10 Steps for Physical to Virtual OS Migration

Step 5: Generate the Migration Scripts
After you’ve resolved any issues with the Testserver configuration and you’ve rerun VMScript until there are no blocking issues, generate the migration scripts. These scripts control disk image capture, virtual machine creation, and disk image deployment to the virtual machine. To generate the migration script, run VMScript with the following syntax:

 VMScript /hwgeneratep2v /
  hwinfofile:”path\Source.xml” /
  name:vm_name /vmconfigpath:”vm
  path” /virtualDiskPath:”vm path” /
  hwdestvs:controller_server

In this script, path\Source.xml is the path to the xml configuration file (C:\P2VSource TestServer.xml), vm_name is the name to assign to the virtual machine in the Virtual Server console (TESTMIGRATION), vm path is the location where you want the .vmc and the .vhd files to be stored on the specified host (E:\VMs), and controller_server is the name of the Virtual Server host (MobileP2V).

By default, the migration scripts are configured to create fixed-size virtual hard disks. If the physical disks on the source system have an extensive amount of unallocated free space or you don’t want to use fixed-size virtual hard disks, execute VMScript with the / virtualDisk-Dynamic option. This option also speeds up the virtual machine creation process. If you use /virtualDisk- Dynamic the command line looks like:

 VMScript /hwgeneratep2v /hwinfofile:”C:  P2VSource\TestServer.xml” /
  name:TESTMIGRATION /vmconfigpath:”E:  VMs” /virtualDiskPath:” E:\VMs” /
  hwdestvs:MOBILEP2V /virtualDiskDynamic

VMScript.exe generates the migration scripts in a subdirectory, C:\Program Files Microsoft VSMT\p2v\TESTMIGRATION. Execute the VMScript command line, and you’ll see the output shown in Figure 1. VMScript creates 12 output files that are used during the migration process. The readme file, TestMigration_P2V_Readme .txt, provides information about script creation and driver issues. The three XML files contain information used during the migration about the hard disk and driver configuration. The TestMigration_ boot.ini file is a copy of the boot.ini information from the source machine. You’ll execute three scripts directly during the migration process: TestMigration_ Capture.cmd captures the source disk drives into ADS images, Test- Migration_CreateVM.cmd creates the target virtual machine using the source configuration information, and TestMigration_ DeployVM.cmd images the captured source disk images to the target VM drives.

VMScript also creates a subdirectory called Patches. It is automatically populated with known patches that you’ll need to install.

Step 6: Load the Required Drivers into ADS
When VMScript validates the source system configuration information, it doesn’t validate that all the required drivers are installed in the ADS file cache. The most important driver to install is the source system network card. Without this driver, the source server can’t be captured. Download the latest network interface card drivers for the source system to a temporary directory on MobileP2V. Copy the driver files into C:\Program Files\Microsoft ADS\NBS Repository\User\PreSystem. When you copy the network interface card driver files into the ADS file cache, don’t create any subdirectories or include Txtsetup.oem files. The subdirectories aren’t needed because the driver files must be placed directly in the PreSystem directory, and the Txtsetup.oem file isn’t used.

After you’ve copied the files, restart the ADS Builder service so that it finds the new drivers. Open a command window and type

 net stop adsbuilder

Then press Enter. Type

 net start adsbuilder

Then press Enter.

Step 7: Capture the Testserver System Disk
Now you’re ready to capture the Testserver system disk images. The TestMigration_Capture. cmd migration script executes and leverages ADS to capture each disk image sequentially. Log on to MobileP2V as local administrator and follow these steps to start the disk image capture process of TestServer. Open a command window and change directories to C:\Program Files\Microsoft VSMT p2v\TestMigration. Execute the TestMigration_ capture.cmd script. When prompted, log on to the source server, Testserver, restart it, and boot it to the Pre-execution Environment (PXE) interface.

ADS takes control of the source system and boots it into the Deployment Agent to initiate the disk image capture. To follow the progress of each disk image capture, you can use the Automated Deployment Service MMC snap-in on the Controller server. In the MMC snap-in, go to Devices, Running Jobs, then double-click on the running job, as shown in Figure 2. Image captures can take awhile depending on the size and number of the disks. If the server has a slow network interface, consider updating the interface card to a faster card connected to a faster port to reduce the transfer time. When the image captures are complete, ADS shuts down and removes the source system from the device database. The last task before the script terminates is changing system file attributes, as shown in Figure 3.

Step 8: Create the Virtual Machine
Before you migrate the captured disk images, you must create the virtual machine and configure it with the same memory, disk, and network configuration as the physical machine. The TestMigration_CreateVM.cmd script (one of the scripts that VMScript generates) automates this for you. To launch the script, open a command window and change directories to C:\Program Files\Microsoft VSMT\p2v\TestMigration. Execute the Test- Migration_CreateVM.cmd script. The script creates a new virtual machine configuration file E:\VMS\TestMigration\TestMigration .vmc, registers the virtual machine, connects the virtual machine to the default virtual network VM0, creates and attaches the virtual hard disks (VHDs) to the virtual machine, and attaches a Remote Installation Services (RIS) virtual floppy disk to the virtual floppy drive. If you get this error

Error:System.IO.FileLoadException: The located assembly’s manifest definition with the name ‘Microsoft.VirtualServer.Interop’ does not match the assembly reference.

then the MobileP2V server is running Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1(SP1). VSMT 1.1 is compatible with Virtual Server 2005 R2 but not Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, Refer to the sidebar, “Why VSMT 1.1 Doesn’t Support Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1,” for more information on how to resolve this issue.

When all these tasks are complete, check the ADS device database using the ADS MMC snap-in. The virtual machine should have been added to the ADS device database and set to boot to the Deployment Agent.

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