Importing VMs to ESXi 5.1

I want to put some test VMs on the ESXi server.  There are many available.  The one that I am specifically using is Metasploitable 2.  It comes as a zip file, which expands to a standard VMware image (*.nvram, *.vmdk, *.vmsd, *.vmx, *.vmxf).

You'd think that you could import this using vSphere Client, but the VM has to be converted first using the (free but registration required) VMware Vcenter Converter Standalone.  I downloaded version 5.1 and installed it.

This is the screen that I got when first starting it.







I selected convert machine (top right).  In the Conversion dialog, I selected source type as "VMware Workstation or other VMware virtual machine" and the source as the *.vmx file.



Then I selected the destination type as "VMware Infrastructure virtual machine" and put in my server details.


I hit next, and the converter connected to the ESXi server.  This is where I could assign a new name to the VM.  I left it as Metasploitable.

The next screen asked which datastore to use for VM and what VM version to make it.  I left the defaults.  The next screen listed some options (disk, cpu, network, etc.) that could be changed.  I left them as is and hit next.  The last screen was a summary/confirmation screen.  The converter submitted the job after I clicked "finish."

Here is what the job looked like.


 It quickly changed from one hour to six minutes.  The new machine showed up in vSphere Client right away.