virt-convert

- convert virtual machines between formats

Synopsis

virt-convert [option]... input.vmx | input.ovf | input-dir
     [output.xml | output-dir]

Description

The virt-convert program is a command line tool for converting virtual machines (VMs) from one format to another. It accepts either a VM definition file (such as VMware vmx format) or a directory containing a VM. By default, a new VM definition file, and converted disk images, will be placed in a new output directory.

If an output directory is specified, it will be created if necessary, and the output VM definition placed within the new directory, along with any disk images, as needed.

If an output VM definition file is specified, it will be created alongside any disks in the same directory.

Options

Any of the following options can be omitted, in which case virt-convert will use defaults when required. An input VM definition or containing directory must be provided. By default, an output directory is generated based upon the name of the VM. The default input format is VMware vmx, and the default output format is a libvirt “image” XML definition.

-a, --arch=arch

Architecture of the virtual machine (i686, x86_64, ppc). Defaults to that of the host machine.

-D, --disk-format=format

Output disk format, or none if no conversion should be performed. format is one of:

none

No disks are converted or copied.

vmdk

VMWare VMDK format

raw

raw file

vdisk

vdisk format (see vdiskadm(1M))

-d, --debug

Display debugging information.

-h, --help

Display the help message and exit.

-i, --input-format format

Input format. Currently, vmx and ovf are supported.

--noacpi

Override the OS type and variant to disable the ACPI setting for fully virtualized guest.

--noapic

Override the OS type and variant to disable the APIC setting for fully virtualized guest.

-o, --output-format format

Output format. Currently, the supported output formats are virt-instance and virt-image. virt-instance is the recommended format for Solaris.

--os-type=os_type

Optimize the guest configuration for a type of operating system. This will attempt to pick the most suitable ACPI and APIC settings, optimally supported mouse drivers, and generally accommodate other operating system quirks. See virt-install(1M) for a list of valid operating system types.

--os-variant=os_variant

Further optimize the guest configuration for a specific operating system variant. This parameter is optional. See virt-install(1M) for a list of valid operating system variants.

-p, --paravirt

Create a paravirtualized guest image. Convert machine to a paravirtualized Xen-based image.

-q, --quiet

Avoid verbose output.

-v, --hvm

Create a fully virtualized guest image. Convert machine to a hvm/qemu–based image (this is the default if --paravirt is not specified).

Examples

Example 1 Converting a VMware VMX appliance

The following sequence of commands converts a VMware VMX appliance and imports it into Solaris xVM.

# virt-convert -o virt-instance /guests/vmx-appliance/ \
/guests/xvm-appliance/
# virsh define --relative-path=/guests/xvm-appliance/ \
\guests/xvm-appliance/appliance.xml

Attributes

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

See Also

vdiskadm(1M), virt-install(1M), attributes(5), xVM(5)

Caveats

Not all conversions will result in a working guest installation. If the source OS image is configured to use SCSI disks, the use of IDE disks may cause the OS boot to fail. Some images may be configured to use the VMware drivers such as vlance. In the vlance case and in general, device emulation support may not be sufficient for all OS installations.

Authors

Written by Joey Boggs and John Levon.

See the AUTHORS file in the source distribution for the complete list of credits.