Re: Virtualize Debian Lenny to VMware
On 18/10/11 02:11, Gorka wrote:
>
>
> Excuse me.
>
>
>
> How could I virtualize a Debian Lenny physical machine to run in VMware.
> Converter Standalone crashed on 4%. I need a free way to virtualize it
> in order to avoid disasters. By the way, it must be virtualized while it
> runs, can’t stop it.
>
>
>
> Any idea?
>
It's certainly possible - degree of difficulty/amount of work varies.
"Debian Lenny" is not much to go on ;-)
VMware is a proprietary product - so best asking/looking there first.
Try searching for "P2V" (physical to virtual).
I'm familiar with P2V using VirtualBox - the procedure is similar.
Some changes are necessary to support the move from physical hardware to
virtual (NIC, HDD, video etc) - it's also nice to have a smaller virtual
disk than the physical original.
1. Install fsarchiver onto the source (Physical source machine).
2. Use fsarchiver to copy the filesystems from PSource to the Target
Host machine. You can use a removable drive, or, preferably, mount a
directory of the Target Host using NFS or SAMBA. Ncat *won't* work due
to the way fsarchiver works. Use the "A" switch when running fsarchiver
savefs to generate the .fsa archive/s. Ignore the warnings about the
error copying a live filesystem.
3. Create a virtual drive in a guest machine on the Target host (or drives).
4. Using a Live Debian CD boot the Virtual machine and extract the .fsa
archives from the PSource into the virtual drive/s. Don't forget the
boot sector.
5. Still using a Live CD use rsync to sync the PSource with the VTarget
and ensure:- fsarchiver got all the relevant data from a changing
filesystem, and various extensions (SE, ACL, etc).
6. Again, using a Live CD, adjust UUIDs (if necessary) in fstab and boot
cfg on the VTarget.
7. Boot into the VTarget - if it fails to boot you may need to use the
Live CD and chroot to update-grub and/or install virtual drivers.
NOTES: Any problems - see the VMware forums/support first.
You could possibly use parted instead - I don't remember if it will work
on a live machine - it doesn't support the same range of filesystems as
fsarchiver.
Cheers
Reply to: