[virt-tools-list] virt-v2v question involving esx

[Matthew Booth]

On 17/03/11 19:27, Richard W.M. Jones wrote:
> [Adding Matt]
>
> On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 02:59:40PM -0400, Kenneth Armstrong wrote:
>> I have a vm on an esx server that I want to convert using virt-v2v.  I
>> know that it can connect to the esx server and copy the vmdk files
>> down to do its conversion, but can I just use wget or something like
>> that to copy the vmdk files down first, then use virt-v2v to convert
>> the vm?
>>
>> The reason that I ask is that it would be better for me to do it this
>> way, so that after I copy the vm files down, I can start the vm back
>> up and let it be used while virt-v2v does the conversion on the copied
>> image files.  I like virt-v2v, but it takes a long time to do it's job
>> with the copying.

Are you saying that wget is substantially faster than virt-v2v's 
copying? I ask because virt-v2v uses the same http interface to retrieve 
the image. It actually streams and writes directly to the target 
destination, so unless the target destination is slow, I wouldn't expect 
this to save you a significant amount of time. The actual conversion 
process usually takes about a minute, so the copying time dominates 
almost completely.

It is possible to do what you're asking, but it's a hassle. You'd need 
to obtain the storage files, create a local libvirt XML file which 
points to the local copies, then run virt-v2v using the libvirtxml input 
method.

Matt
-- 
Matthew Booth, RHCA, RHCSS
Red Hat Engineering, Virtualisation Team

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