PlateSpin PowerConvert is much more than a tool for physical to virtual migrations. It allows you to manage server workloads between physical and virtual servers with the help of images. In this article you'll learn how to install and configure PowerConvert for your data center.
Getting started with PowerConvert
To use PowerConvert you will need a PowerConvert server. A Windows 2000 or 2003 server with at least 4 GB of available disk space is needed for this purpose. If you want to use the PowerConvert server for imaging as well, make sure that you have ample disk space available to store the images. One important thing to note though is that not all languages are supported with PowerConvert. Either consult the online documentation to see which languages are supported, or just install your Windows Server in English to make sure that it will operate properly.
On your server, you will need Microsoft IIS, ASP.NET and .NET framework. The instructions below explain how to correctly install these components in Windows 2003 Server R2. For details about other Windows versions, check out the PlateSpin Knowledgebase.
- On the Windows 2003 Server, open the Windows Control Panel. From there, open Add and Remove Programs.
- Next click on Add/Remove Windows Components. From the Windows Components Wizard, make sure to select the Application Server option.
- With the Application Server option selected, click on Details and make sure that ASP.NET is not installed. This is the wrong version of ASP.NET, and installing it will break-up your configuration. Following that, click on Next to proceed. This will install IIS, which will take a few minutes.
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- Also from the Windows Component Wizard, install the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.
- At this point, you need to make sure that ASP.NET is properly registered with IIS. To do this run the following command:
"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe" -i
This command starts the ASP.NET installation interface which will take a few moments to complete.
- Now select the Computer Management interface, and from there activate Services and Applications, Internet Information Services, Web Service Extensions. By default, the ASP.NET extension is prohibited, so you will have to configure it to allow it to function.
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Configuring your new PowerConvert server
At this point you have set up all of the required elements on your Windows Server. You can start installing the PowerConvert server now. This involves three different components:
- PowerConvert Server
- PowerConvert Client
- MS SQL Server
You can install all of these components from the PowerConvertSetup.exe file. The first thing you will need is the Microsoft SQL Server Express edition. Click Install SQL Server to launch the installation program. It should complete without any further queries.
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Once the installation of Microsoft SQL is complete, you can begin installing the PowerConvert Server. From the main window of the installation program, click Install Server to launch the installation program. After copying files to your server, the PowerConvert Server installation wizard launches. Indicate that you agree with the license agreement, select a folder where you want to install the software and then click Next to start the installation itself.
The final portion of the configuration process involves setting up the PowerConvert Client. To do that, just click the Install Client button and complete the installation program accepting all default options. After installing it, start the client to complete the Activation. To do this, you will need the email address and Activation Code that you obtained when purchasing PowerConvert.
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At this point the PowerConvert main console should open. From here you can perform your workload management tasks. You will learn how to perform these tasks in upcoming articles.
Summary
In this article you have read how to install PlateSpin PowerConvert. Currently, the only platform on which you can install it is a Windows Server that has Microsoft SQL and IIS set up as well. On top of that, you need to setup the PowerConvert Server and PowerConvert Client software components. After on-line activation, you are ready to use the software.
About the author: Sander van Vugt is an author and independent technical trainer, specializing in Linux. van Vugt is also a technical consultant for high-availability clustering and performance optimization and an expert on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (SLED 10) administration.
