I have just embarked on a project to v2v 250 VMs from vSphere 5.1 to Hyper-V 3.0. I thought I'd start a discussion string on v2v experiences. I have used the native v2v conversion with in VMM, 5nine's Easy Converter, Starwind's Converter and MVMC. I'm not happy with any of them. They are so inconsistent and frustrating, I see this project as literally taking years. Sometimes the VMM converter works, sometimes it just fails with crypt error messages. At the beginning it would crash the management interfaces on the ESXi servers but a ticket with VMware and increasing some system values solved that.

Most of the time, it will run for an hour or two, then just fail with no explanation. Same for MVMC. Occasionally I have some luck doing a p2v instead of a v2.

5nine usually fails, but gives me the VHDX files so I can create the VM from there. Ditto for Starwind.

Even if I could get a product that works consistently, the fact that 5nine and VMM actually make 2 or 3 copies of the VMDKs during the conversion process is pretty ridiculous. I have had to carve out terabyte LUNs to attach to a Hyper-V host just to have enough scratch disk to convert, then watch the conversion take literally hours.

All in all, a very frustrating experience. Have others been faced with similar issues? And if so, how did you tackle it?

Thanks.

Personally, I stopped doing v2v many years ago as the situation has never really gotten better than it was back in 2009.

The absolute best way to not convert, but migrate through rebuilding.  The same for p2v.  Build on the platform.

Conversion always gives baggage (tools, drivers, special ways of installing, agents, etc.), and it is baggage that ends up causing problems.

In the end, it is the OS in the VM that really determines the success.

Back in the day. PlateSpin was the premier product for conversion.  And it was never free.  I have not looked at them since the purchase by Novell.  But they did a bang up job of dealing with drivers, changes in boot controllers, etc.  And old operating systems that just don't like hardware changes.

Yes, I feel the same about the inconsistent and frustrating process.

Because I do not want to alter or change anything on the VMware Virtual Machines, what I see that works is to use "Disk2vhd", create the VM, and then use "Fix it portable" to remove VMtools on the new VM.

Disk2vhd can create your VHD directly to your Hyper V host (Clusters CSV included), so, no need to do the VMDKs copies.

I always have the original VMware intact, so I can go back and start doing the process again, or just leave in VMware if need to.

Read more here:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/6a441588-24fd-4f39-9cbc-5d028fec7c41/hyper-v-and-vmtools-setup-failed-to-detemine-which-vm-product

I have just embarked on a project to v2v 250 VMs from vSphere 5.1 to Hyper-V 3.0. I thought I'd start a discussion string on v2v experiences. I have used the native v2v conversion with in VMM, 5nine's Easy Converter, Starwind's Converter and MVMC. I'm not happy with any of them. They are so inconsistent and frustrating, I see this project as literally taking years. Sometimes the VMM converter works, sometimes it just fails with crypt error messages. At the beginning it would crash the management interfaces on the ESXi servers but a ticket with VMware and increasing some system values solved that.

Most of the time, it will run for an hour or two, then just fail with no explanation. Same for MVMC. Occasionally I have some luck doing a p2v instead of a v2.

5nine usually fails, but gives me the VHDX files so I can create the VM from there. Ditto for Starwind.

Even if I could get a product that works consistently, the fact that 5nine and VMM actually make 2 or 3 copies of the VMDKs during the conversion process is pretty ridiculous. I have had to carve out terabyte LUNs to attach to a Hyper-V host just to have enough scratch disk to convert, then watch the conversion take literally hours.

All in all, a very frustrating experience. Have others been faced with similar issues? And if so, how did you tackle it?

Thanks.

Yes, I feel the same about the inconsistent and frustrating process.

Because I do not want to alter or change anything on the VMware Virtual Machines, what I see that works is to use "Disk2vhd", create the VM, and then use "Fix it portable" to remove VMtools on the new VM.

Disk2vhd can create your VHD directly to your Hyper V host (Clusters CSV included), so, no need to do the VMDKs copies.

I always have the original VMware intact, so I can go back and start doing the process again, or just leave in VMware if need to.

Read more here:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/6a441588-24fd-4f39-9cbc-5d028fec7c41/hyper-v-and-vmtools-setup-failed-to-detemine-which-vm-product

Just to add that, you can attach a VHD in Windows 2008 as a volume and copy files directly.

What that means? You will only need to convert your C:\ drive with Direct2VHD, and for the other drives copy all files with robocopy.

Of course if you have SQL data or exchange in such volumes, stop them. But for files, works ok.

Hi ewaltrg,

New version of 5nine V2V Easy Converter was announced on June 20, 2013, make sure you are using the most recent one.

5nine V2V Easy Converter does not require 'removing' the guest from the source VMware environment prior to conversion. But the VMs have to be off, and host-to-host conversions are recommended.

Even though it is a free product, and the main 5nine products like 5nine Security for Hyper-V with agentless anti-virus capabilities are paid, you can still submit convertorTrace.log file from the 5nine V2V Easy Converter program folder to 5nine TechSupport, and get help identifying the possible causes of your V2V conversion problems.

Alexander

Hi ewaltrg,

New version of 5nine V2V Easy Converter was announced on June 20, 2013, make sure you are using the most recent one.

5nine V2V Easy Converter does not require 'removing' the guest from the source VMware environment prior to conversion. But the VMs have to be off, and host-to-host conversions are recommended.

Even though it is a free product, and the main 5nine products like 5nine Security for Hyper-V with agentless anti-virus capabilities are paid, you can still submit convertorTrace.log file from the 5nine V2V Easy Converter program folder to 5nine TechSupport, and get help identifying the possible causes of your V2V conversion problems.

Alexander

Hi ewaltrg,

New version of 5nine V2V Easy Converter was announced on June 20, 2013, make sure you are using the most recent one.

5nine V2V Easy Converter does not require 'removing' the guest from the source VMware environment prior to conversion. But the VMs have to be off, and host-to-host conversions are recommended.

Even though it is a free product, and the main 5nine products like 5nine Security for Hyper-V with agentless anti-virus capabilities are paid, you can still submit convertorTrace.log file from the 5nine V2V Easy Converter program folder to 5nine TechSupport, and get help identifying the possible causes of your V2V conversion problems.

Alexander

It's a very possible license violation to run multiple copies of the same VM. I would not recommend promoting this "feat