P2V from Debian 5.03 Lenny

[beppesk]

Hi,

i have a physical server with OS Linux Debian 5.03 "Lenny". I'm trying to virtualize it into an Esxi 5.01 server and i have some problems.

First, i tried a "power on" p2v with vCenter Converter standalone 5.5.2 but the procedure fails at 1%.

Next, i tried a cold p2v with the old 4.1 converter and the procedure goes to 100%. Fine !

When i start the VM after conversion i have a "kernel panic" error, the server won't start.

Before kernel panic i read many errors, like:

mdadm: cannot open device /dev/sda2: No such device or address

mdadm: /dev/sda2 has wrong uuid.

After googling i found this procedure that permit to replace the wrong version of grub bootloader and update the uuid:

For resolving this issue you would need the Debian ISO. Download the latest stable version of Debian ISO and follow the below steps:

• Check the root file system from the source (physical machine) using the command fdisk -l and note the device. (eg: /dev/sda1)

ok !

• Power On the destination VM
• Boot from the Debian iso
• Select 'Rescue Mode' option from the menu
• Choose the option "Reinstall grub bootloader"

ok!

• Give the device which holds the root file system (eg: /dev/sda1)

the procedure on debian disk ask me the locazion and the keyboard type. After that an error occurs:

"The installer cannot find any partitions, so you will not be able to mount a root file system. This may be caused by the kernel failing to detect you hard disk drive or failing to read the partition table, or the disk may unpartitioned. If you wish you may investigate this from a shell in the installer environment."

....any suggestions ?

Thank you very much and best regards.

[patanassov]

Hello

First to check - you are sure the cold clone has done its job and you have the virtual disks created, formatted, and with data on them, right?

If everything's OK so far, then it is indeed the reconfiguration that you need to do.

The advice of booting a live installation ISO is right, I would just recommend it to be the same version (i.e. 5.03) rather than the newest, at least same major version.

Another thing is to ensure the GOS can work with the new virtual hardware. Check the disk and network controller (first the disk controller). If the GOS supports any of the VMware disk controllers, use it. Otherwise you'll probably need to add some module.

HTH

Plamen

[beppesk]

The scsi hdd controller is a BusLogic Parallel, set from wmvare converter by default. I don't know if it's good for GOS.

The network cards are not yet enabled....

In order to check if the virtual disk is good, can i mount it with the vsphere console ?

[patanassov]

The scsi hdd controller is a BusLogic Parallel, set from wmvare converter by default. I don't know if it's good for GOS.

Check that on the source machine. If it's good, lsmod should list something with 'buslogic'. I would rather expect 'mptbase' / 'mptscsih' which means LSI Logic

In order to check if the virtual disk is good, can i mount it with the vsphere console ?

I don't understand what you mean