Below is the process for doing V2V conversions (i.e. taking VM’s on a separate server and moving them into our cloud).  We do this by mapping the FreeNAS backup volume to the client server and moving it.  Once in our new cloud, we move the VM from the backup volume to the production volume.  This is a second step, it’s safer than mapping our production SAN volumes to client servers.

 

  1. Client server must have a spare NIC.
  2. Create a new vSwitch on client server
  3. Add their spare NIC to the vSwitch.  Give it the following IP info:
  4. 172.29.253.249 255.255.255.0
  5. It does not need a default GW
  6. Patch the NIC into SAN-SWITCH-A port 23 (copper)
  7. On client’s server go to Configuration -> Storage
  8. Click “Add Storage…”
    1. a) Choose Network File System
    2. b)  Server: 172.29.253.10
    3. c)    Folder: /mnt/md1000-a-b/md1000-a-b-A
    4. d)    Datastore Name: freenas-backup-md1000-a-b-A
  9. The client server will now see this new disk.
  10. Shut down the client VM’s
  11. Right click on each and choose “Migrate….”, select “Change datastore” and select the FreeNAS backup volume
  12. Once done, right click on the VM and select "Remove from Inventory" to unregister it
  13. Log into our production cloud and browse the freenas-backup-md1000-a-b-A volume
  14. Go into the folder for the VM, right click the .vmx file and “Add to Inventory”
  15. Once in inventory, right click on the VM and choose “Migrate…”, select “Change datastore” and select either the nexenta-md3060e-A or nexenta-md3060e-B volume.
  16. Snapshot the VM
  17. Right click on the VM with it shut down and choose “Upgrade virtual machine hardware”
  18. Edit the settings on the VM and assign the NIC to the proper VLAN
  19. Start up the VM
  20. Make sure all is good
  21. Delete the VMware snapshot
  22. Upgrade VMware tools
  23. Once done, go back to the client server under Configuration -> Storage.  Right click on the freenas-backup-md1000-a-b-A volume and delete it from the client server.
  24. Remove the NIC settings and delete the vSwitch.
  25. Remove the patch cable from the spare NIC to our SAN-SWITCH-A