Installation guide

www.vmware.com
64
VMware ESX Server Administration Guide
Importing, Upgrading and Exporting
Virtual Machines
Importing, upgrading and exporting virtual machines involves the following activities:
• Configuring a Virtual Machine to Use More than One Virtual Processor
• Migrating Older ESX Server Virtual Machines on page 66
• Migrating VMware Workstation and VMware GSX Server Virtual Machines on
page 67
• Importing a GSX Server or Workstation Virtual Machine on page 70
• Exporting Virtual Machines on page 72
Configuring a Virtual Machine to Use More than One Virtual
Processor
When you create a virtual machine with ESX Server 2.1, you can choose to create it
with one or two virtual processors. In order to configure a virtual machine with more
than one virtual processor, you must meet the following conditions:
• The virtual machine must be created under ESX Server 2.1. VMware does not
support upgrading a virtual machine created under ESX Server 1.5.2 to ESX
Server 2.1 and configuring it as a multiprocessor or ACPI virtual machine. Nor can
you create a virtual machine under VMware GSX Server 2.5.1 or VMware
Workstation 4.0, import it to ESX Server 2.1 and upgrade the number of virtual
processors.
• You must have purchased the VMware Virtual SMP for ESX Server product and
you must have created the virtual machine under ESX Server 2.1. For more
information on the VMware Virtual SMP for ESX Server product, contact VMware
or your authorized sales representative. Once you have the license, you install
the product by entering the serial number when you configure the ESX Server
system. See the VMware ESX Server Installation Guide.
• The guest operating system must support multiprocessor systems. Examples
include Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS
2.1. Review the list of supported guest operating systems in the VMware ESX
Server Installation Guide to see which guests are multiprocessor- or SMP-capable.
• The virtual machine cannot have more virtual processors than the ESX Server
system has physical processors. Thus, to create a virtual machine with two virtual
processors, the ESX Server system must have at least two physical processors.