I am looking for a way to automate a conversion process of true image backup (.tib) files to Virtual Machines. I have been looking around VMware for a way to implement this but have left myself really unsure of what I would need.
The reason for this is that I have a bunch of these files that I would like to check to see if they are valid. I would like an automated way to grab these files, convert them, start them up, and then shut them down. I currently have everything set up, I am just lost for a way to actually convert these files.
The two closest solutions that I have found so far are these:
From my understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) I would be able to use PowerCLI to automate a way to convert these .tib files to VMs, but the catch is that I would need a VMware server or ESXi to do so. This seems to provide the ESXi that would be needed to do that.
Again, from my understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) I would be able to use this to convert the files to VMs. I have downloaded this before just to use the GUI and it seems to work up until i get to the point where it asks me for the name of the server that I would like to use. I see that there is an option to "Buy Now" on the webpage, but it just takes me to (what seems like) a products page. I figured that the buy now option would be the solution to my server issue there. My thoughts to using this would be to use the API to automate what I need.
My official questions are:
- I must not be the first person to want an automated way to convert these files over for testing. Does anyone have any ideas/past experiences to share?
- Has anyone used either of these options before?
- Are my assumptions correct in thinking that I need a VMware server or ESXi to convert these files?
- Would I be able to use the API method that I mentioned above?
VMware vCenter Converter has its own SOAP/WebServices based API. SDK can be found at https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/converter-sdk/
So you can automate any task basically, using a programming language which is capable to work with WebServices