Using the Amazon EC2 VM Import Connector to Import Your Virtual Machine to Amazon EC2

To Install the Connector for the VMware vCenter

1. Download the OVA package for the Connector virtual appliance from Amazon Web Services Developer Tools and save it to your Downloads folder.

2. Start the vSphere Client and connect to your vCenter Server.

3. Using the vSphere Client, deploy the OVF template contained in the OVA file that you downloaded. On the File menu, select Deploy OVF Template and point to the location where you downloaded the OVA package.

   

   A series of Deploy OVF Template screens walks you through the deployment process.

4. Confirm that the Deploy OVF Template screen is displaying correct information about the VM Import Connector, and click Next.

   

5. Specify the name and location of the Connector or accept the default, then click Next.

   

6. Select the host or cluster in which you want the Connector to run, then click Next.

   

7. Select the data store where the Connector will be stored, then click Next.

   	Note
   	Although the Connector virtual appliance is small, it temporarily stores the images of the virtual machines that import to Amazon EC2. Therefore, the data store must be large enough to accommodate these images, as well as the Connector. We recommend a data store size of 250GB or larger.

   

8. Select Thin provisioned format, then click Next.

   

9. Confirm the details you selected and click Finish.

   The Connector virtual appliance will now install.

To start the Connector for VMware vCenter

1. On the vSphere Client, right-click the Connector you just installed, select Power and then Power On.

2. To open the console, right-click the Connector you just installed and click Open Console.

To register the Connector with the VMware vCenter

1. Open a web browser and, in the address bar, type the Connector IP address that you obtained from the Console in the vCenter, and log in with the password.

   

2. When you are logged in, the browser displays Connector status information. Note that the Connector is not yet registered with the vCenter Server. Confirm that everything else in the Connector Status list has a status of OK.

   

3. If the version of the Connector that you are registering is not an upgrade, click Register Now. If you are upgrading the Connector, you must take the next two steps before registering.

   • Confirm that all import tasks are complete.

   • Deregister the old Connector from vCenter. To do this, go to the vCenter tab and click Deregister.

     

   The vCenter Connector Registration page appears.

4. Provide the IP address of the vCenter with which you want to register the Connector. The user name and password you use must have administrative rights. Click Register Connector with vCenter.

   	Note
   	If an error occurs, check that the VMware vCenter IP address or name that you provided is correct. Also, confirm that the Connector virtual appliance has network access to TCP port 443 on your vCenter Server. If the user name or password you provided is incorrect, you will see a description of this error.

To configure a proxy

If you need to configure a proxy to allow the Connector to reach the Internet, you can do it using the Connector's web interface.

1. Go to the Network tab, click Configure Proxy.

   

   The Network Configuration:Proxy page appears.

2. Provide the information required and click Configure Proxy.

   

To grant permission to non-administrative users to import VMs to Amazon EC2

1. Log in to vCenter as Administrator and from Home, navigate to Roles, and click Add Role.

   

2. In the Add New Role dialog box, type the name for the new role and specify the following permissions.

   • Under Global, select Cancel task.

   • Under Tasks, select Create task and Update task.

   • Under vApp, select Export and View OVF Environment.

   Click OK.

3. To grant the new role permission to vCenter users or groups who will be importing virtual machines to Amazon EC2, right-click your specific vCenter in the tree-view pane and select Add permission. The Assign Permissions dialog box opens.

4. In the Users and Groups box on the left, select the users or groups you want to add to the new role you created.

   

   If you don't have users defined yet, click Add. The Select Users and Groups dialog box opens.

5. Select and add the users you want to add to the new role. When you have identified all the users for the role, click OK.

6. In the Assigned Role box on the right of the Assign Permissions dialog box, select the role that you previously created.

7. Clear the check box for Propagate to Child Objects and click OK.

   Repeat the same process to assign the role of virtual machine power user to all users and groups that you want to allow to import VMs to Amazon EC2. You can do this at the VM object level or at a higher level in the hierarchy. If you assign the role at a higher level, you must select the check box for Propagate to Child Objects.

   

To use the Connector to import a VM for the first time using an account with administrative rights

1. Log in to VMware vCenter using the VMware vSphere Client. If you had a session open while you were installing the Connector, notice that the Import to EC2 tab becomes visible.

   	Note
   	The first time you log in, you will see an SSL certificate warning. This warning indicates that the SSL certificate being used by the Connector cannot be verified by an external source. This is expected behavior. Your session will continue to use SSL for encryption. Check the Install this certificate and do not display a security warning option at the bottom of the screen and click Ignore.

   You are now logged in to the vCenter Server.

2. On the left pane, navigate the tree view to the virtual machine you want to import. Select it.

3. On the right pane, select the Import to EC2 tab.

   	Note
   	You might see another security warning about SSL certificates. Click Yes to continue.

   The Connector initializes.

4. In the Enter AWS Credentials dialog box, provide your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key. For information on how to get your AWS credentials, see How to Get Your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key.

   The main Connector page appears when your AWS credentials are verified.

5. Back in vCenter, select the virtual machine you want to import and go to the Import to EC2 tab.

   

6. In the Instance Parameters dialog box, specify the values for the following options, then click the Import to EC2 button.

   • Region—(Required)The AWS Region in which you want to launch your imported instance. Select one of the options from the drop-down list.

   • Availability Zone—(Optional) Your choice of Availability Zone in the Region that you have selected. If not specified, Amazon will select one for you.

   • Operating System—(Required) The operating system that your virtual machine is using. Selecting an incorrect value can cause the import task to fail.

     For virtual machines using Windows Server 2008 R2, always select Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (64-bit). If the virtual machine you're importing runs on Windows Server 2008 SP2 (also called Windows Server 2008 R1), determine first whether the operating system is a 32-bit or 64-bit System Type then select the Operating System accordingly. For more information about 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, go to 32-bit and 64-bit Windows: frequently asked questions. For more information about how to determine System Type for Windows Server 2003, go to Microsoft Support.

   • Instance Type—(Required) The instance type to use when your virtual machine becomes an instance in EC2. Instance types allow you to choose the CPU and memory requirements. For more information on instance types and pricing, go to Amazon EC2 Pricing.

   • Launch in VPC—(Optional) Check this box if you want your virtual machine to become an instance within Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC). For information, go to Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC).

   • Subnet—(Required only if launching in VPC) Select the subnet that you want your instance placed within in a VPC.

   • Private IP address—(Optional, applies only if launching in VPC) Specify the private IP address of your instance within VPC.

   • Security Group—(Required) Select the security group to use with your instance. Defaults to the default security group.

   The values you specified are listed in the Confirm Import Options box. Check the information and click Import.

7. Monitor the progress of the import task in the Tasks & Events or Recent Tasks tab of the VMware vSphere Client.

   
   

   • Export OVF template—Creates a stream-optimized VMDK image. This process consolidates your virtual machine to a single image. In addition, stream-optimized VMDKs are compressed and are well-suited for transfer over a WAN connection. The stream-optimized VMDK will be temporarily stored on your Connector virtual appliance.

   • Import to EC2—Transfers the stream-optimized VMDK that was created in the first task to Amazon EC2, and converts your virtual machine to an Amazon EC2 instance.

   The Import to EC2 task can take up to a few hours to complete. In addition, you might notice that the task progress will pause for up to 10 minutes at times. This is expected behavior.

   Important

   Keep your session in VMware vCenter open until all tasks complete. If you quit the vSphere Client or log off of your vCenter, the import task will not complete successfully, and the progress indicator will not be updated. If this occurs, you can use the command line tools to check the status of your import task. For more information, see Checking on the Status of Your Import in Using the Command Line Tools to Import Your Virtual Machine to Amazon EC2. When you have verified that the task is complete, you can safely cancel the import task by right-clicking the task in the vSphere Client and selecting Cancel.

To uninstall the Connector from the VMware vCenter

1. Open a web connection to the Connector's IP address and log in.

2. Click the vCenter tab, then click Deregister.

3. In the vCenter Connector Deregistration page, enter the vCenter IP information and user name and password, then click Deregister Connector with vCenter.

4. When the Connector is no longer registered with the vCenter Server, shut down the virtual appliance and remove it from vCenter.