Network Migration (copying the VHD and creating a new VM on the target) The only way that your VM will not change is if you perform a Quick Migration. A network migration will create new GUIDs since the machine GUID is not part of the VM configuration (as it is with VMware). But in VMware there are additional GUIDs, each VM has a total of three (if I recall correctly). In SCVMM the change happens because of hte way that the move is performed. The one thing that will not change is the VM MAC address if you set it to static. Network Migration (copying the VHD and creating a new VM on the target) The only way that your VM will not change is if you perform a Quick Migration. A network migration will create new GUIDs since the machine GUID is not part of the VM configuration (as it is with VMware).

Devices with common BIOS (Serial Number) and Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) are recognized by VMware Mirage as a same device. Cannot create separate Centralized Virtual Desktop (CVD) for devices with same BIOS (Serial Number) and UUID (GUID). Mcedit 1.7.8.

But in VMware there are additional GUIDs, each VM has a total of three (if I recall correctly). In SCVMM the change happens because of hte way that the move is performed. The one thing that will not change is the VM MAC address if you set it to static.

I'm virtualizing a Rockwell AssetCentre Server and I'm looking at Disaster Recovery scenarios. This server contains a lot of other Rockwell Software like RSLinx, Logix 5000, Logix 500, and more. Software activations for Rockwell work in a very strict manner, so much so that I'm concerned about whether its going to be viable to restore the AssetCentre server Virtual Machine to a different host in the event of a system failure.

The software activations are locked to the virtual machine using the serial number of the hard drive. You can also choose to lock it to the MAC address of the virtual machine.

Are either of these two things something that can be customized and edited using VMWare? Will they automatically change if I host the virtual machine using a different Virtual Server?

I've looked inside the.vmx files (currently using a mix of VMWare Workstation 7 and VMware ESXi 4.1) and I didn't see anything in either of the files that looked like a MAC addresss or a Hard Disk serial number. The file setup 1c bin. The UUID of the disk is in the.vmdk file. For example: # The Disk Data Base #DDB ddb.toolsVersion = '8327' ddb.adapterType = 'lsilogic' ddb.geometry.sectors = '63' ddb.geometry.heads = '255' ddb.geometry.cylinders = '2610' ddb.uuid = '60 00 C2 9f e4 06 d9 4c-13 9a d8 50 77 bb 73 36' ddb.longContentID = '72d1cd8a4fb3119ca80f3870ee90c1b0' ddb.virtualHWVersion = '7' The MAC address can be edited under 'Advanced properties' of your network adapter. It should also be in the.vmx file. I found this is mine: ethernet0.generatedAddress = '00:0c:29:f3:72:cc' It's possible that it's only saved there once you edit it though. If you move your VM to another location VMWare usually asks you if you moved or copied the VM when you start it.

If you say you moved it then all ID's stay the same. If you say you copied it then VMWare will change the ID's to prevent conflicts. I am also dealing with AssetCentre which we have virtualized in VMware and have bound to the disk serial number. I've been trying to figure out how to display the disk serial number.

Thanks for the information on how to do that within FactoryTalk. I also finally found that just doing a DIR in a command prompt in any folder on that drive shows it at the top. I just cloned our server to another Cluster and it appears that the disk serial number stayed the same. Also, Microsoft Sysinternals provides a free tool VolumeID to change the disk serial number. I tested it and it did successfully change the serial number which FactoryTalk noticed after rebooting. Based on my testing of the clone I don't think that I will need it, but I wanted to see if it worked.