Cloud Platform for Networking: Virtual Machine Migration: P2V

P2V refers to migrate the operating system, the application software, and data on the physical servers to the virtual servers managed by the Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM). In this migration approach, the system status and data on the physical servers are imaged to the VM provided by VMM, and the storage hardware and network adapter driver are replaced in the VM. With the installation of the appropriate drivers and configuration of the same address as the original server, the VM is available to work as the original physical machine alternative after restarting.

P2V migration method is divided into manual migration, semi-automatic migration, and live migration.

• Manual Migration: The migration is manually completed based on the fully understanding about the system environments of the physical machine and the VM. Firstly, the service and the operating system on the original physical machine are shut down, and a new system is booted in other media. Secondly, the disk of the physical machine is imaged as a VM image file. Especially, if more than one disks in the physical machine, all the disks will imaged to the VM. Thirdly, the virtual devices are created and the image files are loaded for the VM. Finally, the VM is started to adjust the system settings and turn on the services.
• Semi-automatic Migration: Assisted by the professional tools, such as Virt-P2V and 10 Microsoft Virtual Server Migration Toolkit, 11 some manual operations of P2V migration are automatized. For example, the data format conversion is often a very time-consuming task, but it is convenient to finalized it through some professional tools.
• Live Migration: Most P2V tools have a great limitation that the physical machine is unavailable during the migration. Fortunately, with the development of P2V technology, VMware vCenter Converter 12 and Microsoft Hyper-V 13 have been able to provide live migration and avoid downtime. Currently, only Windows supports P2V live migration.