5.0

If you plan to run an imported virtual machine on the same network as the source physical machine, you must
modify the network name and IP address on one of the machines, so that the physical and virtual machines
can coexist. Besides, you must make sure that the Windows source machine and the destination virtual machine
have different computer names.
NOTE You cannot move original equipment manufacturer (OEM) licenses between physical machines. The
license is attached to the server when you purchase it from the OEM and cannot be reassigned. You can only
reassign retail and volume licenses to new physical servers. If you migrate an OEM Windows image, you must
have a Windows Server Enterprise or Datacenter Edition license to run multiple virtual machines.
Hot and Cold Cloning of Physical Machines
Although Converter Standalone 4.3 and later versions support only hot cloning, you can still perform cold
cloning by using the VMware Converter 4.1.x Boot CD. Depending on your virtual environment, you can
choose to use hot or cold cloning.
Hot cloning, also called live cloning or online cloning, requires converting the source machine while it is
running its operating system. Hot cloning lets you clone machines without shutting them down.
Because processes continue to run on the source machine during conversion, the resulting virtual machine is
not an exact copy of the source machine.
When converting Windows sources, you can set Converter Standalone to synchronize the destination virtual
machine with the source machine after hot cloning. Synchronization is performed by transferring from the
source to the destination the blocks that were changed during the initial cloning period. To avoid loss of data
on the destination virtual machine, Converter Standalone can shut down certain Windows services before the
synchronization. Based on your settings, Converter Standalone shuts down the selected Windows services so
that no critical changes occur on the source machine while destination is being synchronized.
Converter Standalone can shut down the source machine and power on the destination machine when the
conversion process is complete. When combined with synchronization, this action allows seamless migration
of a physical machine source to a virtual machine destination. The destination machine takes over the source
machine operations with the least possible downtime.
NOTE When you hot clone dual-boot systems, you can clone only the default operating system to which the
boot.ini file points. To clone the nondefault operating system, change the boot.ini file to point to the other
operating system and reboot. After the other operating system is booted, you can hot clone it. If your second
operating system is Linux, you can boot it and clone it using the standard procedure for cloning Linux physical
machine sources.
Cold cloning, also called offline cloning, entails cloning the source machine when it is not running its operating
system. When you cold clone a machine, you reboot the source machine using a CD that has its own operating
system and the vCenter Converter application on it. Cold cloning allows you to create the most consistent copy
of the source machine because nothing changes on the source machine during the conversion. Cold cloning
leaves no footprint on the source machine, but requires direct access to the source machine that is being cloned.
When you cold clone a Linux source, the resulting virtual machine is an exact replica of the source machine
and you cannot configure the destination virtual machine. You must configure the destination virtual machine
after the cloning is complete.
Table 1-1 compares the hot and cold cloning modes.
Chapter 1 Introduction to VMware vCenter Converter Standalone
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