VMware recently released the GA version of vCenter Converter 4.0 (see release notes). Converter allows you to convert your physical machines into virtual machines (P2V). While Converter 4.0 is a plug-in for vCenter, the best news of all is that it also runs standalone and is now available as a free download.
A quick summary of what’s new in Converter 4.0:
New Physical Source Support including P2V of Linux Servers and Desktops
- New physical to virtual machine conversion support for Linux (RHEL, SUSE, and Ubuntu) as source
- New physical to virtual machine conversion support for Windows Server 2008 as source
- Support for converting new third-party image formats, including Parallels Desktop virtual machines, newer versions of Symantec, Acronis, and StorageCraft
Minimal Downtime during P2V Conversion
- Hot cloning improvements to clone any incremental changes in the physical source system during the P2V conversion process
End to End P2V Automation & Centralized Management
- Work flow automation enhancements to include automatic source shutdown, destination start-up as well as shutting down one or more services at the source and starting up selected services at the destination
- Target disk selection and the ability to specify how the volumes will be laid out in the new destination virtual machine
- Destination virtual machine configuration, including CPU, memory, and disk controller type
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