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With Amazon VM Import/Export, VMs Are On the Move
Amazon allows porting of VMs from Amazon EC2 to VMware, Citrix or Microsoft environments, and back again.
Amazon is making it easier to work in its cloud with its new VM Import/Export. As the product's name implies, it allows users to create instances in Amazon EC2 and send them back to local environments.
According to an online press release, the tool is already integrated and readily usable in Amazon EC2. Just use the EC2 API tools to specify an Availability Zone and instance type, and VM Import/Export does the work of transferring the image file and creating the instance. Those instances can then be transferred back.
VM Import/Export currently supports importing/exporting with VMware ESX VMDK, Citrix Xen VHD and Microsoft Hyper-V VHD (Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows 2008 and R2) images.
Amazon has plans to support other environments down the road, according to the press release.
About the Author
Michael Domingo has held several positions at 1105 Media, and is currently the editor in chief of Visual Studio Magazine.