Xen users - Aug 2008 - Converting VMWare Machine with SCSI disks

I''ve used this document as a guide for converting systems to xen domUs.
http://ian.blenke.com/vmware/vmdk/xen/hvm/qemu/vmware_to_xen_hvm.html

If the VMWare machine has IDE drives this works well. If the VMWare
machine has SCSI drives, I don''t think I''ve gotten any of them
to work.
I currently have two Win2k servers and now a win2k3 server that I''ve
tried converting. 

All three of them get to a certain point in the boot process, then
processor util goes to 100% and they stop. On win2k there''s about 4 or
5
little bars left to finish. On win2k3 it''s hard to tell because the bar
goes across the screen.

Anybody had luck with this? I''m contemplating downloading VMWare ESX
now
that it''s free for these trouble systems, but I''d rather have
them on
xen. 

Thanks,
James


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On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 5:58 PM, James Pifer <jep@obrien-pifer.com>
wrote:
> I''ve used this document as a guide for converting systems to xen
domUs.
> http://ian.blenke.com/vmware/vmdk/xen/hvm/qemu/vmware_to_xen_hvm.html
>
> If the VMWare machine has IDE drives this works well. If the VMWare
> machine has SCSI drives, I don''t think I''ve gotten any of
them to work.
> I currently have two Win2k servers and now a win2k3 server that
I''ve
> tried converting.
Are you sure you followed  Microsoft kb314082 correctly? You only
actually need to add the intel section to the registry.

Perhaps its a HAL issue? My target Xen vm has two cpus so I made sure
that the Computer driver was set to ACPI Multiprocessor.

I have done this process several times to p2v windows 2003 servers
using a rather convoluted method of using vmware converter to import
the physical install to a vmware vm, booting it once in vmware,
following  Microsoft kb314082, and then converting the vmdk to Xen
disk, once booted in Xen I have installed the GPLPV drivers.

I have had no success getting the GPLPV drivers to work in Windows
2008, and bizzarely most of the messages I have sent to the list about
the problem have disappeared, I never get a posting receipt message
and they are no in the list archives, I wonder if this message will
get through as I mention the subject again... very strange.

Andy
>
> All three of them get to a certain point in the boot process, then
> processor util goes to 100% and they stop. On win2k there''s about
4 or 5
> little bars left to finish. On win2k3 it''s hard to tell because
the bar
> goes across the screen.
>
> Anybody had luck with this? I''m contemplating downloading VMWare
ESX now
> that it''s free for these trouble systems, but I''d rather
have them on
> xen.
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>
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On Wed, 2008-08-27 at 20:35 +0100, Andrew Lyon wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 5:58 PM, James Pifer <jep@obrien-pifer.com>
wrote:
> > I''ve used this document as a guide for converting systems to
xen domUs.
> > http://ian.blenke.com/vmware/vmdk/xen/hvm/qemu/vmware_to_xen_hvm.html
> >
> > If the VMWare machine has IDE drives this works well. If the VMWare
> > machine has SCSI drives, I don''t think I''ve gotten
any of them to work.
> > I currently have two Win2k servers and now a win2k3 server that
I''ve
> > tried converting.
> 
> Are you sure you followed  Microsoft kb314082 correctly? You only
> actually need to add the intel section to the registry.
> 
Yes, pretty sure I have followed the doc correctly, but I will go back
over it and make sure. 
> Perhaps its a HAL issue? My target Xen vm has two cpus so I made sure
> that the Computer driver was set to ACPI Multiprocessor.
I''ve tried a couple different ones following Ian''s doc, but I
will also
retry this. Mine are all single CPU. 
> 
> I have done this process several times to p2v windows 2003 servers
> using a rather convoluted method of using vmware converter to import
> the physical install to a vmware vm, booting it once in vmware,
> following  Microsoft kb314082, and then converting the vmdk to Xen
> disk, once booted in Xen I have installed the GPLPV drivers.
I''ve done this same method. On the IDE systems has worked fine.
I''ll try
the above and report back if I have any success. 

Thanks,
James


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Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

> I have done this process several times to p2v windows 2003 servers
> using a rather convoluted method of using vmware converter to import
> the physical install to a vmware vm, booting it once in vmware,
> following  Microsoft kb314082, and then converting the vmdk to Xen
> disk, once booted in Xen I have installed the GPLPV drivers.
> 
Andy,

Since we''re doing very similar things, how does your process differ
from
mine?

1) I use vmware converter to capture the source system (usually an HP or
Compaq server)
2) I load the VM in VMWare Server 1.x
3) Copy regmerge.reg to the system (created from the Microsoft article)
4) Install the reg file
5) Verify the sys files exist
6) run qemu-img to create the img file
7) mount the img file and copy in the hal. I''ve tried several. The
standard hal has worked on the ide machines. 
8) boot the system in xen. 

On your scsi machines, which hal and what acpi and apic settings have
worked for you? I think you previously said the hal you used was
halmacpi.dll. 

Another thing. When this happens I can no longer do step 7. I have to
redo starting at step 6, I have to shut it down hard so it seems like
the file system gets hosed. (I''ve tried leaving it overnight while
it''s
"locked" and it never seems to come out of it.) Anyway, I can mount
it,
but it mounts as read-only. My next try will be halmacpi.dll. 
halaacpi.dll will not boot.
halacpi.dll locks up
hal.dll locks up. 

thanks,
James


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On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 3:26 PM, James Pifer <jep@obrien-pifer.com>
wrote:
>
>> I have done this process several times to p2v windows 2003 servers
>> using a rather convoluted method of using vmware converter to import
>> the physical install to a vmware vm, booting it once in vmware,
>> following  Microsoft kb314082, and then converting the vmdk to Xen
>> disk, once booted in Xen I have installed the GPLPV drivers.
>>
>
> Andy,
>
> Since we''re doing very similar things, how does your process
differ from
> mine?
>
> 1) I use vmware converter to capture the source system (usually an HP or
> Compaq server)
> 2) I load the VM in VMWare Server 1.x
> 3) Copy regmerge.reg to the system (created from the Microsoft article)
> 4) Install the reg file
> 5) Verify the sys files exist
The next thing I do is make sure Computer is set to ACPI
Multiprocessor PC in device manager, then shutdown, I didnt check if
the hal file exists.

I have used qemu-img to create the image file and it has worked, but I
wanted to use a dedicated partition for the VM so I boot trueimage
from iso inside the vmware vm, make a backup of the drive, then add
the target partition to a existing xen windows 2003 vm which has
trueimage installed and restore it through that, then shutdown the
2003 vm, remove the extra partition, add it to the target xen vm and
boot it up.

I am building a new Xen box at the moment, once its done I need to
import 4 servers so I will keep notes and let you know exactly the
process i follow and if it works or not.

> 6) run qemu-img to create the img file
> 7) mount the img file and copy in the hal. I''ve tried several. The
> standard hal has worked on the ide machines.
> 8) boot the system in xen.
>
> On your scsi machines, which hal and what acpi and apic settings have
> worked for you? I think you previously said the hal you used was
> halmacpi.dll.
ACPI Multiprocessor PC = halmacpi.dll, so rather than adding the hal
to the image I change it inside the vmware vm.

My xen vm settings are:

import os, re
arch = os.uname()[4]
if re.search(''64'', arch):
    arch_libdir = ''lib64''
else:
    arch_libdir = ''lib''
kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
builder=''hvm''
memory = 1024
name = "Win2003"
uuid = "b30f5d7b-b88f-43f3-8b28-20306775d457"
vcpus=2
vif = [ '''' ]
disk = [ ''phy:sda11,hda,w'', '',hdc:cdrom,r'' ]
device_model = ''/usr/'' + arch_libdir +
''/xen/bin/qemu-dm''
boot="c"
sdl=0
vnc=1
vnclisten="127.0.0.1"
vncdisplay=3
vncpasswd=''<bleh>''
stdvga=0
serial=''pty''
usbdevice=''tablet''

Andy
>
> Another thing. When this happens I can no longer do step 7. I have to
> redo starting at step 6, I have to shut it down hard so it seems like
> the file system gets hosed. (I''ve tried leaving it overnight while
it''s
> "locked" and it never seems to come out of it.) Anyway, I can
mount it,
> but it mounts as read-only. My next try will be halmacpi.dll.
> halaacpi.dll will not boot.
> halacpi.dll locks up
> hal.dll locks up.
>
> thanks,
> James
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>
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