Reference Guide

vConverter v4.1 Chapter 1 Introduction 4
The virtual hard disk drive formats supported in vConverter are VMDK files used by
VMware, and virtual hard disk (VHD) files used by Microsoft, Xen, and Virtual Iron.
17BRemote Cold Cloning
There are two ways to clone a server—hot cloning and cold cloning. During the hot
cloning process, the server OS continues to run. That is, it is not rebooted during or after
a conversion. Cold cloning requires a reboot of the source into VC’s boot image. During
cold cloning, there is less chance of data corruption mainly because no data files are
opened.
When you select Remote Cold Cloning (RCC) as the conversion type, VC sends a boot
loader and its boot image over the network to a source. This source boots at a time that
you designate, and the conversion begins. RCC is a good option for converting
transactional systems such as database and email servers.
18BContinuous Protection
You can protect datacenter workloads by addressing disaster recovery (DR) through
virtualization. Taking a P2V approach, vConverter preserves a virtual backup copy of a
physical machine. When you select Continuous Protection as the conversion type,
incremental replication is used. During this process, network usage is minimized because
only changes to source data files are transferred to the target. You define the intervals at
which these transfers occur. You can change target locations between protection
intervals. The physical server remains protected while you use its duplicate virtual
standby copy. Continuous Protection uses a hot cloning method.
19BSynchronized Cutover
A cutover is the process of switching from the source VM to the target VM. A cutover
window is the period of time on a specific date (or span of dates) when it is acceptable to
perform cutover. Pre-synchronized cutover occurs after the initial copying phase of the
conversion, when any remaining changes to the source are copied to the target and
committed.
Synchronized Cutover allows you to minimize the cutover window by completing a P2V
conversion and synchronizing changes on the source to the target at specified intervals
(for example, every 15 minutes). This means that before you initiate a cutover with the
final synchronization, you can move the majority of data from source to target and test
the target workload while continuing to run the source. Synchronized Cutover gives you
complete protection across local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs).
Synchronized Cutover uses the hot cloning method for initial and subsequent
synchronizations. While cold cloning is used for the final synchronization, you can also
trigger a hot (live) final synchronization.