This post is supplementary to the previously written article Prep Work for Linux P2V (Physical to Virtual). The previous post covered mostly the tasks for an RPM based host (RedHat, Fedora and CentOS). This time it will cover more of the Debian based distribution.
It was just recently that I worked on several Ubuntu hosts. These presented a different perspective on the P2V process, especially since I had been tasked to convert them with little time to spare -- it is a spur of the moment, unexpected, unplanned need. With the added adjectives, you probably get the idea.
Although Linux-based, Ubuntu is a bit different than its RPM based brothers. For one, Ubuntu disk devices are mounted based on UUID. That is just the primer. The end of the P2V of VMware vCenter Standalone Converter prompted an error installing grub. To give you an idea of the error, refer to the screenshot below.
Let's tackle these prep work one at a time.
For the UUID based filesystems, if you take a look at /etc/fstab you would see something similar to the below entries:
The operating system is good enough to note the disk slices and its corresponding UUID unique identifiers. However, if this is not present on your system, the command "blkid" will show the same information.
The above entries need to be converted to its /dev/sdX counterpart prior to P2V. This is a simple change of removing the UUID=xxxxx-xxx-xxx-xxx and replacing it with its /dev/sdX equivalent. Exercise prudence, and make a backup of the file /etc/fstab prior to making changes.
Next, let's deal with the GrubInstall error. The grub install happens when the P2V is almost complete, meaning, the copying of the physical host files are done. The only challenge is the virtual machine made will not boot. This was a tough one to resolve at first.
As it turns out, you require the Linux Security Remix ISO file. Boot off the ISO and execute Boot Repair (recommended Boot Repair).
Once Boot Repair is done, reboot and the virtual machine is up and running.
The only hiccup that delayed the activity for me was to download the Linux Security Remix ISO. It is close to 1GB in size so if you are doing a lot of P2V conversions this file will come in handy. There are two (2) versions of this file -- the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions. If your system is 64-bit, the 32-bit version will not work. Having both versions is recommended.
As consolation, the only similarity I found with other Linux flavors was on the file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules, where the MAC addresses of the physical machine are hard-coded. If this file exists, comment out the entries or remove the file completely prior to P2V. The udev process will re-create this file on boot-up.
It was just recently that I worked on several Ubuntu hosts. These presented a different perspective on the P2V process, especially since I had been tasked to convert them with little time to spare -- it is a spur of the moment, unexpected, unplanned need. With the added adjectives, you probably get the idea.
Although Linux-based, Ubuntu is a bit different than its RPM based brothers. For one, Ubuntu disk devices are mounted based on UUID. That is just the primer. The end of the P2V of VMware vCenter Standalone Converter prompted an error installing grub. To give you an idea of the error, refer to the screenshot below.
FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion: 'GrubInstaller::InstallGrub: /usr/lib/vmware-converter/installGrub.sh failed with return code: 127, and message: Installing GRUB1 on (hd0)... /vmware-updateGrub.sh: 52: /vmware-updateGrub.sh: grub: not found Error installing GRUB Command: grub --no-floppy --batch --device-map="/vmware-device.map" root (hd0,0) setup (hd0) Error running vmware-updateGrub.sh through chroot into /mnt/p2v-src-root /usr/lib/vmware-converter/installGrub.sh: line 143: /mnt/p2v-src-root: Is a directory '
Let's tackle these prep work one at a time.
For the UUID based filesystems, if you take a look at /etc/fstab you would see something similar to the below entries:
# /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a # device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices # that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5). # ## / was on /dev/sda1 during installation UUID=a4fc19b3-6df9-4fcb-a565-12a9bd59fff1 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1 # swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation UUID=1061e56a-f69d-4d44-b3d1-566c960719b1 none swap sw 0 0
The operating system is good enough to note the disk slices and its corresponding UUID unique identifiers. However, if this is not present on your system, the command "blkid" will show the same information.
[admin@vhost ~] sudo blkid /dev/sda1: UUID="a4fc19b3-6df9-4fcb-a565-12a9bd59fff1" TYPE="ext4" /dev/sda5: UUID="1061e56a-f69d-4d44-b3d1-566c960719b1" TYPE="swap"
The above entries need to be converted to its /dev/sdX counterpart prior to P2V. This is a simple change of removing the UUID=xxxxx-xxx-xxx-xxx and replacing it with its /dev/sdX equivalent. Exercise prudence, and make a backup of the file /etc/fstab prior to making changes.
Next, let's deal with the GrubInstall error. The grub install happens when the P2V is almost complete, meaning, the copying of the physical host files are done. The only challenge is the virtual machine made will not boot. This was a tough one to resolve at first.
As it turns out, you require the Linux Security Remix ISO file. Boot off the ISO and execute Boot Repair (recommended Boot Repair).
Once Boot Repair is done, reboot and the virtual machine is up and running.
The only hiccup that delayed the activity for me was to download the Linux Security Remix ISO. It is close to 1GB in size so if you are doing a lot of P2V conversions this file will come in handy. There are two (2) versions of this file -- the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions. If your system is 64-bit, the 32-bit version will not work. Having both versions is recommended.
As consolation, the only similarity I found with other Linux flavors was on the file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules, where the MAC addresses of the physical machine are hard-coded. If this file exists, comment out the entries or remove the file completely prior to P2V. The udev process will re-create this file on boot-up.
