You can use the Conversion wizard to set up conversion tasks and Converter Standalone components perform all the cloning tasks.

The following workflow is an example of remote hot cloning in which the powered on machine that is being cloned experiences no downtime.
Note: With Converter Standalone 6.3, you can convert source Windows machines that have no direct access to the destination ESXi server by using the proxy mode feature. The feature is available only for conversion of powered on Windows sources to managed destinations.
  1. Converter Standalone prepares the source machine for the conversion.

    Converter Standalone installs the agent on the source machine and the agent takes a snapshot of the source volumes.


    A workflow diagram where Converter Standalone installs the agent on a source machine.
  2. Converter Standalone prepares the virtual machine on the destination machine.

    Converter Standalone creates a virtual machine on the destination machine and the agent copies volumes from the source machine to the destination machine.


    A workflow diagram where Converter Standalone creates a virtual machine on the destination machine and copies there the source volumes.

    If the proxy mode feature is off, the data traffic passes from the source machine directly to the destination server.

    If the proxy mode feature is on, the data traffic passes from the source machine through the Converter Standalone server to the destination server.

  3. Converter Standalone finishes the conversion process.

    The agent installs the drivers required for the operating system to start in a virtual machine and personalizes the virtual machine (changes the IP information, for example).


    A workflow diagram where the agent installs drivers to allow the operating system to boot on the destination server and customizes the VM.
  4. Optionally, Converter Standalone uninstalls the agent from the source machine.

    The virtual machine is ready to run on the destination server.