Architect creates open-source replacement for VM migration tool VMware has hidden
OpenVDDK is reportedly already being used in production, at scale
A cloud architect has developed an open-source substitute for VMware's Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK), which the company recently removed from public downloads. VMware describes VDDK as "a set of libraries and utilities that enable software developers to create applications that can access and manipulate virtual disks" and "a valuable tool for developers of storage and backup applications."
Users, including VMware's rivals, have also used VDDK for migrating VMs to alternative virtualization platforms. In August, VMware restricted access to VDDK downloads to its partners, making VMware customers' migration tools less effective and some of its rivals' tools less functional.
Andrija Panić, the cloud architect, decided to create an alternative after noticing that numerous tools, including virt-v2v, nbdkit, Importers in Forklift/MTV, Proxmox VE, Apache CloudStack, and various in-house scripts, relied on the same small library, virt-v2v, to read virtual machine disks. When public VDDK downloads ceased, these tools became harder to install and operate.
Panić described the project as "an independent drop-in for libvixDiskLib.so.8.0.3, the disk library that VMware backup and migration tools load to read virtual disks. It was written from scratch, using only public documentation and black-box testing, and contains no VMware code."
Panić wrote the tool in Go, complemented by a thin C layer that replicates the same C interface, library name, and symbol versions as VMware's code. The tool can only read disks, not write them, for backup and migration purposes. Panić tested OpenVDDK on vSphere versions 6.7 U3, 7.0.3, 8.0.3, and 9.1.1, reporting that tests in his lab with vSphere 9.1.1 saw every disk read match precisely.
Independent testers have also reported successful use with Forklift, MTV on OpenShift, a Proxmox VE pipeline, and custom nbdkit-based tools. Panić emphasized that these reports of successful use are "not independently audited customer endorsements or a guarantee of suitability for every production environment."
Although OpenVDDK is not the sole alternative for migrating away from VMware without VDDK, it could prove useful for Red Hat and other companies as they revise their VM migration tools. OpenVDDK is available under an Apache license, potentially making it a valuable asset for Red Hat and others in the process of adapting their VM migration tools.
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