CentOS - Feb 2016 - CentOS 7 regression, can not take a KVM qcow2, convert it and boot it on ESXi...

Guys,

 I have a Packer build procedure, that works like a charm, when with CentOS 6.7.

 Exemplifying:

 1- Packer (with virtio disk) + QEmu + CentOS 6.7 ISO;
 2- Create a RAW image;
 3- Convert the RAW image into QCOW2 for KVM hypervisors (okay);
 4- Convert the RAW image into VMDK for ESXi hypervisors (okay).

 However, when doing the very same procedure, with CentOS 7.2 ISO, it
does not boot on ESXi!

 After research, I realized that it is not auto-loading the sd_mod on ESXi.

 I'm seeing errors like this:

 dracut-initqueue timeout
 dracut-initqueue timeout ....

 And it drops to "dracut#" shell, where I can see that there is no
/dev/sda listed on /proc/partitions.

 I think I tried everything!

 My last try was, during Packer build, to append "add_drivers+="
sd_mod" to /etc/dracut.conf and re-building initramdisk by running
"dracut -f". However, it does not boot either (on ESXi)!

 I can still boot using Rescue mode on VMWare, then, I can see that
sd_mod is inside of initramfs as expected (lsinitrd FTW) but, dracut
does not load it! I tried "force_drivers+=" sd_mod", doesn't
work
too...

 Weird is that, while during Rescue, if I run "dracut -f" again, then,
it works! Normal boot proceeds... But this is unacceptable, because I
can not ship a half-broken VMDK and tell customers to first boot on
Rescue, run "dracut -f" and then, use the system.

 So, why the heck the "dracut -f" executed when as a KVM guest have no
effect for later ESXi usage?

 What am I missing?

 I really appreciate any help!

Thanks!
Thiago

On 02/03/2016 06:33 PM, Martinx - ????? wrote:
>   What am I missing?
Use lsinitrd to compare the two initrds.  Direct each output to two 
files and then use "diff -u" to see the difference.

On 4 February 2016 at 00:58, Gordon Messmer <gordon.messmer at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On 02/03/2016 06:33 PM, Martinx - ????? wrote:
>>
>>   What am I missing?
>
>
> Use lsinitrd to compare the two initrds.  Direct each output to two files
> and then use "diff -u" to see the difference.
Mmm... Nice tip! Thanks!  :-D

On Thu, 4 Feb 2016, Martinx - ????? wrote:
> My last try was, during Packer build, to append "add_drivers+="
> sd_mod" to /etc/dracut.conf and re-building initramdisk by running
> "dracut -f". However, it does not boot either (on ESXi)!
>
> I can still boot using Rescue mode on VMWare, then, I can see that
> sd_mod is inside of initramfs as expected (lsinitrd FTW) but, dracut
> does not load it! I tried "force_drivers+=" sd_mod",
doesn't work
> too...
>
> Weird is that, while during Rescue, if I run "dracut -f" again,
then,
> it works! Normal boot proceeds... But this is unacceptable, because I
> can not ship a half-broken VMDK and tell customers to first boot on
> Rescue, run "dracut -f" and then, use the system.
>
> So, why the heck the "dracut -f" executed when as a KVM guest
have no
> effect for later ESXi usage?
>
> What am I missing?
>
> I really appreciate any help!
Is this possible the hostonly option in dracut causing fun?

"On RHEL-7 the hostonly mode is the default mode. Generic
"non-hostonly"
  images are created, if the dracut-config-generic rpm is installed.  The
  rescue kernel entry in the bootloader menu is also a generic image."

jh

On 4 February 2016 at 06:58, John Hodrien <J.H.Hodrien at leeds.ac.uk>
wrote:
> On Thu, 4 Feb 2016, Martinx - ????? wrote:
>
>> My last try was, during Packer build, to append
"add_drivers+="
>> sd_mod" to /etc/dracut.conf and re-building initramdisk by running
>> "dracut -f". However, it does not boot either (on ESXi)!
>>
>> I can still boot using Rescue mode on VMWare, then, I can see that
>> sd_mod is inside of initramfs as expected (lsinitrd FTW) but, dracut
>> does not load it! I tried "force_drivers+=" sd_mod",
doesn't work
>> too...
>>
>> Weird is that, while during Rescue, if I run "dracut -f"
again, then,
>> it works! Normal boot proceeds... But this is unacceptable, because I
>> can not ship a half-broken VMDK and tell customers to first boot on
>> Rescue, run "dracut -f" and then, use the system.
>>
>> So, why the heck the "dracut -f" executed when as a KVM guest
have no
>> effect for later ESXi usage?
>>
>> What am I missing?
>>
>> I really appreciate any help!
>
>
> Is this possible the hostonly option in dracut causing fun?
>
> "On RHEL-7 the hostonly mode is the default mode. Generic
"non-hostonly"
>  images are created, if the dracut-config-generic rpm is installed.  The
>  rescue kernel entry in the bootloader menu is also a generic image."
>
> jh
You're the man!!! Thank you so much!! YAY!!

I need to install the package "dracut-config-generic" during Packer
build, which sets "hostonly=no" and, voial?!  :-D

Thank you again!

Cheers!
Thiago