K.S. Bhaskar on 20 Dec 2008 17:56:05 -0800


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Re: [PLUG] Converting a VMware SCSI to IDE virtual disk


Would it have worked to create a virtual machine with a SCSI disk and
an IDE disk.  Boot it with the ISO image of a live CD, rsync the files
over from SCSI to IDE.  Shut down and boot off the IDE?

Cheers
-- Bhaskar

P.S. I don't want to disappoint you.  Consider yourself duly advised:
yes, you should be using kvm!  8-)

On Sat, Dec 20, 2008 at 5:52 PM, JP Vossen <jp@jpsdomain.org> wrote:
> So I created a "typical" VMware VM using the VMware (Workstation 5.5.9)
> recommended settings for "Linux, Ubuntu" but it was in fact for Debian
> Lenny.  Now, due to an initrd-tools bug (I think) the latest kernel
> 2.6.26-1-686 will not boot.  I get stuck at a "Begin: Waiting for root
> file system ..." message during boot.  It eventually times-out to
> initramfs busybox prompt.  When I poke around in there:
>        echo $ROOT  = /dev/sda1         # As expected/desired
>        ls -l /dev  = missing sd*       # This is bad!
>
> When I try my previous kernel 2.6.18-6-686, it works fine.  I am about
> to report this as a bug.
>
> I should have used a virtual IDE disk instead of SCSI when planning to
> use Debian.  (I'm pretty sure I've learned this the hard way before, but
> it obviously didn't stick.)
>
> So long story short(er), the following is the process I used to fix my
> mistake.  Anyone aware of anything better (besides "Use KVM or Virtual
> Box" :)?
>
> * Created new IDE Disk, using the VMware console
> * Booted via Ubuntu 8.10 LiveCD
> * Partitioned IDE disk, same as old SCSI disk
> * Rebooted into Debian to see what the new disk will be called (Ubuntu
> 8.10 LiveCD had it as sdb2).  Sure enough, Debian Lenny called it hda as
> I would have expected.  I dunno what Ubuntu is doing calling an IDE disk
> /dev/sdb.
> * Rebooted via Ubuntu 8.10 LiveCD
> * Run terminal and 'sudo bash' to become root
> * Mounted both file systems [1]:
>        cd /mnt
>        mount /dev/sda1 scsi
>        mount /dev/sdb1 ide     # NOTE Ubuntu 8.10 is using sdb even though this is
> an IDE disk (AKA hda)
> * time rsync --archive --numeric-ids /mnt/scsi/bin /mnt/scsi/boot
> /mnt/scsi/etc /mnt/scsi/home /mnt/scsi/initrd /mnt/scsi/lib
> /mnt/scsi/media /mnt/scsi/mnt /mnt/scsi/opt /mnt/scsi/root
> /mnt/scsi/sbin /mnt/scsi/srv /mnt/scsi/usr /mnt/scsi/var /mnt/ide
>        = took 43 minutes for 3.9G
> * Recreated other stuff deliberately omitted from rsync
>        cd /mnt/ide
>        mkdir -m 0755 dev mnt sys srv lost+found
>        mkdir -m 0555 proc
>        mkdir -m 1777 tmp
>        ln -s boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686 initrd.img
>        ln -s boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-686 vmlinuz
> * grub-install --recheck --root-directory=/mnt/ide /dev/sdb     # NOTE
> Ubuntu 8.10 is using sdb even though this is an IDE disk (AKA hda)
> + Also note that --recheck munges up /boot/grub/device.map, e.g., by
> setting things to what the booted Ubuntu LiveCD thinks they are.  You
> need to fix that below, e.g., sda --> hda.
> * Edit "IDE" files:
>        vi /mnt/ide/etc/fstab
>                :%s/sda1/hda1/g
>        vi /mnt/ide/etc/mtab
>                :%s/sda1/hda1/g
>        vi /mnt/ide/boot/grub/menu.lst
>                :%s/sda1/hda1/g
>        vi /mnt/ide/boot/grub/device.map
>                (hd0)   /dev/hda
> * Halt
> * Remove SCSI disk via VMware console
> * Reboot and test = worked AFAICT
>
> ___________________
> [1] Note that this was a very simple install, with everything on 1 big
> '/' partition.  Having more partitions just makes the mount, rysnc and
> editing parts more tedious, but this will still work if you get all
> those parts right.
>
> Silly note: I sometimes create VMs on VMware Workstation to allow for
> full snapshot trees, then do a full clone of the appropriate snapshot
> and actually use/run the VM on VMware Server elsewhere.  That's true in
> this case.  So basically, this all worked in VMware Workstation 5.5.9
> and VMware Server 1.0.8.
>
> Later,
> JP
> ----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
> JP Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|        jp{at}jpsdomain{dot}org
> My Account, My Opinions     |=========|      http://www.jpsdomain.org/
> ----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
> "Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
> software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
> implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.
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