Vmware 5.1 and Proxmox 4.3 Headaches

cheeks

New Member
Jun 9, 2016
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Please can you help the noob.

First time Proxmox User

Current Hardware
Supermicro Server with Raid Controller and 5 x Sata Drives ( 1TB and 500GB Sata Drives )

Current Vmware 5.1 Servers
2 x Windows 2008 Standard Server Virtual Machines

New Setup
Using the same Supermicro Server and Raid Controller
5 x 2TB Sata Drives

I need to Migrate the 2 x Vmware 5.1 Windows 2008 Standard Virtual Servers to Proxmox 4.3 VM's

I have tried doing this however i am having a few issues.

When the Windows 2008 Standard Server starts booting it does start however there is an error code that Flashes by and then the Windows 2008 Standard Server reboots

How do i find out what the error code is in Proxmox 4.3?

Do i create the Proxmox 4.3 VM's with SCSI or Sata Drives for the Windows 2008 Standard Servers?

What is the quickest way to copy, migrate, move etc. the Vmware 5.1 Windows 2008 Standard Virtual Machine to a Proxmox 4.3 Virtual Machine?

If i need to convert the Vmware 5.1 Windows 2008 Standard Server image how do i do this and where do i place it in Proxmox 4.3?

Do i use Clonezilla?

Any help greatly appreciated
 
Rhiniox thank you for your support much appreciated

i have looked at the link and have done the following

i am using Proxmox 4.3

Prepare the disk file
My disk file used for this howto: win2008.vmdk
  • Change your VMDK disk file with vmware-vdiskmanager.exe to a single growable file (vmware-vdiskmanager.exe is located in your VMware installation path, e.g. "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server") - open a cmd and go to the directory where your vmdk disk files are.
" C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\vmware-vdiskmanager" -r win2008.vmdk -t 0 win2008-pve.vmdk "
I HAVE COMPLETED THIS PART


" Create a new KVM VM on Proxmox VE web interface and - do not start - take a look on the VMID (e.g. 102) "
I HAVE COMPLETED THIS PART
My Setup as an Example:

1. I have created a new VM ( VMID = 100 ) by doing the Following:

Create VM
General - Node = pve
VMID = 100
Name = tsvr2008
OS = Windows Vista / 2008
CD / DVD = Do not use media
Hard Disk - Bus/Device = IDE (0)
Storage = local-lvm
Disk size (GB) = 1000
Cache = Default
CPU - Sockets = 1
Cores = 4
Type = Default (kvm64)
Memory - Use fixed size memory = 12288
Network - Bridged mode = Bridge (vmbr0)
Model = Intel E1000

QUESTIONS:
" Copy the win2003-pve.vmdk to your Proxmox VE server into the following dir: /var/lib/vz/images/VMID "
DO I CREATE A FOLDER 100 IN " /var/lib/vz/images/ "

THEN COPY THE win2008-pve.vmdk file into " /var/lib/vz/images/100 "



    • Change the win2008-pve.vmdk file to qemu format:
# qemu-img convert -f vmdk win2008-pve.vmdk -O qcow2 win2008-pve.qcow2

HOW DOES PROXMOX KNOW THAT IT NEEDS TO LOAD AND START THE win2008-pve.qcow2 FILE IN " /var/lib/vz/images/100 " ?

OR DO I NEED TO MAKE ANY OTHER CHANGES ?
 
The disk is already there...according to your vm config, it is a lvm device. Can you have a look into:

Code:
ls -la /dev/mapper/

You should see an entry like:

Code:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Nov 29 11:02 pve-vm--100--disk--1

If so, just do:

Code:
dd if=win2008-pve.vmdk of=/dev/mapper/pve-vm--100--disk--1 bs=1M

Afterwards, your fresh VM disk will contain the content of your migrated disk.
 
morph027 thanks for you help

using PROXMOX 4.3

when i do: ls -la /dev/mapper/

i get: pve-vm--100--disk--1 -> ../dm-6

why the: " -> ../dm-6 " at the end ?

do i still do ?: dd if=win2008-pve.vmdk of=/dev/mapper/pve-vm--100--disk--1 bs=1M

after the copy do i " START " my vm or must i first install the " VIRTIO DRIVERS " ?

if so how do i install the virtio drivers ?
 
It shows a symlink to the internsl device handler. You can just proceed with the DD step. Afterwards, boot up and check, if everything is alright. Then we can take care of the virtio stuff.
 
morpho27 thank you for helping

i started the Windows 2008 vm100 and i keep getting:

SeaBios
Machine UUID:
Booting from Hard Disk ....
Boot failed: not a bootable disk

any ideas?
 
morph027 thank you for your reply and trying

man, i have tried everything however i need to give your more information

i have noticed that there are two .vmdk files on my vmware 5.1 server
win2008.vmdk
win2008-flat.vmdk

the windows 2008 server vmware flat file is 700gb

i have done the following with the win2008-flat.vmdk file
installed the (File:Mergeide.zip) on the vmware windows 2008 server
NO vmware tools are installed on the windows 2008 server
i shutdown the windows 2008 server
then i did the following

qemu-img convert win2008-flat.vmdk -O qcow2 win2008-pve.qcow2

created a 1TB hard disk in Proxmox 4.4 ( with " Disk: ide0 " )
Hard Disk (ide0) = local-lvm:vm-100-disk-1
then i copied the qcow2 file to my Proxmox 4.4 Server ( VMID = 100 )

dd if=win2008-pve.qcow2 of=/dev/mapper/pve-vm--100--disk--1 bs=1M

i then tried to boot the windows 2008 server
i keep getting the following

Booting from Hard Disk .....
Boot failed: not a bootable disk


I have copied the win2008.vmdk and win2008-flat.vmdk files from the VMware ESXi 5.1 Server to a workstation as a test
Using VMware Workstation Player 12 the Windows 2008 VMDK Works Perfectly.

please can you assist me in what it is i am doing wrong as i urgently need to get the VMware Windows 2008 Server to work in Proxmox 4.4

any adeas?
 
Ah, for LVM devices you need to convert the disk into raw, not qcow2.

Code:
qemu-img convert win2008-flat.vmdk -O raw win2008-pve.raw
dd if=win2008-pve.raw of=/dev/mapper/pve-vm--100--disk--1 bs=1M
 
morph027 thank you for your reply

doh, ok i will do so and get back to you with my findings

thanks again, much appreciated
 
morph027 buddy, IT WORKS!

" we then are going to boost your performance by installing virtio drivers " what do i do?

also if i want to create a vm to have an image and start in " /var/lib/vz/images/105 " how do i do so? must a create the folder 105 in " /var/lib/vz/images/ " then what do i do?

thank you very much for your patience and support
 
Nice, glad i'm able to help ;)

You can just create a VM with ID 105 and Proxmox will create the folder and the disk image on it's own.

For virtio, you'll need to download the drivers: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Windows_Virtio_Drivers#Direct_download

Then just add another disk (size does not matter, make it 1G or so) and select disk type to be virtio. Also add the virtio ISO to the CD drive. Then boot up, Windows will recognize the new device and should install the drivers automatically.
 
morph027, happy new year

can i create a Proxmox Virtual Machine but instead of creating a Hard Drive Storage in " local-lvm ", create a Hard Drive with " VMware image format "

Then just copy the VMware Esxi 5.1 VMDK Flat Files to the Newly Created " VMware image format Hard Drive "

Will that work with the Windows 2008 VMDK Image File in Proxmox?
 

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