Skip to main content

Migrating a Linux KVM machine to VMWare ESX

There are several steps to move your linux kvm virtual machine to an VMWare ESX cluster.

The first step after shutting down the kvm instance is to convert its disk format to vmdk format. qemu-img tool makes this step easy.
On the kvm host:
# qemu-img convert -O vmdk kvm-image.img esx-image.vmdk -p
(100.00/100%)

Now the vmdk file must be uploaded to esx host. In order to scp to esx host, sshd daemon must be started.
On esx host:
# service sshd restart
On kvm host:
# scp esx-image.vmdk user@esx-host:/path/to/datastore

It is time to create the esx virtual machine by using the vmdk file:
Using vSphere Client, right click on the desired host and select New Virtual Machine. In the Create New Virtual Machine wizard, select custom configuration. Provide detailed options in the later screens that suits you best. Then later in the Create a Disk screen, select Use an Existing Virtual Disk. Click Browse and navigate to the location of your existing vmdk file. Review the summary then finish.

After running newly created esx virtual machine, it is possible to encounter errors when starting or creating snapshots.
eg:
2016-08-18T06:12:50.598Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-CHAINESX : ChainESXOpenSubChainNode: can't create multiextent node 7eea123d-esx-image-00001-s001.vmdk failed with error The system cannot find the file specified (0xbad0003, Not found)
2016-08-18T06:12:50.599Z| vcpu-0| I120: DISKLIB-CHAIN : "/vmfs/volumes/54525cc9-bd43329e8-3a47-b2ba3eef754a/esx-image/esx-image-00001.vmdk" : failed to open (The system cannot find the file specified).

That is because your virtual machine disks are of a hosted type. To resolve this issue you should convert virtual disks in hosted format to one of the vmfs formats. Hosted disks end with the -s00x.vmdk extension.

Open a ssh console to the ESXi host. Run this command to load the multiextent module:
# vmkload_mod multiextent
To convert virtual disks in hosted format to the VMFS format:
For a thick disk:
# vmkfstools -i esx-image.vmdk esx-image-new.vmdk -d zeroedthick
Or for a thin disk:
# vmkfstools -i esx-image.vmdk esx-image-new.vmdk -d thin
If conversion successful, Delete the hosted disk:
# vmkfstools -U esx-image.vmdk
Rename the new VMFS disk to the original name:
# vmkfstools -E esx-image-new.vmdk esx-image.vmdk
Unload the multiextent module:
# vmkload_mod -u multiextent

Etiketler:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Creating Multiple VLANs over Bonding Interfaces with Proper Routing on a Centos Linux Host

In this post, I am going to explain configuring multiple VLANs on a bond interface. First and foremost, I would like to describe the environment and give details of the infrastructure. The server has 4 Ethernet links to a layer 3 switch with names: enp3s0f0, enp3s0f1, enp4s0f0, enp4s0f1 There are two bond interfaces both configured as active-backup bond0, bond1 enp4s0f0 and enp4s0f1 interfaces are bonded as bond0. Bond0 is for making ssh connections and management only so corresponding switch ports are not configured in trunk mode. enp3s0f0 and enp3s0f1 interfaces are bonded as bond1. Bond1 is for data and corresponding switch ports are configured in trunk mode. Bond0 is the default gateway for the server and has IP address 10.1.10.11 Bond1 has three subinterfaces with VLAN 4, 36, 41. IP addresses are 10.1.3.11, 10.1.35.11, 10.1.40.11 respectively. Proper communication with other servers on the network we should use routing tables. There are three
Post a Comment
Read more

Listing Zimbra Accounts with Some Details

Recently I have to export the user list for a particular domain. Luckily Zimbra has Admin GUI with a search feature. When you search accounts, you can download search results as a comma-separated csv file. So I did a search and download the result file, but the result did not have all the columns I need and also there is no option for customizing columns for search results. So I had to write a bash script to get the desired list. Here is the bash script ( It can be customized by adding or removing field names. Run it under zimbra user like ./zimbra_account_list.sh <domain_name_here> ):
Post a Comment
Read more