SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONVERTING A PHYSICAL DISK TO A VIRTUAL DISK

• US 20120265959A1
• Filed: 06/22/2012
• Published: 10/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: KHANDEKAR, Dilip, LE, Bich C., RAGHURAM, Sirishkumar
• Granted Patent: US 8,869,139 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/116 Details of conversion of file system types or formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/166 File name conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A method for converting a disk of a physical computer into a virtual disk for use by a virtual machine is described. Contents of the disk of the physical computer are copied into an image file, wherein the image file has a different sector-by-sector organization of the contents than the disk but a logically equivalent file system organization. Hardware configuration information from the image file is then extracted, wherein the hardware configuration information relates to hardware of the physical computer and, based on a comparison of the extracted hardware configuration information and a virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine, hardware-dependent files in the image file are replaced with substitute files that are compatible with the virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine.

Claims

1. A method for converting a disk of a physical computer into a virtual disk for use by a virtual machine comprising:

copying contents of the disk of the physical computer into an image file, wherein the image file has a different sector-by-sector organization of the contents than the disk but a logically equivalent file system organization;

extracting hardware configuration information from the image file, wherein the hardware configuration information relates to hardware of the physical computer; and

replacing, based on a comparison of the extracted hardware configuration information and a virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine, hardware-dependent files in the image file with substitute files that are compatible with the virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying a configuration file corresponding to the virtual machine to be compatible with at least a portion of the hardware configuration information of the physical computer, wherein the configuration file defines a virtual hardware profile of the virtual machine and is separate from the image file.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the configuration file includes reconfiguring network bindings of the virtual machine to be consistent with network bindings of the physical computer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracted hardware configuration information an indication of a patch-level of an operating system stored in the disk of the physical computer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the substitute files are stored in a copy-on-write file that is combined with the image file to represent the virtual disk.

6. The method of claim 1, performed without utilizing a running virtual machine to mount the image file in order to replace the hardware dependent files.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracting step is performed without requiring an application running on the physical computer to query the physical computer.

8. A computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed on a computer processor, causes the computer processor to convert a disk of a physical computer into a virtual disk for use by a virtual machine by performing the steps of:

copying contents of the disk of the physical computer into an image file, wherein the image file has a different sector-by-sector organization of the contents than the disk but a logically equivalent file system organization;

extracting hardware configuration information from the image file, wherein the hardware configuration information relates to hardware of the physical computer; and

replacing, based on a comparison of the extracted hardware configuration information and a virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine, hardware-dependent files in the image file with substitute files that are compatible with the virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further including instructions for modifying a configuration file corresponding to the virtual machine to be compatible with at least a portion of the hardware configuration information of the physical computer, wherein the configuration file defines a virtual hardware profile of the virtual machine and is separate from the image file.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein modifying the configuration file includes reconfiguring network bindings of the virtual machine to be consistent with network bindings of the physical computer.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the extracted hardware configuration information an indication of a patch-level of an operating system stored in the disk of the physical computer.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the substitute files are stored in a copy-on-write file that is combined with the image file to represent the virtual disk.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions are performed without utilizing a running virtual machine to mount the image file in order to replace the hardware dependent files.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the extracting step is performed without requiring an application running on the physical computer to query the physical computer.

15. A computer system for converting a disk of a physical computer into a virtual disk for use by a virtual machine, wherein the system comprises a processor configured to perform the steps of:

copying contents of the disk of the physical computer into an image file, wherein the image file has a different sector-by-sector organization of the contents than the disk but a logically equivalent file system organization;

extracting hardware configuration information from the image file, wherein the hardware configuration information relates to hardware of the physical computer; and

replacing, based on a comparison of the extracted hardware configuration information and a virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine, hardware-dependent files in the image file with substitute files that are compatible with the virtual hardware configuration of the virtual machine.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the process is further configured to perform the step of modifying a configuration file corresponding to the virtual machine to be compatible with at least a portion of the hardware configuration information of the physical computer, wherein the configuration file defines a virtual hardware profile of the virtual machine and is separate from the image file.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein modifying the configuration file includes reconfiguring network bindings of the virtual machine to be consistent with network bindings of the physical computer.

18. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the extracted hardware configuration information an indication of a patch-level of an operating system stored in the disk of the physical computer.

19. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the substitute files are stored in a copy-on-write file that is combined with the image file to represent the virtual disk.

20. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the processor performs the steps without utilizing a running virtual machine to mount the image file in order to replace the hardware dependent files.