Hyper V to Esx vmware

You can use one of the many VMware conversion tools.
http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/features.html

I assume it's Windows 2008 Server Hyper-V hosting 3 Virtual machines of Windows2003 servers

You will be able convert all the Virtual machines but not the HyperV server.

To convert Hyper-V VMs to ESX you will need to covert them as physical machines. You will need to use converter built into WS 6.5 OR converter built into VC 2.5 (update 2).

Refer to this, the blog is in German, but click on the Pictures, they will walk through.

Missed the important link for the above post

http://www.security-blog.eu/2008/09/30/hyper-v-server-auf-esxi-umziehen/

I am not sure if I understood this correctly. This is what I basically have to do. I have physical server running windows server 2008 with virtual machines running on them right, so I want to take that same server and convert everything on it to esx as host operating system and vmware as guest operating systems. In which case I am assuming the physical server and all the virtual machines have to be converted to virtual machines only, right?? Or the configuration will be the same as in a host running windows server 2008 and guests running running the windows 2003 servers.

I am little confused with this esx and vmware stuff. Please clarify my doubts..

thanks

All the Virtual machines, Windows 2003 Server can be converted into Virtual Machines of ESX Server.

In this case you will not need the Windows 2008 server doing Hyper-V

However, If you also need the Windows 2008 Server if it has some data or doing some other role, then remove the Hyper-V role in the Windows 2008 Server, and then convert this Physical machines in to VMware as a Virtual Machine.

Are you going to set up ESX on another host server or on the server running Hyper-V?

I suggest the former, so that you can verify that the VMs are converted and run properly.

Download and install the vCenter Converter standalone on your client PC (Windows or Linux - RedHat, SuSe, Ubuntu)

http://www.vmware.com/download/converter/

Go through the Converter's wizard and convert each of your existing Hyper-V virtual machines.

Note: vCenter Converter Standalone only supports converting one VM at a time. You can work around this by installing Converter on multiple computers and have each one convert one of the Hyper-V VMs.

Power down your Hyper-V VMs in preparation of testing each one on ESX. Make a note of the IP configuration of each one, so that you can reset them when they are running on ESX.

Power on your converted VMs on your ESX server and verify that they function properly. Some conversions won't work well, and they are better off being migrated (SQL, Exchange, Active Directory). For these cases, build these virtual machines on your ESX environment and migrate their databases or roles accordingly.

Considerations - memory, CPU, NIC, and storage. Plan for ESX server hardware build base on these categories, so that your server has enough resources to support the VMs being hosted (should be similar or better than your Windows 2008 server specs).

thanks for your response. Can I ask a question. In regards to the above situation. I have two more servers in house, one running windows server 2003 standard edition and the other running windows server 2000 edition. So you are saying I can use any one of them to install ESXi ( the free version) as a staging server so that, I can first test and check if the conversion is even working to begin with..

Please respond to your earliest convineince.

thanks you are the best, you saved my life!!!!!!

You're welcome! Glad to be of help.