Patent ID: 7769720

Claim:
A method for migrating a server from one physical platform to another, the method comprising: converting a first server image configured for execution on a first physical platform into a first virtual server image; comparing the first server image with the first virtual server image to identify differences between the first server image and the first virtual server image; creating physical-to-virtual conversion scripts that are configured to effect changes in the first server image that result in the identified differences between the first server image and the first virtual server image, wherein the physical-to-virtual conversion scripts comprise commands used to convert physical servers into virtual servers; converting a second server image configured for execution on a second physical platform into a second virtual server image; comparing the second server image with the second virtual server image to identify differences between the second server image and the second virtual server image; creating virtual-to-physical conversion scripts that are configured to effect changes in the second virtual server image that result in the identified differences between the second virtual server image and the second server image, wherein the virtual-to-physical conversion scripts comprise commands used to convert virtual servers into physical servers; storing the physical-to-virtual conversion scripts and the virtual-to-physical conversion scripts in a script library; converting a third server image configured for execution on the first physical platform into a server image configured for execution on the second physical platform by first applying the physical-to-virtual conversion scripts stored in the script library to transform the third server image into a third virtual server image and then applying the virtual-to-physical conversion scripts stored in the script library to transform the third virtual server image into a server image configured for execution on the second physical platform, such that the third server image is migrated from the first physical platform to the second physical platform.