VM Backup & Migration Tool (Proxmox ⇄ ESXi)

Web UI (Backup & Restore)

Lightweight web interface (Flask) focused on day-to-day backup/restore operations:

• Resource management (Proxmox / ESXi credentials stored locally in SQLite)
• Repository storage management (NFS / iSCSI / Windows mounted paths)
• Backup workflows (ESXi and Proxmox)
• Restore workflows:
  • Simple restore (auto-detect backup platform, optional VM name, start on/off)
  • Cross-platform restore (Proxmox ⇄ VMware) using a Proxmox worker when needed
• Jobs view and real-time job events (progress and logs)
• Home dashboard metrics (backups count, total GB, VMs in backup, migrated VMs)

Run the Web UI

• Install deps: pip install -r vm-migration-tool/requirements.txt
• Start server: python vm-migration-tool/main.py --web --host localhost --port 8080
• Open: http://localhost:8080

Notes

• MVP limitation: one job at a time (backup/restore/migration).
• Repo storages can be tested from the UI ("Test" button) to validate access before using them.
• Minimal runtime set for web-only deployments:
  • vm-migration-tool/main.py
  • vm-migration-tool/ui/web_app.py
  • vm-migration-tool/core/*
  • vm-migration-tool/requirements.txt
  • Optional for persistence: vm-migration-tool/app.sqlite3, vm-migration-tool/repository/

Web UI Screenshots

1. Home
2. Resources • Storage
3. Jobs
4. Resources • Virtualizers (list)
5. Resources • Virtualizers (add)
6. Backup
7. Cross-platform restore
8. Live cross migration

Desktop UI (legacy: ESXi → Proxmox migration)

Overview

• Desktop tool to migrate VMs from VMware ESXi to Proxmox VE.
• Copies VMDK from ESXi, converts with qemu-img, imports to target storage, and configures VM (including optional UEFI/OVMF).
• Progress bars and a dedicated progress log file for visibility.

Key Features

• ESXi copy via SCP with sshpass using a password file on Proxmox (no plaintext in commands).
• Conversion and import to Proxmox storage (images, dir, etc.).
• Optional UEFI/OVMF config (q35, ovmf, efidisk0 with pre-enrolled keys).
• UI flow: Connect & Scan → Options & Migration.

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• Proxmox VE reachable via SSH.
• ESXi host reachable via SSH (user with read access to datastore).

Quick Start

• Install deps: pip install -r vm-migration-tool/requirements.txt
• Run app: python vm-migration-tool/main.py
• In the UI:
  • Enter Proxmox and ESXi credentials.
  • Scan ESXi and choose a VM.
  • Pick Proxmox storage and options (UEFI/OVMF if original VM uses UEFI).
  • Start migration and monitor progress.

Security & Logging

• Password sanitization in application logs; sensitive values are redacted.
• ESXi password is written to /root/esxi_pass.txt on Proxmox (restricted permissions) and used via sshpass -f.
• Progress entries are also written to vm-migration-tool/logs/progress-*.log.
• Project files exclude secrets by design.

Usage Notes

• Enable UEFI/OVMF only if the original VM uses UEFI/EFI firmware; keep BIOS legacy otherwise.
• After a migration completes, you can select another VM and repeat without restarting the app.

Roadmap

• See ROADMAP.en.md for planned features (multi-VM concurrent migration, improved transfer resilience, CI, and more).

Operational Instructions (Options & Migration)

• Uncheck Dry-run (show plan, do not execute) to actually run the migration.
• Check Convert with qemu-img to convert VMDK to the target format (default: qcow2).
• Select a Proxmox storage that supports images content (in Proxmox: Datacenter → Storage → your storage should include "Disk image").
  • If the storage does NOT support images, the app will warn and block the import.
• Field Destination file (on Proxmox):
  • If the storage is mounted under /mnt/pve/<storage>, the suggested path is /mnt/pve/<storage>/tmp/<vmName>.
  • For non-mounted storages (e.g., local-lvm), the fallback is /root/tmp/<vmName>.
  • Use Browse… to set a custom path if needed.
• UEFI/OVMF: enable only if the original VM uses UEFI/EFI firmware; keep disabled for legacy BIOS.
• Press Prepare/Run Migration and follow the progress bars (copy and import/conversion).

Desktop UI Screenshots

1. Project Creation
2. Connection and Scan
3. Options and Migration