Reference Guide

vConverter v4.1 Chapter 5 Using vConverter CLI 157
13BvConverter CLI Overview
The vConverter CLI Tool is both a console C++ application and a DLL library. It
integrates all the logic necessary for converting source systems. As a caller application, it
converts a system in a single action—you just call the CLI Tool and provide the
conversion parameters.
The tool obtains the input parameters from the command line. Console output (stdout)
informs the caller application of the status of the current operation being performed by
the tool. When the operation completes, a result code is returned. This code indicates the
final state of the conversion.
The tool can work in both verbose and brief modes. Verbose mode is used mainly for
testing and debugging. Output messages are in human-readable format. Brief mode is
used when CLI Tool logging and all output messages are parsed by the caller application.
This mode makes the parsing process easier and faster.
The tool gathers and preprocesses all the logs from the vConverter tools. It runs into one
log file in a brief format that can be analyzed and displayed by the caller application. If
necessary, more detailed logs can be created for reporting purposes.
vConverter is made up of a group of independent tools, including:
• Partition Info Tool—Runs first on a source server and provides necessary
information about boot environment.
• Capture Tool with Consistency Driver—Captures source disks to output file by
cluster on a low level.
• Drive Image Mount Tool—Allows get access to a captured disk; similar to a
regular system volume.
• Migration Tool—Performs system kernel migration; works with a mounted
disk image.
• ESX Target Server Agent (TSA) is used for directly writing to VMware
ESX Servers.
• Windows TSA is used to speed up writing large amounts of data to target
Windows systems. It is especially effective in capturing flat disk image formats.
91BvConverter Components
These components are included in vConverter. Some are described in additional
detail below.