Import from VMWare - Error: Can't import delta of a running VM without its parent vdi

jkissane

@DustinB What licenses do we need I wonder? We have VC standard which means we can both vmotion & storage vmotion on the VMware platform.

We're licensed with VMware 'til the end of the year so exploring options at the moment.

manilx

@jkissane Moved away from the Broadcom mess one year ago with 2yrs worth of Vmware/Vcenter and Veeam license valid. What an excellent decision.

DustinB

@jkissane said in Import from VMWare - Error: Can't import delta of a running VM without its parent vdi:

@DustinB What licenses do we need I wonder? We have VC standard which means we can both vmotion & storage vmotion on the VMware platform.

We're licensed with VMware 'til the end of the year so exploring options at the moment.

You need to be licensed for their Live Migration feature, not sure if standard includes that or not any more. It's been a while since dealing with VMWare's licensing crap.

jkissane

@DustinB That would appear to be vMotion from reading on the VMware site. I thought the XCP method worked by taking a snapshot of a running VM & then copying that.

DustinB

@jkissane said in Import from VMWare - Error: Can't import delta of a running VM without its parent vdi:

@DustinB That would appear to be vMotion from reading on the VMware site. I thought the XCP method worked by taking a snapshot of a running VM & then copying that.

Only if you're licensed for the live vMotion. Otherwise you need to power off the VM, migrate it to XCP-ng and then it'll work.

jkissane

@DustinB We use live vMotion regularly on the ESX side, think the last time was when we were upgrading the servers. It's not vMotion if the VM is powered off, you're just starting it on a different host.

DustinB

@jkissane Are you connecting to vCenter or to each host individually?

jkissane

@DustinB I tried both, same error each time & the source VM gets powered off.

DustinB

@jkissane said in Import from VMWare - Error: Can't import delta of a running VM without its parent vdi:

@DustinB I tried both, same error each time & the source VM gets powered off.

There was a version issue recently that may be causing the issue you're experiencing (from ESXi).

What version of VMWare are you using?

https://xcp-ng.org/forum/topic/8590/vmware-v7-warm-migration/12?_=1712681819057

jkissane

@DustinB The version of ESXi is 6.5 & the iSCSI datastores are VMFS 5.

jkissane

I tried another other option of cloning a running Windows VM & then trying to import the powered off clone. This didn't work either but a different error this time. Does importing from ESXi to xcp actually work as I can't see at this moment how it would be possible for us to migrate to xcp? I'm pretty certain it worked at least once with a powered down Linux but I'm starting to doubt myself now

vm.importMultipleFromEsxi
{
  "concurrency": 1,
  "host": "vc.XXXXX",
  "network": "c448fd53-503a-0241-7104-0a1b287a7e5a",
  "password": "* obfuscated *",
  "sr": "98a52525-862f-3bb1-3403-3dc334f2509d",
  "sslVerify": false,
  "stopOnError": true,
  "stopSource": false,
  "user": "john.kissane@XXXXX",
  "vms": [
    "vm-19874"
  ]
}
{
  "cause": {
    "size": 0
  },
  "succeeded": {},
  "message": "404 Not Found https://vc.XXXXX/folder/nmrc3-clone/emptyBackingString?dcPath=ITS&dsName=Unity_vm_vol01",
  "name": "Error",
  "stack": "Error: 404 Not Found https://vc.XXXXXX/folder/nmrc3-clone/emptyBackingString?dcPath=ITS&dsName=Unity_vm_vol01
    at Esxi.#download (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/node_modules/@xen-orchestra/vmware-explorer/esxi.mjs:95:21)
    at Esxi.download (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/node_modules/@xen-orchestra/vmware-explorer/esxi.mjs:113:21)
    at Esxi.#inspectVmdk (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/node_modules/@xen-orchestra/vmware-explorer/esxi.mjs:221:21)
    at Esxi.getTransferableVmMetadata (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/node_modules/@xen-orchestra/vmware-explorer/esxi.mjs:307:17)
    at Task.runInside (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/node_modules/@vates/task/index.js:158:22)
    at Task.run (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/node_modules/@vates/task/index.js:141:20)
    at MigrateVm.migrationfromEsxi (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/src/xo-mixins/migrate-vm.mjs:178:28)
    at file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/src/api/vm.mjs:1432:30
    at Task.runInside (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/node_modules/@vates/task/index.js:158:22)
    at Task.run (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/node_modules/@vates/task/index.js:141:20)
    at asyncEach.concurrency.concurrency (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/xo-server/src/api/vm.mjs:1430:11)"
}

olivierlambert

@jkissane said in Import from VMWare - Error: Can't import delta of a running VM without its parent vdi:

emptyBackingString

There's something fishy here Ping @florent

Danp

@jkissane Did the source VM have an existing snapshot when you tried the import?

jkissane

@Danp Nope no snapshots. I've updated xoa to the latest rather than stable version so going to try again with that.

Danp

@jkissane Please try it with an existing snapshot as I believe that is required.

jkissane

@Danp A snapshot of a powered off VM?

Danp

@jkissane With ESXi 6.5 & VMFS 5 it should work either way as long as the snapshot exists.

jkissane

@Danp After upgrading to the latest version of xoa (rather than stable) I was able to import both a Linux & Windows VM (both powered down) from ESXi.

The Windows VM gives me a blank screen when powered on under XCP-ng while the Linux VM has dropped to an emergency shell warning that a disk it expects doesn't exit.

Unsure where to go from here if I'm honest.

AtaxyaNetwork

@jkissane Hi !

Did you install xen driver before exporting the VM ?
dracut --add-drivers "xen-blkfront xen-netfront" --force

olivierlambert

That's very likely the issue (for Linux) and for Windows, double check that you are using the right boot mode (UEFI or BIOS)