[SOLVED] Import of AlmaLinux from ESXi to PVE - VM POSTS But Doesn't Boot

[Verulam]

Hi there

Apologies if this has been covered - I have seen posts both here and on the wider internet but not yet found the solution I am looking for. Others do seem to resolve their issue though so I am hopeful.

We're running PVE 8.2.4 and I'm trying to import VMs from a vSphere 7.0.3 environment. I can map the host/storage, import the VM and start it. The VM comes up, presents me with the AlmaLinux OS select screen and starts to boot but hangs at the Alma splash screen before falling back to emergency mode as shown below:



I'm more of a VMware/Microsoft bod (sorry) so perhaps this is an easy fix for others but from what I've read it could be something to do with (or something I've missed) the EFI disk, regenerating initramfs or updating Grub? When I mount the ISO and boot into Recovery Mode I can see the missing partitions so the small (30GB) disk does appear to have been imported OK but it's not being picked up or is unable to be read?

From the various videos I've seen importing Linux should be relatively straight forward? Like I said I suspect I've missed something - any pointers would be much appreciated.

Hope someone can help, many thanks.



Matt

 

[marcimatic]

Hi @Verulam!
I recently performed a test, importing a VM running Rocky Linux 8.10 on an ESXi host to a Proxmox VE 8.2 host.

Right on the first boot, I had the same problem you are facing now.

I managed to solve it by doing the following:

- With the VM running on the ESXi host, I recompiled the kernel with the VirtIO SCSI driver built into the kernel (not as a module).

- When importing the VM to Proxmox VE, I selected the SCSI controller as "VirtIO SCSI single".

- I started the VM on the Proxmox VE host

With the system running, I only had to adjust the network card configuration to reflect the new name it received in Proxmox.

I hope I have helped you
Best regards

 

[Verulam]

Hi there @marcimatic

Thank you very much for reply. Having not recompiled a kernel before I was reading up on how to do that when I stumbled across this Proxmox forum post that I had somehow missed before:

[SOLVED] Oracle Linux 9 VM Cannot Use VirtIO SCSI Controller

I've successfully followed the steps there and managed to get the Alma box to boot. However, as this process is quite clunky (especially as we have a lot of VMs to migrate) I will be following up on the kernel recompilation option in the hope that it will provide a smoother migration flow as the hard work will have already been done ESXi-side.

Did you need to reboot to use the new kernel before shutting down to import into PVE or was it possible to recompile, shutdown to import and pick the new kernel up post import?

Thanks again.

 

[marcimatic]

Hi @Verulam !

If the new kernel compilation and installation process is successful, yes, you can shut down the VM on the ESXi host, import it into Proxmox VE, and boot it with the newly compiled kernel.

Here are some tips to ensure that the kernel compilation and installation process goes smoothly:

- In the directory where the kernel sources were unpacked, run the "make oldconfig" command to ensure that the ".config" file is generated according to the current configurations of the running kernel;

- Using the "make menuconfig" command, in the Devices Drivers section, include the VirtIO SCSI module, remembering to compile it embedded in the kernel and not as a module;

- Run the commands:

make

make modules_install

make install

I hope I have helped you.

Best regards