Section 6.9. Summary

6.9. Summary

This chapter discusses four methods for migrating your physical servers into a virtual environment. Each p-to-v method is unique in certain ways and similar in others. Using native Linux commands such as cat to image your machine or utilizing BartPE and Ghost to image your machine produces the same output, and the same image of your physical server that you will then virtualize. It's best to try each of these methods and become familiar with the plusses and pitfalls of each. If you're a Linux guru, cat is a great methodology, which can be used on any server that ESX supports. (And it's free!) If you're strictly a Windows person, then BartPE is a fantastic solution, even if you're asked to migrate Linux servers.

If you prefer utilizing a tool and the support that comes with it, both the P2V Assistant and PowerP2V will get the job done. Of course, these will cost you but if you plan ahead and include the costs within your budget you'll definitely be able to accomplish your p-to-v process quickly. The P2V Assistant allows for basic migrations while the PowerP2V allows for scheduling multiple p-to-vs at the same time. Plus, Platespin has announced that it will soon be able to support v-to-p migrations in case you need to put a server back on a physical platform.