September 20, 2011

Snapshot differences between disks

There should be no time difference between the disk when converting a server, but only to be sure I have done a simple test.

Made a simple script which pipe out the current time:

time /T >>c:\time_CRoot.txt
time /T >>E:\time_ERoot.txt
time /T >>F:\time_FRoot.txt
time /T >>I:\time_IRoot.txt

Then I let the scheduler execute the script once per minute.
(Controlpanel -> Scheduled Tasks) or with command prompt
schtasks /create /tn timelog /tr c:\time.cmd /sc MINUTE

I then start the conversion with vmware converter and writhe down the time
In this experiment the conversion started 2:47 pm and ended at 3:31 pm
import time.PNG
So, how does the timestamps looks on the disks on the converted machine?

Last timestamp's on the different disks are as follows:

C: 2:47 pm
E: 2:47 pm
F: 2:47 pm
I: 2:47 pm

The conclusion of that is that the first thing that the converter are doing at a windows machine is to take a snapshot of the volumes apparently with the help of VSS.

That is if you don´t check "Synchronize changes that occur to the source during cloning"
changes.PNG

However, if I check that value...
Started 8:06pm and ended 8:55 pm (Took about 5 minutes longer)
import time2.PNG
C: 8:39 pm
E: 8:39 pm
F: 8:39 pm
I: 8:39 pm

Probably the second snapshot with VSS are taking about 15 minutes to complete of the disks.
So, you will miss some minutes even if you use the above settings, so make sure that you turn of databases and services to keep as much as possible static.

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