no longer have to remember “Is it Ctrl-V, or Command-V to paste here? Which machine am I interacting with?”

The effect is a more integrated blending of the two operating systems, so your Mac and Windows work together seamlessly, where the user only has to remember one set of keyboard shortcuts!

Keyboard remapping can be turned on and off in the VMware Fusion > Preferences dialog.

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The VMware Fusion team recently announced that the new beta version of VMware Converter (beta 2) will allow importing of Virtual PC 2007 based virtual machines, as well as Parallels Desktop 2.5 and Parallels 3.0 based virtual machines.

This means that you can now easily convert old virtual machines that you might have running on G3/G4/G5 PowerPC Macs, as well as convert newer virtual machines on Intel Macs running Parallels to VMware Fusion - the better product in my honest opinion.

The operating systems supported are Windows XP Home and Pro, Windows Sever 2003, Windows 2000 and you also get the added bonus of being able to import Microsoft Windows Vista virtual machines from Parallels.

Take that with a grain of salt though… I do currently work for a VMware partner On the other hand, VMware Fusion did just receive the annual MacWorld Editors’ Choice Award - you be the judge.
Here are the release notes from the VMware blog:

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From the VMware blog:
“Workstation 6.0.1, ACE 2.0.1, and Player 2.0.1 have all been released. These updates address security issues, introduce new functionality, and broaden guest OS support, including experimental support for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Server 2008 (code name Longhorn).In addition, Workstation 5.5.5, ACE 1.0.4, Player 1.0.5, and Server 1.0.4 have also been released. These updates address security and functionality issues.”

This is interesting because there are new versions of products to talk about, along with new features.

What really made US happy, was seeing that security is still a concern on older releases - specifically VMware Workstation 5.5 (now 5.5.5), which many developpers use to this day for many reasons.

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Recent stock market darling VMware has just released a Perl toolkit for it’s Virtual Infrastructure virtualisation product, as well as a Perl toolkit virtual machine that you can download for free to play around with.

VMware describes the toolkit as “an easy-to-use Perl scripting interface to the VMware Infrastructure API (VI API). Administrators and developers who may be more familiar with Perl (rather than with Java, C#, or other programming languages) can readily leverage the VI API. For developers who have previously worked with the Scripting API (VmPerl API), the VI Perl Toolkit is the tool of choice.”

An example VI3 Perl script, perf.pl, can be downloaded at the VMware forums site. Perf allows you to measure the performance of your virtual machines running on ESX 2.x or 3.x servers during a specified period of time.

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The Register is reporting that Citrix will be letting everyone know tomorrow that it plans to acquire XenSource tomorrow.

This doesn’t come as much of a surprise as we know Citrix has been looking long and hard at a virtualization platform.

While this seems to be a very good move on behalf of Citrix, it remains to be seen what the fate of the open source Xen project will be.

As predicted, 2007 is shaping up to be the year of the virtual machine with Microsoft, SWSoft, EMC/VMware and now Citrix ready and set to keep spending and marketing this paradigm.

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Since installing bbPress on the forum.blandname.com subdomain, I’ve become addicted to the rapid posting workflow: add topic, title, description and post! It’s 4 steps and is over so quick I’ve been thinking about making a bookmarklet that will automate the task for me. Here’s the latest smaller posts I sent there, but should some day expand upon here (I’ll use blandname for longer posts from now on):

• vTiger CRM Virtual Machine
• RDP Manager for your Windows System Tray
• HOWTO TrixBox - VoIP Virtual Machine
• Online Virtual Machine Builder
• Microsoft Distributes Demo Software via VHD
• FREE Terminal Server Monitoring Tool
• VMware Workstation 6 Feature List
• Multi monitor support for RDP 6
• Add Reflections to bbPress Images
• Google PageRank and Alexa in Your Firefox 2
• Display Digg in WordPress - Digg Dugg Plugin
• Google Analytics Plugn for bbPress

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Currently the only way to get Vista on Vista virtualization running is to either use Virtual Server 2005 with some tweaks, or if you are part of the Virtual PC 2007 beta you can install Virtual PC 2007 (VPC 2K7) on Vista with no tweaks or hacks needed whatsoever. Unfortunately neither of these solutions can virtualize a 64bit operating system, but VMware Server should be Vista compliant soon - so I’m holding me breath until then.

Following my friend’s guide to setting up Virtual PC 2007 on Windows Vista found over at WebandRaptors, I was able to get VPC 2k7 set up quickly and without pain.

Next came the Windows Vista install, which was pretty straightforward. Something to note: you don’t actually need to use a CD key during installation, you can simply click the “next” button and the installer will inform you that a CD key will be needed later, I think it’s about 30days before it becomes necessary.

Once Vista is installed and configured for remote access from within VPC, all you need to do to get Aero Glass running is to connect to the virtual machine using the Remote Desktop Connection (RDP 6) client. If your host, or physical, machine supports Aero Glass, the virtual machine will allow you to take advantage of it, giving you transparent blurred windows, mouse-over taskbar previews, and cool windows+tab animation!

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VMWare announced that they will be opening the Virtual Lab Manager to the public today, and the software is now available for download (ESX 3.0.1 too!)

Virtual Lab Manager is a product for managing virtual machines running on ESX 3 or VMWare Infrastructure servers, and allows you to do nifty things like save SIDs, MAC and IP addresses, and deploy groups of configurations to multiple machines.

Here’s a full rundown of the features from the datasheet:

Multi-Machine Configurations
• Create multi-machine configurations in seconds using machine templates - no limit on machine count, no manual adjustments
• View configurations in use with thumbnail console views, public-private scoping and list filtering
• Act on machines in a configuration as a unit: suspend, multi-snapshot, revert to, shutdown, turn on, turn off, suspend, reset, deploy, undeploy, clone, capture to library, and modify properties
• Share templates and multi-machine configurations between users
• Share captured, live configurations via URL-based “LiveLink” capability
• Interact with all configuration consoles side-by-side on a single browser page
• Setup machines in a configuration to boot in controlled sequence
Configuration Library
• Near-instantaneous check out of configurations with memory and CPU state preserved
• Simultaneous use of library configurations by multiple users without changing MAC and IP addresses or SID, using

VMware network fencing
• Efficient storage compression algorithms maximize library entries per storage server
• Public and private library entries
• Public-private scoping and list filtering of library
Media Library
• Central repository for all development and test media
• Tag media with descriptive attributes
• Upload media from the browser or directly to the file share
• Easily make media available to VMware-managed virtual machines
• Public-private scoping and list filtering of media library
Deployment
• Browser- or Web service-initiated deployment
• Copy from or execute from storage server
• Configuration or machine deployment granularity
• Automatic load balancing of machines deployed on host servers
• Side-by-side execution of cloned configurations across physical server boundaries, even when IP addresses are duplicated on a subnet
• Selectable provisioning heuristic – enabling rapid startup and maximum performance when deploying configurations
Machine Templates
• Instant creation of new machines from templates with distinct personalization-automated assignment of MAC and IP addresses, and SID (for Windows systems)
• New template creation via cloning and modification of existing templates
• Import pre-existing virtual machine images for use as templates
• Automated installation of mouse and keyboard enhancements for virtual machines
• Optional physical-to-virtual (P2V) capability for storage and management of existing machines
• Public-private scoping and list filtering of templates
Resource Management
• Automated tracking and issuance of IP addresses
• Storage server management: add, delete, refresh and modify properties
• Managed server management: add, delete, refresh, agent upgrade, remove from service and modify properties
Monitoring
• Active unified “in motion” view of server pool and virtual machine operations
• Drill-down on server, configuration and machine details
• All deployed machines view
• Comprehensive event and job log viewer
Web Services and Command Line Interface (Automation API)
• Full programmatic control of capture-and-restore operations
• Out-of-the-box automation with leading test automation tools
• Standards-based interface (SOAP, WSDL, HTTP)
• Sample .NET and Java code illustrating use of APIs
Administration and Security
• User, permission and quota management
• Out-of-the-box support for LDAP
• Administrator role assignment to multiple users
• User self-managed preferences
• Context-sensitive on-screen help
Installation
• Standard Windows setup.exe installer for all components
• Automated addition of managed servers to deployment pool
Supported Managed Server Environments
• VMware Infrastructure 3

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Up until a few years ago I was getting fed up trying to show Japanese friends that linux was a viable option to Windows XP SP2, because the input method that Linux used at the time quite truthfully stank. The conclusion was that with an English keyboard, Windows was the way to go because of the (then) fancy Japanese input method applet.

Later on, I found out about Berry Linux, a Japanese LiveCD distro based on RedHat/Fedora that can easily show off Linux and allow users to do things like compose email that Japanese people can actually read (common problem on Windows), and surf the web in Japanese by default, instead of having to manually choose codepages and the like, which frustrates must computer users (if they haven’t already given up).

Berry Linux got an update today (to version 0.75), and now supports fancy-pants XGL - which I’m sure you’ll agree kicks Aero’s behind quite handily (footily?). If you’re trying to run Berry Linux Mini as a virtual machine you’ll get a console instead of X and you’ll lose the XGL capabilities, so I’d recommend testing it on a physical machine instead of a virtual machine - it’s a LiveCD so it’s quite safe to do so.

Here’s a feature rundown taken from the Berry Linux site’s English page (corrected a few typos):

Common Features:
• Support for Kernel-2.6. ALSA, ACPI, selinux.
• Overlay Filesystem Support.
• XGL, 3D Desktop, support.
• Berry Linux is not necessary to install. (Root partition is in the RAMdisk using initrd, all commands are operated by being transfered from CD-ROM)
• It can install on Windows without parting partitions to use Setup.exe or install.bat. (Using squashfs/cloop/loopback device)
• It can install to your hard disk on Linux. (Use Berry Linux Installer or Copy under /BERRY/, and set up LILO or grub)
• Berry Linux can boot from USB-HDD/memory.
• Berry Linux uses WHIZ, a very sharp Kana-Kanji conversion system. (WHIZ Project)
• If you push the windows key, and show the K-Menu.
• Automatically recognizes USB storage, and show icons.
• Berry Linux uses free Japanese True Type Fonts.
• Berry Linux uses bootsplash when booting.
• Berry Linux uses DHCP to connect the Network. (If you’d like to use PPPoE, you should setting up it on the Terminal)
• It’s possible to save personal setting.
• Red Hat Fedora compatible.
• Using new technologies.

Berry Linux’s Features:
• You can listen to mp3 using BMP/XMMS, and play DVD/DivX using MPlayer, XINE and Kaffeine.
• You can edit files of Microsoft Word, Excel by OpenOffice^(TM).

Berry Linux Mini’s Features:
• Minimum Linux environment is available by using Berry Linux Mini.
• Its file size is very small. (148.0MB)
• It’s light. Because of the Window Manager is Fluxbox.
• You can enjoy comfortable Linux environment.

Berry Linux Server’s Features: (Published Berry Linux Mini as alpha version)
• Build the Linux Server easily.
• Minimum Server Linux enviroment is available by using Berry Linux Server.
• Its file size is very small. (161.3MB)
• It’s light. Because of the Window Manager is WindowMaker.
• You can enjoy comfortable Linux enviroment.

To do:
• Support Software Suspend.
• Support Captive NTFS.

Known Bugs: (Please help me!)
• Kernel panic on boot after realtek RTL-8139 ethernet intialization. (Kernel Bugs)
• Using cloop with kernel-2.4.22-pre7 to 2.4.23-pre2 sometimes stops in boot. (pre5 is OK)
• Sometimes gcc 3.3 is not good ! (Berry Linux 0.19 only)
• krb5.h isn’t in krb5-devel-1.2.8-4. (Berry Linux 0.19, 0.20 only)

You can grab Berry Linux from the SourceForge page or the Berry Linux main page - but I’d recomend using SourceForge if you are in North America as it is much faster.

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In the coming weeks I will be working more on Microsoft’s Windows Vista as it ramps up to release to manufacture (RTM) status.

Although you can currently run Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 in 32 bit mode on a Windows Vista physical machine, I’ve learned that I was recently accepted into the Virtual PC 2007 beta tester program, and that Virtual PC 2007 can run on 64bit Vista.

If you are interested in joining the Virtual PC 2007 beta program, I highly suggest you sign up, then play some fantastic Rod Stewart albums until you are accepted.

By the way, this does in fact mean you can run Vista on Vista reliably now. VMWare Workstation and Server still don’t work at this point, but it’s on the way, just stay tuned.

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From the VMWare Converter 3 beta refresh release notes (found at virtualization.info):

VMware Converter provides an easy-to-use, scalable solution for migrations of machines, both physical to virtual and virtual to virtual. Optimized for mass migration, VMware Converter is equally effective for single-machine conversions. With its comprehensive and comprehensible wizards and task manager, VMware Converter imports virtual machines faster, with fewer manual steps required, and fewer source hardware limitations than other methods. Converter can, with its ability to hot clone, import with no downtime on the source physical machine.

VMware Converter combines and expands the functionality available in P2V Assistant and Virtual Machine Importer. It eases interoperability among VMware hosted products (Workstation, VMware Server, and VMware Player), VirtualCenter-managed ESX Server 3.x and 2.5.x, and unmanaged ESX Server 3.x.

Import from Physical Machines (Source)
VMware Converter can hot clone and reconfigure any local or remote physical machine running an operating system noted in Platforms VMware Converter Boot CD can be started from, and clone, local machines outfitted with storage controllers and network adapters that Microsoft lists as supported in Windows 2003

Import from Various Third-Party Formats and VMware Products (Source)
Microsoft Virtual PC (version 7 and higher) Microsoft Virtual Server (any version) Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery images1 VMware Workstation 4.x virtual machine (compatible with VMware GSX Server 3.x) VMware Workstation 5.x virtual