Increasing the speed of conversion when converting a physical or virtual machine using VMware Converter

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides the methods to speed up the conversion process of a physical or virtual machine using VMware Converter.

Notes:

• VMware Converter estimates the time a conversion process takes to complete based on the achieved data transfer rate and amount of data remaining to be transferred.
• The data transfer rate for a conversion job is variable. It depends on factors such as, the network speed, storage speed, and system load on the source and destination during the conversion process.
  
  

Symptoms:

Resolution

To increase the speed of conversion when converting a physical and virtual machine using VMware Converter:

1. Starting with VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.x, the converter worker encrypts the data stream using SSL. Encrypting the traffic increases the security, but it may decrease the performance.
   
   For more information, see Disabling SSL encryption on VMware Converter Standalone 5.x (2020517).
   
   
2. Increase the value in the Number of Data Connections per Task option in Converter settings. If you are converting the source with multiple disks and volumes, you can decrease the conversion time by cloning multiple disks and volumes concurrently.
   
   In the Converter GUI main menu, select Administration > Data Connections per Task to modify the settings.
   
   Caution: Cloning too many volumes from the same source disk in parallel can increase disk access times and consequently increase conversion time.
   
   
3. Verify the type of cloning.
   
   In some cases, file level cloning may outperform block level cloning. For example, a source volume with a large amount of free space.
   
   For more information, see VMware vCenter Converter Standalone User's Guide.
   
   Caution: Using file level cloning to convert a source machine containing a large amount of small files can take a long time to copy.
   
   Notes:
4. • File level cloning is slower than Block level cloning.
   • Block level cloning occurs when the destination volume size is maintained or increased.
   • File level cloning occurs when the destination volume is reduced in size as part of conversion.
     
     
5. Clean the temporary and unnecessary files in the source server. The less data that needs to be copied, the faster the conversion process. This applies only when utilizing file level cloning as block level cloning copies all data blocks including free space.
   
6. During conversion, ensure that the network connection between the source and the destination is optimized (full duplex connections operating at full speed). For more information, see Investigating network devices and device settings as a cause of VMware Converter failures (1004615). Conversions using higher speed network links complete faster than conversions using slower links.
   
7. If possible, stop services and applications in the source machine during conversion. This minimize changes (and consequently disk activity) that occur in the source while the conversion is in progress. Additionally, this reduces the amount of data that needs to be resynchronized at the end of the conversion process.
   
8. Check physical RAID status in the source server. Degraded RAID status may significantly increase disk access times and consequently increase conversion time.
   
9. To optimize the storage access times in the source machine, do not run any I/O intensive activities in the source machine while the conversion is in progress. For example, anti-virus full filesystem scans, backups, disk de-fragmentation, and filesystem integrity checks. Perform these activities in advance (not during) the conversion process.
   
   

Additional Information

DOCUMENTATION: Disk-Based Block-Level vs Volume-Based Block-Level vs Volume-Based File-Level
Best practices for using and troubleshooting VMware Converter
Investigating network devices and device settings as a cause of VMware Converter failures
Disabling SSL encryption on VMware Converter Standalone 5.x and 6.0
提高使用 VMware Converter 转换物理机或虚拟机时的转换速度