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VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat - Performing a P2V installation using the install clone technique when differing disk subsystems exist (1014436)

Purpose

This article provides information about how to perform a Physical to Virtual (P2V) installation of vCenter Server Heartbeat using the install clone technique when differing subsystems exist.
 
Under normal conditions, VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat requires the Secondary server to have the same disk subsystem type as the Primary server. However, for P2V deployments, there may be some exceptions depending on the environment.

Resolution

When the environment consists of the following conditions, use the procedure below to ensure success of the cloning process:
 
Environment
  • Windows 2008 Server 64bit operating systems
  • P2V where the Secondary server is a VMware virtual machine created using the Install Clone technique from a physical Primary server
  • The Secondary (target) virtual machine is not configured with same disk system as the Primary before the restore
Scenarios
  • VMware vSphere 4.0 - supports SCSI and IDE type disks (VM version 7)
    • Primary server has only SCSI disks

      Action to take
       
      No action required.

    • Primary server has disks other than SCSI (for example, SATA, IDE).

      Action to take

      When creating Secondary server, choose V7 type for virtual machine, and choose the IDE
      disk instead of the default SCSI.

  • Pre VMware vSphere 4.0 - supports only SCSI type disks (VM version 4)
    • Primary server has only SCSI disks

      Action to take

      No action required.

  • Primary server has disks other than SCSI (for example, SATA, IDE).
Action to take
  1. Run msinfo32.exe on both servers and:
    1. Expand the Components node and the Storage node
    2. Select the IDE and\or SCSI node depending on the type of disk controllers in use.
    3. Note the disk controllers' names (for example, viaide.sys, intelide.sys, pciide.sys, cercsr6.sys).

  2. On the Secondary server, navigate to Start > Run, enter Regedit.exe and click Ok.
  3. Navigate to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\KeysNotToRestore.
  4. Create a Multi-String Value and assign a name (for example, Disks Controllers).
  5. Add all of the Primary server's disk controller's information in the Secondary exclusion multi-string value created in step 4 using the following syntax:

    CurrentControlSet\Services\<DriverNameWithoutExtension>\

    Enter each driver on a separate line as shown below:

    Example (of the viaide.sys and intelide.sys drivers):

    CurrentControlSet\Services\viaide\

    CurrentControlSet\Services\intelide\
  6. Install Neverfail Heartbeat on the Secondary server using the default procedure.

Additional Information

vCSHB-Ref-1819

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