Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk

Copies a VMware virtual hard disk file (a .vmdk file) to a Windows-based virtual hard disk file (a .vhd file) and converts the virtual hard disk for use in a VMM environment.

Description

The Copy-SCVirtualHarkDisk cmdlet copies a VMware virtual hard disk file (a .vmdk file) to a Windows-based virtual hard disk file (a .vhd file) and converts the virtual hard disk for use in a System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) environment. The disk's contents are preserved by this copy operation. 

VMware virtual hard disks, stored in .vmdk files, contain the virtual machine's guest operating system, applications, and data. VMWare virtual hard disk formats supported by Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk include:

 - monolithicSparse
 - monolithicFlat
 - vmfs
 - twoGbMaxExtentSparse
 - twoGbMaxExtentFlat

The Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk cmdlet takes as its input the .vmdk file that the .vmx file points to:

- The .vmx file points to a .vmdk file that contains metadata, which in turn points to the binary .vmdk file. 

- The .vmdk file that you specify with the Copy-VMDK cmdlet is the .vmdk file that contains the metadata (not the binary .vmdk file). 

For more information about Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk, type: "Get-Help Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk -online".

Parameters

Path

Required? true
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the destination path for the operation.

Example formats:
 Local path	 -Path "F:\"
 UNC path		 -Path "\\Library\Templates"
 Volume GUID path -Path "\\?\Volume{4703c1ea-8ae7-11db-b473-00123f7603e3}\"
 VMware ESX path  –Path "[storage1]\MyVMwareFolderForVMs\MyVM.vmx"
 Citrix XenServer path - Path “Local storage[99b6212f-b63d-c676-25f9-d6c460992de7]”

Wildcards are supported for "Get" cmdlets and when you specify the UNC path:

Example format:
 UNC path		 -Path "\\VMHostServer\MyVMs\*VM*"

VMDKPath

Required? true
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the path to a VMware virtual hard disk file (a .vmdk file) to be converted to a Windows-based virtual hard disk file (a .vhd file). The VMDK stands for the Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) file format.

Example format: -VMDKPath "\\FileServer01\MSSCVMMLibrary\VMDKS\VM01.vmdk"
Example format: -VMDKPath "[storage1] /VM01/VM01.vmdk"

VMHost

Required? true
Accept Pipeline Input? true (ByValue)
Position? named 
Specifies a virtual machine host object. VMM supports Hyper-V hosts, VMware ESX hosts, and Citrix XenServer hosts. 

For more information about each type of host, type: "Get-Help Add-SCVMHost -detailed". See the examples for a specific cmdlet to determine how that cmdlet uses this parameter.

JobVariable

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies that job progress is tracked and stored in the variable named by this parameter.

LibraryServer

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies a VMM library server object.

Owner

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the owner of a VMM object in the form of a valid domain user account.

Example format: -Owner "Contoso\ReneeLo"
Example format: -Owner "ReneeLo@Contoso"

PROTipID

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the ID of the PRO tip that triggered this action. This allows for auditing of PRO tips.

RunAsynchronously

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Indicates that the job runs asynchronously so that control returns to the command shell immediately.

SourceVMHost

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the source virtual machine host object.

VMMServer

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? true (ByValue)
Position? named 
Specifies a VMM server object.

Examples

1: Convert a VMware .vmdk file in the VMM library to a Windows-based .vhd file on a host. 
PS C:\> $LibServ = Get-SCLibraryServer -ComputerName "LibServer01.Contoso.com"
PS C:\> $VMHost = Get-SCVMHost –ComputerName “VMMHost01.Contoso.com”
PS C:\> Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk -LibraryServer $LibServ -VMDKPath "\\LibServer01\MSSCVMMLibrary\VMware\VM01.vmdk" –VMHost $VMHost -Path "C:\StoredWindowsVMs" 

The first command gets the library server object named LibServer01 and stores the object in the $LibServ variable.

The second command gets the host object named VMHost01 and stores the object in the $VMHost variable. VMHost01 is a Hyper-V host.

The last command copies and converts the .vmdk file located at the specified path (\\LibServer01\MSSCVMMLibrary\VMware\VM01.vmdk) on the library server and stores the resulting .vhd file at the specified path (C:\StoredWindowsVMs) on VMHost01. Note that the Path parameter, when used with Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk, cannot take a UNC path.

Note: Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk takes as its input the .vmdk file that the .vmx file points to:

- The .vmx file points to a .vmdk file that contains metadata, which in turn points to the binary .vmdk file. 
- The .vmdk file that you specify with Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk is the .vmdk file that contains the metadata (not the binary .vmdk file).

See Also