Libguestfs - Aug 2015 - Re: FC22: virt-p2v-make-kickstart/livecd-creator doesn't build

On 8/11/2015 5:43 AM, Richard W.M. Jones wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 10, 2015 at 04:23:24PM -0400, Martin Breault wrote:
>> Are there 32-bit compatible images available?
> I meant to ask you about this.  Do you need this because the hardware
> is 32 bit only?  If the hardware is x86-64 then you can use the 64 bit
> virt-p2v ISO fine, even though the OS is 32 bit.
>
> The reason we don't build 32 bit virt-p2v ISOs any more is because
> since RHEL 7 we dropped support for x86:
>
>    https://access.redhat.com/articles/rhel-limits
>
> Building a RHEL 6-based modern virt-p2v is possible, but would require
> some non-trivial effort, particularly around testing and certification.
>
> It should be possible to build a Fedora-based 32 bit ISO, modulo the
> other bugs in livecd-creator etc.
>
> Rich.
Hello,

Yes sadly the hardware is 32-bit only, and running Win2003 to boot.

I tried doing a P2V using Centos6 ISO + Centos6 P2V server and although 
all things seemed to export correctly without errors to the export 
domain of my oVirt, the resulting VM (that has virtio as the disk 
driver) gives doesn't boot either with VirtIO or IDE as a disk driver, 
throwing an error about the boot device.  This is why I was hoping with 
a newer FC-22 iso and conversion server I would have better luck.

I know Windows2003 is supposed to be supported.  I guess I will 
re-install with Centos6 and figure out if I can run a plain exported 
.raw image on a standalone KVM before I re-attempt at oVirt.

What commandline were you using with livemedia-creator?  I think there 
is a way to send --vnc as a parameter to watch via a vnc viewer what is 
going on.

Your help is appreciated!

Martin

I finally worked out what's going on with livecd-creator.  It's
this bug:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1182362

and the workaround is trivial: just add 'tar' to the list of
packages in the kickstart.  I will add this to the p2v.ks upstream
shortly.

I'm also building a 32 bit ISO based on Fedora 22 which will
go on the website later today (if it works).

Rich.

-- 
Richard Jones, Virtualization Group, Red Hat http://people.redhat.com/~rjones
Read my programming and virtualization blog: http://rwmj.wordpress.com
virt-p2v converts physical machines to virtual machines.  Boot with a
live CD or over the network (PXE) and turn machines into KVM guests.
http://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v

On 8/11/2015 11:02 AM, Richard W.M. Jones wrote:
> I finally worked out what's going on with livecd-creator.  It's
> this bug:
>
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1182362
>
> and the workaround is trivial: just add 'tar' to the list of
> packages in the kickstart.  I will add this to the p2v.ks upstream
> shortly.
>
> I'm also building a 32 bit ISO based on Fedora 22 which will
> go on the website later today (if it works).
>
> Rich.
>
Hello,

Thanks for that awesome info, I modified p2v.ks and added "tar" as one
of the packages and it did in fact build on a Fc22 32-bit OS!  I used 
livecd-creator p2v.ks and it built.

Strangely (very strangely....) when I burn the resulting .iso (383MB) as 
a CD it fails to boot, complaining about blk_update_request errors and 
hangs.  At first I thought it was my CD-RW, however I tried on a 
standard CD-R and it throws the same error at the same sector, on this 
antiquated 32-bit hardware or on newer hardware as well.  I tried 2 
different burn hosts with identical sector error results.

But,  if I burn it as a DVD, it boots perfectly.  If I boot it as a VM 
.iso startup disk, it boots perfectly.  I wrote it to a USB pen drive 
using a windows utility called "rufus" and create a bootable USB disk,
it works too.  very strange.  But the important thing is that I have a 
32-bit ISO I can use in one of these forms, worst case I will install a 
DVD drive in the antiques I need to salvage.  Not sure why as a CD it 
won't boot and the identical .iso burned to a DVD works.

Anyway, thanks alot for your help, I am on the way to getting this working.

Cheers,

Marty