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Migrate VMware VM to KVM improvement documentation #388

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Migrate VMware VM to KVM improvement documentation #388

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5 changes: 3 additions & 2 deletions source/adminguide/virtual_machines/importing_vmware_vms_into_kvm.rst
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Expand Up @@ -108,8 +108,9 @@ Converting and importing a VMware VM

When importing a Virtual Machine from VMware to KVM, CloudStack performs the following actions:

- Cloning the Source Virtual Machine on the selected VMware Datacenter: The source Virtual Machine will be cloned in the original state (running or stopped for Linux VMs, or stopped for Windows VMs). The recommended state is the stopped state to prevent data inconsistencies or loss when cloning the virtual machine.
- Converting the Cloned Virtual Machine to KVM using virt-v2v: CloudStack (or the administrator) selects a running and Enabled KVM host to perform the conversion from VMware to KVM using **virt-v2v**. If the binary is not installed, then the host will fail the migration. In case it is installed it will perform the conversion into a temporary location (which can be selected by the administrator) to store the converted QCOW2 disks of the virtual machine. The disks are then moved into the destination storage pools for the virtual machine. The conversion is a long-lasting process which can be set to time out by the global setting 'convert.vmware.instance.to.kvm.timeout'. The conversion processes take a long time because virt-v2v creates a temporary virtual machine to inspect the source VM and generate the converted disks with the correct drivers. Additionally, it needs to copy the converted disks into the temporary location.
- Clones the Source Virtual Machine on the selected VMware Datacenter: The source Virtual Machine will be cloned in the original state (running or stopped for Linux VMs, or stopped for Windows VMs). The recommended state is the stopped state to prevent data inconsistencies or loss when cloning the virtual machine.
- Exports the OVA from the Cloned Virtual Machine to a temporary location (which can be selected by the administrator).
- Converts the OVA on the temporary location to KVM using virt-v2v: CloudStack (or the administrator) selects a running and Enabled KVM host to perform the conversion from VMware to KVM using **virt-v2v**. If the binary is not installed, then the host will fail the migration. In case it is installed it will perform the conversion into the temporary location to store the converted QCOW2 disks of the virtual machine. The disks are then moved into the destination storage pools for the virtual machine. The conversion is a long-lasting process which can be set to time out by the global setting 'convert.vmware.instance.to.kvm.timeout'. The conversion processes takes a long time because virt-v2v creates a temporary virtual machine to inspect the source VM and generate the converted disks with the correct drivers. Additionally, it needs to copy the converted disks into the temporary location.
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"selects a running and Enabled KVM host to perform the conversion"
This comment comes after some consultancy work, hopefully not too late...

@sureshanaparti are there checks for this - i.e. do we support a scenario where cloud operator might have many Ubuntu 22.04 hosts, but want to use a (few) EL9 host (which has a much newer virt-v2v version than the Ubuntu 22.04, and thus much better conversion success than virt-v2v on Ubuntu hosts) for the conversion while ensuring that new VMs are not being regularly deployed on those EL9 hosts? (i.e. it would be good that admin can choose even a disabled host, or at least a host (Enabled, EL9), which exists in a DISABLED CLUSTER - is this possible?)


.. note:: Please consider not restarting the management servers while importing as it will lead to the interruption of the process and you will need to start again.

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