The conversion process of powered on machines that are running Linux operating systems differs from the conversion of Windows machines.
In Windows conversions, the Converter Standalone agent is installed on the source machine and the source information is pushed to the destination.
In Linux conversions, no agent is deployed on the source machine. Instead, a helper virtual machine is created and deployed on the destination ESXi host. The source data is then copied from the source Linux machine to the helper virtual machine. After the conversion is complete, the helper virtual machine shuts down to become the destination virtual machine the next time you power it on.
Converter Standalone supports conversion of Linux sources only to managed destinations.
The following workflow demonstrates the principles of hot cloning powered on source machines that run Linux to managed destinations.
Converter Standalone uses SSH to connect to the source machine and retrieves source information. Converter Standalone creates an empty helper virtual machine based on your conversion task settings. The helper virtual machine serves as a container for the new virtual machine during conversion. Converter Standalone deploys the helper virtual machine on the managed destination, an ESXi host. The helper virtual machine boots from a *.iso file that is located on the Converter Standalone server machine.
The helper virtual machine powers on, boots from the Linux image, connects to the source machine through SSH, and starts retrieving the selected data from the source. While you set up the conversion task, you can select which source volumes to be copied to the destination machine.
Optionally, after data is copied, the destination virtual machine is reconfigured to allow the operating system to start in a virtual machine.
Converter Standalone shuts down the helper virtual machine. The conversion process is complete.
You can configure Converter Standalone to power on the newly created virtual machine after the conversion is complete.