VMware Converter Standalone 5.0 - Slow transfer rates

I've been noticing drastically slower conversion times using Converter 5.0 vs 4.3.  It turns out, Converter 5.0 encrypts the data stream using SSL by default.   This increased the security, but decreased transfer performance.  If SSL is not required, it can be disabled quite easily.

After installing Converter 5.0, locate the converter-worker.xml file: 

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 (R2):
C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 
 
Windows XP and Windows Server 2003:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone

Make a copy of the converter-worker.xml file for safe keeping.  Then use Notepad to make the following change:

<nfc>
 <readTimeoutMs>120000</readTimeoutMs>
<useSsl>true</useSsl>
<!-- Delay is specified in milliseconds, -1 denotes the default.

TO:

<nfc>
<readTimeoutMs>120000</readTimeoutMs>
<useSsl>false</useSsl>
<!-- Delay is specified in milliseconds, -1 denotes the default.

Save the file, then restart the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Worker service.  Enjoy the new found speed!

VMWare Converter: Converted VM fails to Boot

Recently, I performed a P2V of a Windows 7 laptop.  The destination was an ESX 4.1 host.  Per best practices,  I installed VMware Converter 5.0 within the source machine.  I used the Convert Machine wizard, and took the defaults to minimize the complexity of the conversion.  The conversion completed successfully. 

However, upon start up, I was "greeted" with a Blue Screen and later the following option:

I chose the repair option and patiently waited over an hour...

Upon closer inspection, I noticed the boot disk was setup for IDE.  The disk must be converted from IDE to SCSI for best performance.  In addition, the VM may fail to boot because the guest OS does not support the driver.  I ssh'd into the ESX host and used vi to open up the VMs .vmdk file.  I then changed the adapter from IDE to lsilogic by changing the following:

ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"

ddb.adapterType = "ide"

ddb.geometry.biosCylinders = "19457"

 

TO...

ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"

ddb.geometry.biosCylinders = "19457"

 

I then removed the Hard disk (IDE (0:0)) from the virtual machine. (DO NOT Delete the disk)  I then added the Hard Disk back in using SCSI (0:0).   The LSI Logic SAS controller was added automatically.

After that change, the VM came up fine.  I just had to perform the usual post p2v clean up.

The CD-Rom complained about the IDE config being incorrect, but a quick Remove and Re-add took care of that.