Just Another IT Blog

It's time to share some of my experiences, crazy ideas, tips and tricks !!!

Post Page Advertisement [Top]


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 ;)



Bottom Ad [Post Page]