> Can someone point me to instructions on how to virtualize a production
> server? Of course, I prefer the easiest most reliable way possible.
>
>

>I watched the demos, but they really didn't seem to cover the topic of
>virtualizing a production server. I knew that I could basically start from
>scratch and then reinstall all of my application on the Virtual Server, but
>I would like to avoid that if possible. I've read a little about the VS
>2005 Migration Toolkit, but it seems a little difficult to use.
>
>Is that my best option?
>

> See:
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/events/vpc/tnt1-97.mspx
>
> hth
> DDS
> "Todd Sparks" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> Can someone point me to instructions on how to virtualize a production
>> server? Of course, I prefer the easiest most reliable way possible.
>>
>>
>
>

>I watched the demos, but they really didn't seem to cover the topic of
>virtualizing a production server. I knew that I could basically start from
>scratch and then reinstall all of my application on the Virtual Server, but
>I would like to avoid that if possible. I've read a little about the VS
>2005 Migration Toolkit, but it seems a little difficult to use.
>
> Is that my best option?
>
>

> Can someone point me to instructions on how to virtualize a production
> server? Of course, I prefer the easiest most reliable way possible.
>
>

> “The Path To Fast P2V” – The QuickSilver Project
>
> We all have tons of physical machines we want to migrate to Virtual Hosts,
> and we all want to do it in a smooth low administrative cost process.
> Well, all we have to do is to use the VSMT right? (Virtual Server
> Migration
> Toolkit). The problem is that its too complex to use it, and in the end
> the
> hours you spend to run all the VSMT process is maybe even bigger than the
> one you would take to set it up the hole thing again without VSMT at all!!
> This is what I came up after some small researching.
> I Managed to P2V in 2 Single Steps, and I would like to share my
> experience
> with you.
> Suppose you have a nice Windows 2003 Sp1 Machine running on a old Server,
> and you want to P2V it to Virtual Server. Simply you use your cloning
> solution of you choise (preferably I use Acronis and Ghost), and deliver
> the
> image to the Virtual machine as it was a physical one.
> Logical when the Virtual Machine boots you get a “Blue Screen of Death”
> because of the hardware Incompatibility.
> All you have to do is to boot up the Virtual Machine with the Windows 2003
> Sp1 CD, choose the R option to go to the Recovery Console, when you just
> get
> the famous “Dos Like Console”
> This is the amazing part.. you copy from the CD of Windows 2003 Sp1 the
> hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe and override in the Windows system32 directory.
> In simple Commands you do as follows..
> 1.boot the Virtual machine with the cd of Windows 2003 SP1
> 2. Press R for the Recovery Console
> 3. choose your Windows Installation (usually option 1)
> Go to windows system32 folder by typping cd c:\windows\system32
> Then enter the drive letter of cd-rom (usually d
> At d: prompt type cd i386
> Then type as follows
> Expand ntoskrnl.ex_ c:
> Expand hal.dl_ c:
> For each command you will take a notification for overwriting the original
> files.. we choose yes to replace the files.
>
> Then rebout the machine, remove the cd-rom of window 2003 sp1, let the
> machine boot and press F8 to go to option menu for Safe Boot.
> THERE YOU ARE, THE TARGET MACHINE IS BOOTING WITH NO ERRORS.
> IT WILL AUTO DISCOVER ALL THE HARDWARE AND IT WILL PLAY OK
>
> 100% TESTED, MIGRATED MANY MACHINES LIKE THAT.
>
> PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME FOR ANY INFORMATION YOU MAY NEED.
>
> BEST REGARDS.
>
> ALEXOPOULOS IOANNIS MCSE MCT MVP Candidate.
>

>The point is when you boot the VM you get BSOD.
>This is why we change the files.
>

> “The Path To Fast P2V” – The QuickSilver Project
>
> We all have tons of physical machines we want to migrate to Virtual Hosts,
> and we all want to do it in a smooth low administrative cost process.
> Well, all we have to do is to use the VSMT right? (Virtual Server
> Migration
> Toolkit). The problem is that its too complex to use it, and in the end
> the
> hours you spend to run all the VSMT process is maybe even bigger than the
> one you would take to set it up the hole thing again without VSMT at all!!
> This is what I came up after some small researching.
> I Managed to P2V in 2 Single Steps, and I would like to share my
> experience
> with you.
> Suppose you have a nice Windows 2003 Sp1 Machine running on a old Server,
> and you want to P2V it to Virtual Server. Simply you use your cloning
> solution of you choise (preferably I use Acronis and Ghost), and deliver
> the
> image to the Virtual machine as it was a physical one.
> Logical when the Virtual Machine boots you get a “Blue Screen of Death”
> because of the hardware Incompatibility.
> All you have to do is to boot up the Virtual Machine with the Windows 2003
> Sp1 CD, choose the R option to go to the Recovery Console, when you just
> get
> the famous “Dos Like Console”
> This is the amazing part.. you copy from the CD of Windows 2003 Sp1 the
> hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe and override in the Windows system32 directory.
> In simple Commands you do as follows..
> 1.boot the Virtual machine with the cd of Windows 2003 SP1
> 2. Press R for the Recovery Console
> 3. choose your Windows Installation (usually option 1)
> Go to windows system32 folder by typping cd c:\windows\system32
> Then enter the drive letter of cd-rom (usually d
> At d: prompt type cd i386
> Then type as follows
> Expand ntoskrnl.ex_ c:
> Expand hal.dl_ c:
> For each command you will take a notification for overwriting the original
> files.. we choose yes to replace the files.
>
> Then rebout the machine, remove the cd-rom of window 2003 sp1, let the
> machine boot and press F8 to go to option menu for Safe Boot.
> THERE YOU ARE, THE TARGET MACHINE IS BOOTING WITH NO ERRORS.
> IT WILL AUTO DISCOVER ALL THE HARDWARE AND IT WILL PLAY OK
>
> 100% TESTED, MIGRATED MANY MACHINES LIKE THAT.
>
> PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME FOR ANY INFORMATION YOU MAY NEED.
>
> BEST REGARDS.
>
> ALEXOPOULOS IOANNIS MCSE MCT MVP Candidate.
>