Topic(s)

Managed I.T., Security, Cloud & Infrastructure

Author(s)

Envision Technology Advisors

By default, VMware has configured their Standalone Converter to use SSL during the data transfer process. This default feature increases the transfer time by about 20%. This configuration is well documented on VMware's site, however it doesn't disclose the increased performance statistics. You can see below that with SSL on, the process took a little over 22 minutes. With SSL off the process took a little over 18 minutes.

SSL performance

Luckily there is a simple way to turn this off. Edit C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone\converter-worker.xml and look for the line that reads true and change true to false.

SSL settings

Save, restart VMware Converter, and conduct your P2V 20% faster! Of course, the security conscience individual must keep in mind that this process will transfer the data unencrypted from source to destination, which in most scenarios is not an issue.