User guide

vConverter Functional Overview 18
Conversion Process
The main components of the
conversion process are the Drive
Capture Tool (which sends the data)
and the Target Server Agent (which
receives the data).
After the job is executed and the
Drive Capture Tool (DCT) starts
sending data to ESX, it is detected
by the Target Server Agent (TSA)
service running. This starts the
server component particular to that
job. Multiple jobs can run at the
same time and each job will use its
own server component instance.
To transfer data to the target, a new
VMDK file is created. VMDKs are
created in a sparse (growable, thin)
format by default, but can
optionally be created as flat (thick)
disks. For ESX, you can specify a
unique VMDK file and datastore
for each Windows volume.
Conversions to shared folders and
Hyper-V is also available.
The TSA receives data from the
DCT and places it in the VMDK
file. If a block of zeroed data is
detected by the DCT, it is ignored. The zeroes already exist in the VMDK, so there is no
reason to overwrite them.
(Optional) After all data has been transferred to the VMDK file, the server component
can resize the files based on job configuration. In this case, the NTFS partition is
modified as well.
The server component performs the conversion and creates a bootable instance of the
VM with the proper drivers. A VM is created and registered on the ESX host based on
job configuration settings that include assigned memory, virtual disk, and virtual
network assignment. The server component terminates and enters a wait state-controlled
through the TSA-to anticipate the next job.
An architectural representation of the Windows P2V process is shown below.