Join Log in
Score:1
vrms avatar Server

rebuild a vmware machine in KVM with an .ova file

de flag
vrms

I want to run vmware PKS in a KVM virtual machine and have the official .ova file as a starting point.

I am aware of the conversion from .vmdk --> .qcow2 basically but am still struggeling with the VM Settings. I guess my problems start with having 2 vmdks to begin with.

Inspecting the converted raw images I found out that the 1.vmdk has 2 partitions (one probably the boot partition then second one /.

Regardless of this I'd wanted to try getting more wisdom from the .ovf file and translate this to my KVM .xml.

$ grep -e "Memory RAMSize" -e "CPU count" -e "Netw" -e "Disk" pks-v1.7.3-rev.1-f5289d94.ovf 
  <NetworkSection>
    <Network ovf:name="VM Network">
      <Description>VM Network</Description>
    </Network>
  </NetworkSection>
  <DiskSection>
    <Disk ovf:capacity="20" ovf:capacityAllocationUnits="byte * 2^30" ovf:diskId="system" ovf:fileRef="system.vmdk_id" ovf:format="http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized" ovf:populatedSize="4294967296" />
    <Disk ovf:capacity="20" ovf:capacityAllocationUnits="byte * 2^30" ovf:diskId="data" ovf:fileRef="data.vmdk_id" ovf:format="http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized" ovf:populatedSize="17179869184" />
  </DiskSection>
      <Info>Networking Properties</Info>
      <Category>2. Networking Properties</Category>
        <Label>2.1. Network IP Address</Label>
        <Label>2.2. Network Netmask</Label>
        <Label>2.7. Docker Container Network Subnet</Label>
        <Label>2.8. Docker Container Network Gateway</Label>
        <rasd:Connection>VM Network</rasd:Connection>

(taken from this article) should reveal what I need. However I can't figure out what I want really, particularly in the <DiskSection>

From my previous investigations I know that disk1 is 4GiB (containing 2 partitions), while disk2 has 12GiB. Both do not really correspond to the mentioned 20 in here. I guess it may be related to the nature of the disksize being dynamic.

Can anybody kindly advise how to translate the above output to a KVM compatible .xml/setup?

--- Addition ---

to make this complete ... this is the (relevant) content of the .ovf file I am grepping from.

--- Addition 2 ---

when I just convert the .vmdk into .qcow2 images, the machine shows a very short logo (Proton OS, which is the OS used here) wich then disappears into a black screen.

199
0 + 3
Michael Hampton avatar
cz flag
Michael Hampton
So I got bored and pulled down a copy of the original Photon OS 4.0 OVA to play with. Of course when I uploaded it to ESXi it worked fine. On KVM, I extracted the VMDK, converted it to qcow2, and it failed to boot just after grub with a flashing cursor. So too when I converted it to a raw image. And when I just booted straight from the VMDK, it still failed to boot. And the same after removing quiet from the boot command line. I think grub can't load the kernel or the initrd, but it's not obvious to me why.
1
Reply
vrms avatar
de flag
vrms
neither importing the .ova to VirtualBox (running on a different host then mentioned KVM) works (without a real indication of the reason).
0
Reply
vrms avatar
de flag
vrms
i guess I'll try to spin up a vmware instance inside a KVM machine and run the .ova from there.
0
Reply
ธงชาติไทย
Elon Musk
I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

mangohost

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.