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23.2. Converting virtualized guests

Once you have prepared to convert the virtualized guests, use virt-v2v to perform the actual conversions. This section provides the steps to convert the virtualized guests, and the reference table for virt-v2v. Note that conversions are resource intensive processes, involving copying the whole disk image for a virtualized guest. In typical environments, converting a single virtualized guest takes approximately 5-10 minutes.

23.2.1. virt-v2v

virt-v2v converts guests from a foreign hypervisor to run on KVM, managed by libvirt.
virt-v2v -i libvirtxml -op pool --bridge brname vm-name.xml
virt-v2v -op pool --network netname vm-name
virt-v2v -ic esx://esx.example.com/?no_verify=1 -op pool --bridge brname vm-name
Parameters
-i input
Specifies the input method to obtain the guest for conversion. The default is libvirt. Supported options are:
  • libvirt Guest argument is the name of a libvirt domain.
  • libvirtxml Guest argument is the path to an XML file containing a libvirt domain.
-ic URI
Specifies the connection to use when using the libvirt input method. If omitted, this defaults to qemu:///system.
virt-v2v can currently automatically obtain guest storage from local libvirt connections, ESX connections, and connections over SSH. Other types of connection are not supported.
-o method
Specifies the output method. If no output method is specified, the default is libvirt. Supported output methods are:
  • libvirt, create a libvirt guest. See the -oc and -op options. -op must be specified for the libvirt output method.
  • rhev, create a guest on a Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Export storage domain, which can later be imported using the manager. The -osd or Export storage domain must be specified for the rhev output method.
-oc URI
Specifies the libvirt connection to use to create the converted guest. If omitted, this defaults to qemu:///system. Note that virt-v2v must be able to write directly to storage described by this libvirt connection. This makes writing to a remote connection impractical at present.
-op pool
Specifies the pool which will be used to create new storage for the converted guest.
-osd domain
Specifies the path to an existing Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Export storage domain.
The domain must be in the format <host > <path>; for example, storage.example.com:/rhev/export. The nfs export must be mountable and writable by the machine running virt-v2v.
-f file | --config file Load the virt-v2v configuration from file. Defaults to /etc/virt-v2v.conf if it exists.
-n network | --network network
Map all guest bridges or networks which don't have a mapping in the configuration file to the specified network.
This option cannot be used in conjunction with --bridge.
-b bridge | --bridge bridge
Map all guest bridges or networks which don't have a mapping in the configuration file to the specified bridge.
This option cannot be used in conjunction with --network.
--help Display brief help.
--version Display version number and exit.