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Physical (or prior virtual) machine volumes can be converted to virtual machines at a virtual machine host while the physical machines are running. In one implementation, a volume shadow copy service can be used to create an application (and/or file system)-consistent snapshot of one or more physica

Physical (or prior virtual) machine volumes can be converted to virtual machines at a virtual machine host while the physical machines are running. In one implementation, a volume shadow copy service can be used to create an application (and/or file system)-consistent snapshot of one or more physical machine volumes while the one or more volumes are running. The snapshot data can then be transferred to a mounted virtual hard disk file (dynamic or fixed) at a virtual machine host. Operational information (e.g., boot record, system registry, drivers, devices, configuration preferences, etc.) associated with the virtual hard disk file and the operating system(s) within the virtual machine can then be modified as appropriate to ensure that the corresponding virtual machine is bootable and functional at the virtual machine host. The virtual hard disk file can then be un-mounted, and used as a new virtual machine.

대표청구항 ▼

We claim: 1. At a machine in a computerized environment that includes a virtual machine host configured to host one or more virtual machines, wherein the machine includes one or more volumes, a method of converting the machine to a virtual machine at the virtual machine host, comprising the acts of

We claim: 1. At a machine in a computerized environment that includes a virtual machine host configured to host one or more virtual machines, wherein the machine includes one or more volumes, a method of converting the machine to a virtual machine at the virtual machine host, comprising the acts of: identifying one or more hardware configuration settings for one or more volumes of a machine; creating one or more consistent snapshots corresponding to the one or more machine volumes, while the one or more machine volumes are active; sending the one or more consistent snapshots to a mounted virtual hard disk file; and sending a boot record for the one or more consistent snapshots to the mounted virtual hard disk file, such that the boot record for the one or more consistent snapshots can be modified at the virtual machine host to be made appropriate for an operating system at the virtual machine. 2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more consistent snapshots is sent to the virtual machine host by transferring the at least one snapshot as a set of one or more byte blocks. 3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the machine is a physical machine, and the physical machine and the virtual machine host are the same computer system, such that the one or more volumes of the physical machine are transferred to a different disk device of the physical machine within the same computer system. 4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more machine volumes comprise a plurality of machine volumes installed on a dynamic physical disk. 5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of creating the one or more consistent snapshots further comprises the acts of: identifying used space and free space on the one or more machine volumes; identifying one or more files in the used space to be avoided during snapshot or copy operations, the one or more files to be avoided including any one or more of a diff area file, a page file, a bad cluster, a hibernation file; and copying the data from the one or more machine volumes to one or more virtual hard disk files, such that the copied data include only one of: (i) the identified used space; or (ii) the identified used space without the one or more files to be avoided. 6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of identifying one or more hardware configuration settings further comprises the act of: identifying one or more applications on the one or more volumes that are configured for writer-involved snapshot processes; and sending an instruction to each identified application to begin writer-involved snapshot processes. 7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising the acts of: identifying one or more applications that are not configured for writer-involved snapshot processes; and shutting down each of the identified one or more applications that are not configured for writer-involved processes. 8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the acts of: sending one or more instructions to the virtual machine host to create a virtual hard disk file; and sending an instruction to the virtual machine host to make the virtual hard disk file writable. 9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the virtual hard disk file is dynamically-sized, such that the size of the virtual hard disk file can change over time. 10. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising the acts of: sending one or more instructions to mount the virtual hard disk file, thus creating said mounted virtual hard disk file; and identifying a device identifier for the mounted virtual hard disk file. 11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising an act of identifying one or more device identifiers for the one or more consistent snapshots. 12. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the acts of: identifying one or more system values of the virtual machine host; and sending an instruction to modify operational information for data of the one or more consistent snapshots in accordance with the identified one or more system values; wherein the instruction to modify operational information includes an instruction to modify any one or more of: (i) the boot record; (ii) system registry information; (iii) one or more drivers; (iv) operating system binaries; (v) kernel binaries; or (vi) one or more configuration preferences of the virtual machine. 13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the instruction to modify operational information includes any one or more of: one or more of instructions to replace drivers for one or more physical devices with drivers for one or more virtual devices; one or more of instructions to disable device drivers for hardware where there is no corresponding virtual device in the virtual environment; or one or more of instructions to disable one or more services that depend on one or more devices that do not exist at the virtual machine host. 14. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising an act of sending one or more instructions to the virtual machine host to unmount the virtual hard disk file, such that the virtual hard disk file can be accessible as a virtual machine but not as a physical disk. 15. At a virtual machine host in a computerized environment, wherein the virtual machine host is configured to host one or more virtual machines that include one or more volumes, a method of converting a physical machine to a virtual machine at the virtual machine host, comprising the acts of: creating a virtual hard disk file having a file size; mounting the virtual hard disk file at a virtual machine host, such that the virtual hard disk file appears as an accessible physical disk; receiving one or more consistent snapshots corresponding to one or more physical machine volumes, wherein the snapshots are made while the physical machine volumes are active; modifying operational information corresponding to a boot record and a registry setting in the one or more consistent snapshots, such that the one or more consistent snapshots are appropriate for booting an operating system at the virtual machine host; and unmounting the virtual hard disk file, such that the virtual hard disk file is not accessible as a physical disk. 16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising an act of saving the one or more consistent snapshots in the virtual hard disk file. 17. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising an act of receiving data for the one or more consistent snapshots on a byte block level. 18. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising the acts of: receiving an instruction to make the created virtual hard disk file writable; and sending a device identifier for the mounted virtual hard disk file to a physical computer system. 19. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising an act of reporting one or more system values to the physical machine, wherein the one or more system values are used to modify the operational information for the one or more consistent snapshots. 20. At a machine in a computerized environment that includes a virtual machine host configured to host one or more virtual machines, wherein the machine includes one or more volumes, a computer program product having computer-executable code stored thereon that, when executed, cause one or more processors at the machine to perform a method of converting the machine to a virtual machine at the virtual machine host, comprising the acts of: identifying one or more hardware configuration settings for one or more volumes of a machine; creating one or more consistent snapshots corresponding to the one or more machine volumes, while the one or more machine volumes are active; sending the one or more consistent snapshots to a mounted virtual hard disk file; and sending a boot record for the one or more consistent snapshots to the mounted virtual hard disk file, such that the boot record for the one or more consistent snapshots can be modified at the virtual machine host.