Convert Custom VMs from VMware to Proxmox VE

Warning

The notes provided here may not be comprehensive. They are intended to offer general guidance, as each virtual machine may have unique characteristics or requirements.

Converting custom virtual machines from VMware to Proxmox VE requires careful attention to detail and considerable effort. The following guides provide recommended procedures based on the specific operating system. Since each virtual machine is unique, NDG strongly advises thorough quality assurance testing of all virtual machines to ensure the accuracy and integrity of your lab content.

Key Steps for Each Operating System

Guest Agent Installation is MANDATORY

Installing qemu-guest-agent is NOT optional. It is a critical requirement for ALL virtual machines running on NETLAB+ with Proxmox VE.

Why it’s critical:

  • Without qemu-guest-agent, VMs will NOT gracefully start up or shut down - causing potential data corruption

  • VMs will appear to use >90% memory even when idle due to memory ballooning failure, causing apparent memory exhaustion and severely impacting VM performance and reliability

Learn more: Proxmox QEMU Guest Agent documentation

Follow these steps in order for each VM you convert:

  1. VM Hardware Settings - Configure hardware for Proxmox compatibility

  2. Install Guest-Agent (REQUIRED - DO NOT SKIP)

  3. Configure Network Interfaces - Ensure network adapters work correctly

  4. Optimizing Disks - Reduce VM disk size and improve performance

  5. Additional Notes - OS-specific considerations

Operating System Guides

These guides are intended to assist you with the migration process for each supported operating system. Please be aware that operating systems vary significantly, and older versions may present compatibility challenges.

Importing VMware VMs to Proxmox VE

This guide is the NDG recommended way to migrate VMs from VMware to Proxmox VE.

Warning

NDG does NOT recommend using the OVA method.

Note

NDG has already converted all virtual machines included in the NETLAB+ Catalog. If you have not significantly modified your virtual machines (such as adding extensive software or custom configurations), NDG strongly recommends using the NDG VM Distribution System. If substantial customizations have been made, you may either adopt the latest NDG-provided virtual machines and reapply your changes or convert your existing customized virtual machines directly.

Updating Custom Pod Designs

With the default setting of Proxmox always changing the MAC address on cloning, it is recommended that you update your custom pod designs to add the pc.<i>.net.vnic.<n>.mac_address directive for each of the virtual machines in your design. This makes sure when you do pod cloning in NETLAB+ UI and/or API, the MAC address will remain the same where you want it to. You will want to actually set the value at nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn, instead of setting it to keep.