If you just install VMware Converter and
start running it with it’s default configuration, I’m sure you will be
successfully.
But, there are a few features, when
enabled, make your life easier.
I, personally, like to enable those
features just after the installation. It will guarantee that the functionality is
there when I need it.
The configuration file that controls
Converter features is converter-worker.xml (in some older versions of Converter
it’s converter-agent.xml).
You can find it on:
C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware
vCenter Converter Standalone (For Windows 2008)
or %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone (older systems)
Take a backup of the file before you change it.
Let’s start with a tip about performance:
Starting with Converter 5.0, now it
encrypts the traffic with SSL to provide more secure, but it also decreases the
performance. If you run your conversions tasks within your private network,
generally, you should not be worried about it, so you can disable the encryption
and boost the conversion performance.
- open the file and look for the string (nfc) and under it
- change it from (useSsl)false(/useSsl) to (useSsl)true(/useSsl)
- restart Converter service to the change
take effect.
more details: KB2020517
This tip is related with privileges on
Linux
Some times when you are converting a Linux
server, you might want to logging in to the helper virtual machine, well by
default Converter prevents that.
To enable it you need:
- open the file
- change the flag from (useSourcePasswordInHelperVm)false(useSourcePasswordInHelperVm) to
(useSourcePasswordInHelperVm)true(useSourcePasswordInHelperVm)
- restar Converter service to the change
take effect.
more details: KB1008209
The last one is about using a user other
than root to convert a Linux Server.
It’s not unusual when you have to use
another user, it might be because of some security restrictions, limited access
to root passwords, etc..
To enable the use of others users
- open the file
- change the flag from (useSudo)false(useSudo) to (useSudo)true(useSudo)
- restar Converter service to the change
take effect.
more details: KB1008164
Don’t forget to adjust /etc/sudoers to
allows you to run every command without asking password, the configuration
would looks like this:
username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
If you still getting an error like: "Unable
to query the live Linux source machine. Make sure that you can run sudo without
entering a password when logged in to the source machine over SSH as
‘username’.”
Check again /etc/sudoers and make sure the
entry bellow is not present or is commented.
Defaults requiretty
Basically it says to run commands with
elevated privileges through SUDO, you must be logged in locally, not through a
SSH session or remotely somehow, that’s why Converter fails.
Well, that are my best practices, there are
a bunch of configurations you can tweak on the Converter configuration file,
just adjust it accordingly with your needs.
In case of if anything goes wrong, just restore the
configuration file backup you took before changing anything, I’m pretty sure
you did , right ;)
