Starting with VMware Converter Standalone 5.0, the default action is to secure the P2V data with SSL. While this is nice if you are converting machines across an untrusted network or need the additional level of security, it can really slow down the P2V process. There is a blog post at Jon Kohler’s Blog and a thread on the VMware Communities about this subject.
I’ve been working on a handful of P2Vs, and I always need to find my notes about the NFC SSL setting to remember exactly what I need to change. While I was waiting on one of these P2Vs to complete, I opened up powershell looking for a way to modify the XML file. I now have a simple script on my management server that:
1.) Finds the right file (based off operating system)
2.) Makes a backup copy of the XML
3.) Adds the useSSL element if it does not exist
4.) Modifies the value of config.nfs.useSSL
5.) Restarts the vmware-converter-agent service
If you are interested in the script, you can download it here: VMwareConverterDisableSSL.ps1
I did notice two possible concerns that aren’t important in my environment but wanted to share them just in case. The backup XML file will be overwritten if this script is ran more than one time. This could be fixed by appending a date stamp or random number to the file name (see line 38). Second, the powershell modified version of the XML file does not preserve white space in the comments, so the resulting output is less lines than the source file. The change works as expected and the service does start, so I wasn’t worried about this difference.