When converting HP servers running Windows Server 2003 to VMware using the VMware “Virtualize a Physical Machine…” wizard, there is a very annoying problem – the CPU is at 100% when the VM boots, and this makes the single-vCPU VM unusably slow.

For instance, the one I’ve just done has taken over a hour to boot, log in, get to the desktop and get Task Manager running. Task Manager told me that cqmgserv.exe was the culprit process.  While I googled for solutions to the problem, the VMware Tools are trying to install, but the initial preparation progress bar has taken over 30 minutes to finish so far, and it’s only just past halfway. This is running on a Xeon E5645, which is not a slow CPU.

It seems the problem is the HP services – the ones that run the server management agents, the NIC management agent, Smart Array, Insight and so on. My advice is to stop and disable these services before doing a P2V – or immediately after if you’ve already done that.

My googling found a VMware forum which contained the answer, and from Lawrence Dee (thanks!) a very useful script, reproduced below, which does the job in one go. All it does is stop and disable all the relevant HP management services. Ideally, run this before doing the P2V.

A tip for if you’ve already run the P2V: While it’s stopped, edit the VM so it has 2 or more CPUs – for instance I made the VM a single-CPU 4-core VM. This then boots at normal speed, and the services that cause the 100% CPU utilisation only take a fraction of the available CPU resources. This enables you to run the VMware Tools install, which then lets you copy, paste and run the script below to fix the problem, and then drop the VM back to 1 vCPU if that’s all it needs.

@echo off
REM Created Feb 13 2008 by Lawrence Dee
REM —–
REM INSTRUCTIONS:
REM This is a script to disable the HP services
REM to ease use in a Virtual Machine

REM —–
REM – Set services to Manual (=’demand’ in SC) rather than Auto start
pause

sc config “Cissesrv” start= demand
sc config “CpqNicMgmt” start= demand
sc config “CpqRcmc” start= demand
sc config “cpqvcagent” start= demand
sc config “cqmghost” start= demand
sc config “CqMgServ” start= demand
sc config “CqMgStor” start= demand
sc config “sysdown” start= demand
sc config “SysMgmtHp” start= demand

:STOPServices
REM – stop services
sc stop “Cissesrv”
sc stop “CpqNicMgmt”
sc stop “CpqRcmc”
sc stop “cpqvcagent”
sc stop “cqmghost”
sc stop “CqMgServ”
sc stop “CqMgStor”
sc stop “sysdown”
sc stop “SysMgmtHp”

pause

GOTO EXIT

REM Notes and descriptions from SC Query

SERVICE_NAME: Cissesrv
DISPLAY_NAME: HP Smart Array SAS/SATA Event Notification Service

SERVICE_NAME: CpqNicMgmt
DISPLAY_NAME: HP Insight NIC Agents

SERVICE_NAME: CpqRcmc
DISPLAY_NAME: HP ProLiant Remote Monitor Service

SERVICE_NAME: cpqvcagent
DISPLAY_NAME: HP Version Control Agent

SERVICE_NAME: CqMgServ
DISPLAY_NAME: HP Insight Server Agents

SERVICE_NAME: CqMgStor
DISPLAY_NAME: HP Insight Storage Agents

SERVICE_NAME: sysdown
DISPLAY_NAME: HP ProLiant System Shutdown Service

SERVICE_NAME: SysMgmtHp
DISPLAY_NAME: HP System Management Homepage

REM – not listed in SC Query
cqmghost.exe
HP Insight Foundation Agents
:EXIT