V2V Converter & Backup for Hyper-V VMware VirtualBox

BackupChain®: Backup Software and Toolset Made for IT Professionals

BackupChain’s backup software toolset contains a V2V converter for Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and VMware as part of its disk backup toolset. The V2V converter may be used as a final virtual to physical migration or you could schedule V2V conversions to occur on a schedule as a method of VM backup. Here we discuss how you could use BackupChain as a:

• V2V converter to convert a virtual machine from Hyper-V (VHD and VHDX) to VMware or VirtualBox
• V2V converter to convert a VMware virtual machine (VMDK) to Hyper-V or VirtualBox
• V2V conversion of VirtualBox (VDI) virtual machines to VMware and Hyper-V
• Assisted Conversion: Contact our tech support and they will guide you through the process.

As a comprehensive physical and virtual server backup software BackupChain can also:

• Hyper-V VM backup and Hyper-V host backup via disk image backup or disk cloning
• VMware VM backup: backup for individual VMware virtual machines
• VirtualBox backup: back up VirtualBox virtual machines while running
• Version backup of files, documents, and databases and much more

Live Virtual to Virtual Migration and Conversion

A virtual to virtual conversion can be done just one as a final V2V migration or automatically via a scheduled task. As many datacenters as well as small businesses now use a mixed virtualization environment with Hyper-V, VMware, and VirtualBox, it often becomes necessary to convert from one virtual machine format to another, in order to be able to migrate VMs. BackupChain creates an exact replica from one virtual disk format to another and also has a universal boot feature in its toolset to allow migration to other virtualization hosts.
Virtual machines can be converted live without interfering with the services inside the VM and without causing service interruptions.

Convert Hyper-V to VMware and VirtualBox: VHD to VHDX, VMDK, or VDI

Hyper-V uses the VHD and VHDX virtual disk formats to store virtual machine data. These disks can be converted from VHD / VHDX to VMDK and VDI in the background while the VM is running. In addition, the virtual machine is properly prepared for live backup and the conversion is application consistent. The VMDK or VDI output can be referenced by a VMware or VirtualBox VM to boot immediately or you can use these formats as disk image backup files for future use. The VMDK and VDI may also be copied back to a VHD or a physical disk if necessary, as part of a V2P conversion.

Convert VMware to Hyper-V and VirtualBox: VMDK to VHD, VHDX, and VDI

In order to convert a virtual machine from VMware to Hyper-V or VirtualBox, BackupChain creates a fresh VHD, VHDX, or VDI file for each VM disk. The VMDK may originate from VMware ESX, vSphere, VMware Workstation, VMware Player or VMware Server products. The VHD and VHDX produced are compatible with all Hyper-V versions beginning with Server 2008. The VDI file format is for use with the VirtualBox platform.

Convert VirtualBox to Hyper-V or VMware: VDI to VMDK, VHD, or VHDX

VirtualBox is ideal for all kinds of staging, testing, and development scenarios. When a virtual machine is ready to be placed into a production environment other than VirtualBox, you can use BackupChain to perform the V2V migration by converting the VDI to one of these target formats: VHD and VHDX (for Microsoft Hyper-V) and VMDK for VMware. VirtualBox is also often used as a backup system in mixed environments that may mainly operate with Hyper-V or VMware. You can use the reverse conversion direction to move live VMs to the backup system where they will be ready to be used in case of a disaster using VirtualBox.

Pass-through Disk P2V, V2V, and V2P Conversion

If you have VMs that use pass-through disks, which is storage directly attached to the VM, not as a virtual disk file, those VMs can also be backed up or converted from one virtualization system to another; however, in that case you would install BackupChain inside the VM so it has direct access to all storage at the same time. Only then can a consistent snapshot be taken across multiple kinds of storage that is attached directly to the VM. After installing BackupChain inside the VM, use the P2V conversion function and target a network share. The contents of each virtual machine disk will then be exported as a virtual disk file of your choice.