VMware migration tool: we need your feedback!
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@manilx Yes...remove a Host. This is a test environment. Both of the 2 XCP Hosts I have are already in a Pool within my orig XO VM. So yes...I would need to remove 1 Host (slave) from the Pool in there to be able to add some Host to the new XO VM, right? I can't have a XCP host in a Pool within 1 XO and add it to a 2nd XO can I?
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@coolsport00 You DON'T have to remove any host from a pool just to deploy XO(A). You can have as many as you want. Obviously only one can have backups and one or the other plugin running. But they can run all at the same time.
In our deployment we have the main XOA running (with backups etc) and then a XO on another host to be able to manage the pool (or/and XOA) if there is an issue with the official XOA.
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@coolsport00 P.S: Forget what you're used from VMware! This is another beast.
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@coolsport00 P.P.S You could even install an additional (temp or not) XO in Vmware Fusion, Virtual Box on your Mac/PC.
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@manilx ha...ok "manilx"...will give it a go. Thanks for chiming in. Really appreciate it
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@manilx Also...I just thought there would be conflicts with the current XO Pool if I don't disconnect/remove 1 of my XCP Hosts from it. I do understand I can create a XO VM on it while in a Pool, but I would need to add some Host to this new XO. And, when doing so, the Host I add has its own Pool in XO, so I thought there would be confict with this added XCP Host having 2 Pool configs in 2 XO instances - 1 in the orig XO and now in a new XO. There is no clear-cut info (details) on this.....that was my only concern.
I had to step away for a bit..so let me give this a go.
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Ok...so this is what I ended up doing:
I powered down my orig XO VM, then exported it as an OVA from VMW. I then powered my orig XO VM back on and imported the XO OVA file through it and powered it on. As I did with other Linux VMs, I had to make a few changes on it - I had to change the BIOS setting from BIOS (legacy) to UEFI so it could then boot up; I also had to change the NIC name in Netplan so it could pick up an IP. I discussed these issues in another post I had
https://xcp-ng.org/forum/topic/10736/import-vm-from-vmware-a-few-issues-lnx-boot-issue-no-ip-in-lnx-cd-rom-eject-error/4After the imported OVA XO VM was able to then boot ok and hit the network, I powered down my orig XO VM and logged into XO-Lite on the Host the imported XO VM was on and did the rest of what I needed -> change the NIC name in Netplan and install Guest Tools. After doing those things and a reboot, I was good to go.
Even though I was able to do this, it is a bit klunky. It would be highly beneficial if there was a way to do an Import of a VM onto a XCP Host directly in XO-Lite. Would that be something that's possible? I'm sure it would be rare to have to need to do this (lab env, or like me...I needed to import my XO VM), but I think this would still be a worthwhile feature.
Thanks for all the responses and assists!
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@coolsport00 In the end it was easier then you imagined!!
Just being able to migrate from VMbadWare to this is a gift sent from heaven...
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@manilx Well...kinda yes, kinda no. The "easiest" woulda been the ability to import a VM onto a XCP Host directly. Done. My main concern was running the same XO at the same time and losing some configs. Key is don't do any configs/changes in original when doing this. I don't see this task as a common one though. This is a rare process imo. General XO V2V and OVA Import processes are decent....not sure how they were early on..maybe a few kinks needed worked out? Actually, some residual kinks still need worked out. For example, when importing non-legacy OSes, it appears XO defaults the migrated/imported VM to legacy BIOS. This is a problem as it causes the VM to not boot. Easy fix of course in the VM's Advanced tab, but this should be an option during the migration process. Not sure why it happens, but detaching an ISO to a newly migrated/imported VM doesn't work until you power down the VM completely, then power it on. Subsequent attach/detach attempts are then fine. Anyway...things like that should be addressed if/where possible.
@manilx - really appreciate all the responses/assist though. I will no doubt have more questions/feature requests as I move forward. Regardless, I do like this product as a VMW alternative. I never needed and don't need all the "bells & whistles" of VMW (Distributed Switches, vSAN, NSX, etc). Just the "basics" are all I need -> stable hypervisor, live migration & load balancing, ease of updating, HA, ease of storage procurement, and ease of Pool (Cluster) mgmt, and the main one...good backup mgmt (i.e. Veeam support!). Again..testing I've done so far...XCP/XO is doing ok
Best! -
On vmware u would need als vcenter for this kind of features. And as u can easy deploy an empty xoa, why would this be an issue?