Set convert target to ESX Host *not* vCenter...

[davidmatthewson]

This is a 'note to self' really as I've fallen foul of this before. The scenario is when converting a P2V with ESX as the target. If you are not paying attention it is all to easy to select the vCenter (assuming you have one) IP as the target in which case you will see the datastores - but not sub folders - and the conversion *seems* to start - but actually doesn't.

To make matters worse, it will even create the target dir in the datastore and add some files to it - and then stop - with no error message.

The log will look like this:

The log file name: 'logs\V2V_Log-20200814-155044.log' (PID 12136)
8/14 15:50:44.200 1d30 Facility ???INFO: CV2V_ConverterApp::InitInstance: SetDllDirectory: C:\Program Files\StarWind Software\StarWind V2V Converter\lib
8/14 15:50:44.201 1d30 Facility ???INFO: CV2V_ConverterApp::InitInstance: File Version: 9.0.0.202
8/14 15:50:44.208 1d30 Facility ???INFO: CV2V_ConverterApp::InitInstance: Load language IDR_XML_ENGLISH
[deleted.. and end in this]
8/14 15:54:43.567 2e98 Facility ???INFO: CPPConverting::Convert: InConvertType: 3, OutConvertType: 6
8/14 15:54:43.583 2e98 Facility ???INFO: CheckFileESX::CheckFileExistance: /folder/WBS-BO-01/HDD0.vmdk?dcPath=ha-datacenter&dsName=DS-01
8/14 15:54:43.614 2e98 Facility ???INFO: CheckFileESX::CheckFileExistance: state - 404

The 404 seems to be the key it's all gone wrong.

What you need to do is set the ESX physical host IP as the target. Then you will see Datastore sub dirs which can be chosen as the target.

2020-08-14 16_35_00-Photos.png (24.7 KiB) Viewed 3429 times

After this the conversion starts almost instantly, and the log starts to be written.

2020-08-14 16_37_05-Photos.png (15.58 KiB) Viewed 3429 times

So in conclusion - use the Physical Host as the target and NOT the vCenter appliance.

[yaroslav (staff)]

Yup, you are correct. V2V Converter sometimes does that when vCenter is used. We are working on introducing vCenter Support in the next build.

[davidmatthewson]

Thanks Yaroslav - or perhaps just a popup to warn the user he is being an idiot and it won't work..;}

Great s/w, great support as ever.

[yaroslav (staff)]

Good idea! But we just decided to fix that.
Thanks for warm words ^_^

[davidmatthewson]

[yaroslav (staff)]

Thanks for sharing the info anyway.