KVM - The Linux Kernel-Based Virtual Machine
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Migrating a live server to a virtual server

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6 replies [Last post]
January 14, 2012 - 11:31am
kando
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Joined: Jan 13 2012
Points: 9

Hi all,

Is there a set of instructions for making an image of an existing live server and then installing this image as a kvm guest os on a different server running kvm?

If not, can someone advise me of the best way to proceed with this task?

I have all the hardware required.

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January 14, 2012 - 8:57pm
#1
Haydn Solomon
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Joined: Mar 7 2008
Points: 460
virt-p2v

virt-p2v comes to mind. I have not used it myself but you can find information the following link

http://libguestfs.org/virt-v2v/

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January 15, 2012 - 10:48am
#2
kando
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Joined: Jan 13 2012
Points: 9
virt-p2v

Thanks Haydn for that link, some very good stuff over there.

The following pdf is excellent reading...

http://www.redhat.com/summit/2011/presentations/summit/decoding_the_code...

So virt-p2v is run on the physical pc (the source) and it emulates the pc's settings (partitions, boot info, etc) and all its data down the wire to a virt-v2v process (on port 22) running elsewhere, neat.

Now I got to get the p2v source compiled on a Mandriva 2010 server; binaries are only available for fedora core 14+

What an amazing virtual world I've stumbled into...

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January 15, 2012 - 10:54am
#3
kando
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Joined: Jan 13 2012
Points: 9
Another way to skin this cat...

http://rwmj.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/poor-mans-p2v/

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January 16, 2012 - 6:37am
#4
kando
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Joined: Jan 13 2012
Points: 9
Mondoarchive/restore

The mondo archive utility can also create a live snapshot (an image of the physical server) suitable for subsequent use as a virtual host.

http://www.mondorescue.org/docs.shtml

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January 16, 2012 - 10:59am
#5
Haydn Solomon
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Joined: Mar 7 2008
Points: 460
Re: Mondoarchive/restore

Interesting. I believe I had used this software some years ago to do some p2v but had forgotten about it. Back then I believe there was no support for LVM. I'll have to have another look now that there's LVM support.

Thanks for the post!

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January 23, 2012 - 5:14pm
#6
Julian Robbins (not verified)
As Proxmox is also based on

As Proxmox is also based on KVM, I've found thsi resource exclentn with many ways to move physical to virt servers. Hope this is of use !

http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migration_of_servers_to_Proxmox_VE

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