Physical-to-Virtual describes the process of decoupling and migrating a physical server's operating system (OS), applications, and data from a physical server to a virtual machine guest hosted on a virtualized platform.

Manual P2V

User manually creates a virtual machine in a virtual host environment and copies all the files from OS, applications and data from the source machine.

Semi-automated P2V

Performing a P2V migration using a tool that assists the user in moving the servers from physical state to virtual machine.

• Microsoft's Virtual Server Migration Toolkit
• VMware
  VMware
  VMware, Inc. is a company providing virtualization software founded in 1998 and based in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2004, and operates as a separate software subsidiary ....
  
   provides a semi-automated tool called VMware Converter for moving physical servers into virtual environments. Converter replaces two older utilities: Importer (bundled with VMware Workstation
  VMware Workstation
  VMware Workstation is a virtual machine software suite for x86 and x86-64 computers from VMware, a division of EMC Corporation, which allows users to set up multiple x86 and x86-64 virtual machines and use one or more of these virtual machines simultaneously with the hosting operating system...
  
  ) and P2V Assistant.
• Oracle's Virtual Box has a Linux-based tool which allows you to convert a dd
  Dd (Unix)
  In computing, dd is a common Unix program whose primary purpose is the low-level copying and conversion of raw data. According to the manual page for Version 7 Unix, it will "convert and copy a file". It is used to copy a specified number of bytes or blocks, performing on-the-fly byte order...
  
   image of an existing hard drive
• Microsoft provides the SysInternals disk2vhd utility for making images from Windows XP or later systems to be used with Windows Virtual PC
  Windows Virtual PC
  Windows Virtual PC is a virtualization program for Microsoft Windows. In July 2006 Microsoft released the Windows-hosted version as a free product...
  
  , Microsoft Virtual Server
  Microsoft Virtual Server
  Microsoft Virtual Server is a virtualization solution that facilitates the creation of virtual machines on the Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. Originally developed by Connectix, it was acquired by Microsoft prior to release...
  
   or Hyper-V
  Hyper-V
  Microsoft Hyper-V, codenamed Viridian and formerly known as Windows Server Virtualization, is a hypervisor-based virtualization system for x86-64 systems. A beta version of Hyper-V was shipped with certain x86-64 editions of Windows Server 2008, and the finalized version was released on June 26,...
  
  .
• openQRM is an Open Source datacenter management platform that does P2V (and V2P, V2V or P2P).
• Storix's bare-metal recovery product (System Backup Administrator) provides P2V and V2P capabilities for Linux, AIX, and Solaris.

Fully automated P2V

Performing a P2V migration using a tool that migrates the server over the network without any assistance from the user.

• vContinuum  vContinuum by InMage systems is an automated P2V data protection/migration tool
• Symantec System Recovery enables fast, automated P2V and V2P conversions
• Quest
  Quest
  In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...
  
   vConverter is an example of a fully automated migration tool for P2V.
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager
  System Center Virtual Machine Manager
  System Center Virtual Machine Manager forms part of Microsoft's System Center line of management and reporting tools, alongside previously established tools such as Microsoft Operations Manager and Microsoft Systems Management Server...
  
   SCVMM among many other capabilities has P2V capability.
• AutoVirt
  AutoVirt
  AutoVirt, short for automated virtualization, is a company based in Nashua, New Hampshire that provides a file virtualization software for migrating and consolidating unstructured data Windows networks. AutoVirt virtualizes access to networked files and has a data management platform for migrating,...
  
   AutoMove automates the process of migrating data from physical to virtual machines without client disruption.
• Leostream
  Leostream
  Leostream is a privately held technology company based in Waltham, Massachusetts. Its flagship product is a connection broker for virtual desktop infrastructure . The company was founded in 2002....
  
   is an example of a fully automated migration tool for P2V.
• PlateSpin
  PlateSpin
  PlateSpin is a subsidiary of Novell headquartered in Toronto, Canada, which produces tools to help manage virtualization on VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V or Citrix XenServer.- History :PlateSpin won an International Stevie Award in 2006 for best overall company....
  
   Migrate is an example of a fully automated migration tool for P2V.
• Virtuozzo contains automatic P2V (and V2P) migration tools.

External links

• Manual physical-to-virtual migration description for OpenVZ