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VirtualMachin15
Contributor
Contributor

Unable to build a VM with an existing vmdk-file

Hello!

I have build a virtual machine in oracles "virtual box". This virtual machine has the "vmdk." fileformat.

Now I want to integrate this vmdk-File as a virtual machine in my VMWare environment. In VSphere I set all parameters and can implement the existing vmdk-File as a new VM . But when I start the virtual machine, the esxi-Host crashes and I have to reboot the esxi-Host and remove the VM.

Can somebody give me an advice please, what I can do, to integrate an existing vmdk-file as a VM correctly?

I attached a pdf-File with screenshots of the installation-steps.

Thanks for reading.

8 Replies
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

ESXi uses another virtual disk file format than hosted products, and it might be required to convert the virtual disk format to the supported format.

Since you are talking about a single .vmdk file, I assume that it is a "MonoliticSparse" file format. You can see this when you open the .vmdk file in a Hex-Editor. The files starts with "KDMV" and has a description starting at position 200h. To convert the virtual disk to a supported format for ESXi you can use the vmware-vdiskmanager command line tool that comes with VMware Workstation.

André

VirtualMachin15
Contributor
Contributor


Hello Andre,

Thank you for your Response.


I have installed the vmdiskmanager, but I don't know how to use the following command:

vmware-vdiskmanager -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 4 -h esx3.example.com -u admin -f password.txt "[storage1] <VMname>/targetDisk.vmdk"


I tried to execute this comand from the virtual machine, where the vmdk-File is stored. Do I have to execute this command from the exsi-Host?


Bye!

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Praveenmna
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

V2V  is a much easier and faster approach here. Then  the new VM will have appropriate disk format as needed for ESXi.

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vuzzini
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hello VirrtualMachineTN1000,

In the screenshot attached I noticed that you selected an IDE controller for the vmdk, could you try using SCSI controller with LSI Logic Parallel controller and try to start the VM ? If this does not work, the best option would be to use VMware Standalone converter and convert the VM.

If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. Sandeep Vuzzini Sr. DevOps Engineer
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Although the option to directly convert the virtual disk to an ESXi host shows up in the examples of the commands help output, it seems that it doesn't exist/work anymore. What you may do is to convert the virtual disk on the local system, and then upload the resulting .vmdk files (a descriptor and a data .vmdk file) to the ESXi host's datastore.


André

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VirtualMachin15
Contributor
Contributor

@andre, @vuzzini, @Praveenmna:

Thank you guys for your help and advices. Finally i converted it with a V2V-Tool. While initializing the V2V-Tool with needed parameters, i was able to convert the disk from IDE to SCSI. After uploading the converted disk on a datastore, VSphere detected it as a correct vmdk-disk.

Unfortunately I have now a new Problem. When I start the VM (it is a Fedora-Linux-System), during the booting-sequence i get a failure-message. The failure message ist attached here.

Do anybody know, what I can do here?

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hapip87
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

please check

&amp;quot;Failed to read block&amp;quot; during fsck

--- If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. M Habib Systems Engineer / Virtual Infratructure VCA - VCP - VTSP - VSP - VMTSP - VMSP - MCITP - MCTS (Hyper V) - CSSA - CCNA - CCDA http://www.habibnotes.com LinkedIn: http://ae.linkedin.com/in/muhabib/
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vuzzini
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Try this  https://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=665 & read through this https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=995843

If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. Sandeep Vuzzini Sr. DevOps Engineer
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