issues migrating to proxmox

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diceair

Member
Mar 18, 2013
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Hi there.

I want to migrate from vmware (ESXI 5.1) to Proxmox. I have the free version of vmware and can't do my backup properly so proxmox looks like a better option.

I have the following server

CPU Quad core e3-1230v2
32GB RAM ECC
250GB + 2x 2TB HDD (250GB for proxmox and the rest for the operating systems and backups)

so how do I migrate from vmware to proxmox. I tried following the guides but I must say one thing they don't explain properly is where do I copy the images converted. What I mean is where do save the final image when I'm done with conversion. I was also thinking of keeping the current vmware images just where it is and then just convert it to qcow2. using this command

qemu-img convert -f vmdk /mnt/usb/windows-server/windows-server.vmdk -O qcow2 /var/lib/vz/images/100/windows-server.qcow2

this is also a tricky part. where do i find my images so I can do this

In the line with ide0: we want to change vm-100-disk-1.raw,size=32G to windows-server.qcow2
Click to expand...

somehow it must point to the other hard drive that I mounted via proxmox.

if you don't understand please ask. I will provide more info then.

Regards
DiceAir
 
Last edited:
I game up image juggling a long time ago. While in theory, it should be simple, in experience, it ends up being a pita more often than not. If you have room on the network/shared storage/capacity etc AND can stand the downtime, I typically just boot a Clonezilla iso, do a network backup of the VM using clonezilla, and then do a network restore into the new VM. I have done this multiple time moving between platforms. It's not as elegant, but always works. Worst case, you may need to fix the mount points if your drive name changes, but usually clonezilla catches it for you for linux vms.
 
diceair said:
qemu-img convert -f vmdk /mnt/usb/windows-server/windows-server.vmdk -O qcow2 /var/lib/vz/images/100/windows-server.qcow2
[...]
Click to expand...

Youre definitely on the right track there. The answer to your question depends on what kind of storage you use (local disk, NFS, RBD, LVM). The command line I quoted actually already has the target file location as the last parameter marked in bold, so thats where youll find your converted image. It really is as simple as converting the image, sticking them into your storage (whatever that may be) and then make the /etc/pve/qemu-server/***.conf file point towards that image.
 
zervin said:
I game up image juggling a long time ago. While in theory, it should be simple, in experience, it ends up being a pita more often than not. If you have room on the network/shared storage/capacity etc AND can stand the downtime, I typically just boot a Clonezilla iso, do a network backup of the VM using clonezilla, and then do a network restore into the new VM. I have done this multiple time moving between platforms. It's not as elegant, but always works. Worst case, you may need to fix the mount points if your drive name changes, but usually clonezilla catches it for you for linux vms.
Click to expand...


Will this work if i already have up and running ESXI servers. I don't mind the downtime for now. Thing is i want to migrate to proxmox on the same server
 
diceair said:
Will this work if i already have up and running ESXI servers. I don't mind the downtime for now. Thing is i want to migrate to proxmox on the same server
Click to expand...
Hi,
on the same server is a litlle bit dangerous - the pve-installation erase the whole (first) disk!

I would do only an installation with an valid backup - and with only one server you can't switch back fast if something goes wrong.

Why not use for a short time an Spare-desktop (enough ram and 64bit-hw-virtualisation). Then you can convert all machines to that node - and if all run, reinstall the server and move (backup + restore) the VMs to the pve-server.

In this case, you have all times an running (or runable) VM.

Udo
 
udo said:
Hi,
on the same server is a litlle bit dangerous - the pve-installation erase the whole (first) disk!

I would do only an installation with an valid backup - and with only one server you can't switch back fast if something goes wrong.

Why not use for a short time an Spare-desktop (enough ram and 64bit-hw-virtualisation). Then you can convert all machines to that node - and if all run, reinstall the server and move (backup + restore) the VMs to the pve-server.

In this case, you have all times an running (or runable) VM.

Udo
Click to expand...


What you mean by erase the first disk?
 
udo said:
Hi,
during the pve installation the whole first hdd/raid volume will be overwritten (/boot, volumegroup pve with root, swap and data).

Udo
Click to expand...


I know about that. that's why I'm dedicating 250GB drive towards that.You must read my original post. I state that I will use 1x 2tb for the operating systems and another for the backups and the 250GB for the operating systtems
 
have another question. if I use clonezilla do I need to set anything to ide or so. only thing I'm doing is by removing vmware tools. think that should be fine?
 
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