Virtualizing a Windows Computer - Advanced Options

Getting Started Advanced Best Practices FAQ Troubleshooting

Table of Contents

Creating a Virtual Machine Using a Recovery Point

Comparing the Client Configurations Associated with Various Recovery Points

Creating a Virtual Machine

Setting an Expiration Date for the Virtual Machine

Modifying the Network Configuration for a Virtual Machine

Configuring WINS or DNS for a Windows Computer

Assigning a Network Label

Modifying the Hardware Configuration for a Virtual Machine

Configuring Thin Provisioning for a Virtual Machine

Creating a Virtual Machine Using a Backup Copy

Scheduling the Virtualization Operation

Related Reports

Job Summary Report

Creating a Virtual Machine Using a Recovery Point

A recovery point is generated whenever you change the hardware or network configuration of the client and perform a backup. You can use recovery points to create a virtual machine with an old hardware or network configuration. By default, the most recent recovery point is used to create the virtual machine.

Comparing the Client Configurations Associated with Various Recovery Points

Before using a recovery point, you can compare the client configurations associated with various recovery points and then choose a recovery point for creating the VM. You can generate an xml file for each recovery point. The xml file contains the client configuration details. Follow the steps given below to generate the xml file for a recovery point:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | 1-Touch Recovery Point.
  3. Select a recovery point and click Export Config.
  4. Specify the location to save the xml file and click Save.

    By default, the the xml file is saved in the My documents folder on the computer that is running the CommCell Console.

  5. Open the xml file using any text editor and verify the client configuration.

 

Creating a Virtual Machine

Once you choose a recovery point for creating the VM, follow the steps given below to create a VM using the recovery point:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | Virtualize Me.
  3. Select a vCenter, ESX Server and a Data Store. Specify the ISO Path on the ESX server.
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Select a date and time of the recovery point from the Recover to list.

    A virtual machine will get created using the hardware configuration which is backed up on the selected date and time. However, the data on the virtual machine will be the data backed up during the most recent backup.

  6. Click OK.
  7. Click OK on the Virtualize Me dialog box.

 

Setting an Expiration Date for the Virtual Machine

You can set an expiration date for the virtual machine. Follow the steps given below to set the expiration date of the virtual machine:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | Virtualize Me.
  3. Select a vCenter, ESX Server and a Data Store. Specify the ISO Path on the ESX server.
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Clear the Never check box and select the Expiration Date.
  6. Click OK.

At the end of expiration date, the virtual machine is powered off and decommissioned. However, if you have performed regular backups of the virtual machine using Virtual Server iDataAgent, you can recover a decommissioned virtual machine at any time. It is recommended to perform regular backups for the virtual machine using Virtual Server iDataAgent.

You can change the expiration date later using the VM Lifecycle management feature. For more information about how to setup this feature, refer to Deployment - VM Lifecycle Management (Administrator).

Once you setup the VM Lifecycle management feature, refer to Renew a Virtual Machine.

 

Modifying the Network Configuration for a Virtual Machine

When you convert a client computer into a virtual machine, you can modify it's network configuration such as IP address, default gateway etc.

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | Virtualize Me.
  3. Select a vCenter, ESX Server and a Data Store. Specify the ISO Path on the ESX server.
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Click the Network Config tab.
  6. Select the network interface and click Edit.
  7. Modify the IP address or any other network configuration details.

    Click Use DHCP if you want to use DHCP instead of static IP address.

  8. Click OK.
  9. Click OK on the Virtualize Me Advanced Configuration dialog box.

 

Configuring WINS or DNS for a Windows Machine

When the client computer and CommServe are in the same domain, DNS will be used for name resolution between client computer and CommServe.

WINS will be used for name resolution in the following scenarios:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | Virtualize Me.
  3. Select a vCenter, ESX Server and a Data Store. Specify the ISO Path on the ESX server.
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Click the Network Config tab.
  6. Select the network interface and click Edit.
  7. If you want to use DNS, click Add and enter the IP address of the DNS Server.

    If you want to use WINS, click Add and enter IP address of the WINS Server.

  8. Click OK.
  9. Click OK on the Virtualize Me Advanced Configuration dialog box.

Assigning a Network Label

Virtual Center uses labels to identify the virtual network adapter is associated with a physical network. If you want to associate the network adapter of the VM with a specific virtual server network, follow the steps given below:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | Virtualize Me.
  3. Select a vCenter, ESX Server and a Data Store. Specify the ISO Path on the ESX server.
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Click the Network Config tab.
  6. Select the network interface and click Edit.
  7. Select a network label from the Network Label list. This list displays all the network labels available on the ESX server or the vCenter.
  8. Click OK.
  9. Click OK on the Virtualize Me Advanced Configuration dialog box.

 

Modifying the Hardware Configuration for a Virtual Machine

When you convert the client computer into a virtual machine, you can modify it's hardware configuration such as memory, number of CPUs, disk space etc.

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | Virtualize Me.
  3. Select a vCenter, ESX Server and a Data Store. Specify the ISO Path on the ESX server.
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Click the Configuration tab.
  6. Modify the required hardware configuration as follows:
    • Number of CPUs - The existing number of CPUs in the virtual machine are displayed. You can increase the Number of CPUs.
    • Memory in (MB) - The existing memory of the virtual machine is displayed. You can increase or decrease the memory.
    • Disk <n> (GB) - The disk size of existing disks is displayed. You can increase the disk space for each disk.

      The displayed disk size is always larger than the actual disk size.

      For example: If the actual disk size of a disk on the physical machine is 50GB, the disk size appears as 54GB.
  1. If the client computer is member of a domain, click Advanced tab.
  2. Click Change and enter the credentials of the domain in which you want to add the virtual machine.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click OK on the Virtualize Me Advanced Configuration dialog box.

Configuring Thin Provisioning for a Virtual Machine

Thin Provisioning is a technique of allocating disk storage space in a flexible manner among multiple users, based on the minimum space required by each user at any given time. Follow the steps given below to use thin provisioning for disk space allocation:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | Virtualize Me.
  3. Select a vCenter, ESX Server and a Data Store. Specify the ISO Path on the ESX server.
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Click the Configuration tab.
  6. Ensure that Thin Provisioning is selected from the Disk Provisioning list.

    You cannot pre-allocate disk space for a virtual machine. Thin provisioning is always used to allocate disk space even if you select Thick Provisioning from the Disk Provisioning list.

  7. Click OK.

 

Creating a Virtual Machine Using a Backup Copy

You can use a specific copy of the backup data to create the virtual machine. By default the virtual machine is created using the backup data from the storage policy copy which has the lowest copy precedence. Follow the steps given below to specify the copy precedence of the backup copy:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | Virtualize Me.
  3. Select a vCenter, ESX Server and a Data Store. Specify the ISO Path on the ESX server.
  4. Click Advanced.
  5. Click the Advanced tab.
  6. Enter the Copy Precedence of the copy which you want to use to create the virtual machine.
  7. Click OK.

 

Scheduling the Virtualization Operation

Follow the steps given below to schedule the virtualization of a physical machine:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client> and select All Tasks | Virtualize Me.
  3. Select a vCenter from the vCenter list.
  4. Click ... and browse to select an ESX Server and a Data Store.
  5. Click ... and browse to the location of the ISO file on the ESX Server.
  6. Click Schedule and then click Configure.
  7. Select the appropriate scheduling options.
  8. Click OK to close the Schedule Details dialog.

 

Related Reports

Job Summary Report

You can use the Virtualize Me Job Summary Report to review information related to all Virtualize Me jobs that run in the CommCell during the specified time period. This report is useful if you need to know:

  1. On the CommCell Console toolbar, click the Reports button.
  2. From the Reports pane, select Job Summary.
  3. On the General tab, select Administrative Jobs, and then select Virtualize Me.
  4. Click Run.

The report appears in your default Web browser.