How to import KVM virtual machines in Cloudmin

Cloudmin
1

Hello, is there a way (should be) to import some old (previously working) KVM virtual machines in Cloudmin? Recently had to reinstall the host due to HDD problems and I can’t get back my VM’s. In
New System>Add KVM Instance (the page reads “Add Existing System”) it keeps throwing the dumb error Failed to add system : Missing or invalid hostname

How is this possible that it can’t see some files in a directory?

2

Howdy,

Yeah, it should indeed be possible to add one using the “Add KVM Instance” you tried.

It sounds like it’s unhappy with the hostname you’re using there… I know when creating a new KVM instance, you have to enter only the hostname itself – not an FQDN, but just the first part of the name (ie, just “host”, and not “host.example.tld”).

Let us know if that works – as if it does, I’ll see if Jamie can improve the error message there :slight_smile:

-Eric

3

Hi, I tried everything, done it again right now (even with just the first part) - nothing. What should i check? This should be more straight forward than this, maybe a browse button, pick the VM & OK ? Or even an autosearch in the provided location?

Tried also System Operations>Find KVM Instances and I get Finding running KVM processes …
… no processes found no matter wich settings I choose.

4

Anyone?

5

There isn’t really any easy way to do this, unless you preserved the /etc/webmin/servers directory from the old system. The reason is that for KVM virtual machines, a lot of the information is kept in files under that directory…

6

:frowning: well this wasn’t documented or at least not very clear. So what is the hard way?

7

I also have some backups (what kind of backups are those exactly, to what? the files are pretty small) that doesn’t work either:
Finding systems to restore …
… found 0 systems

Working out backup sources ..
.. found 0 usable sources

Restores of 0 systems completed successfully.

If this is still not enough… I don’t know what to say.

8

What files are in that backups directory?

9

.disks

.gz

.gz1

.serv

All with the name of the VMs

10

Try copying the .serv file into the /etc/webmin/servers directory on the Cloudmin master system. This should make it show up in the left menu - and you can then start up the VM.

11

What about importing KVM instance file with extension .img from non-Cloudmin server? Besides .img file I have corresponding .xml file for that instance. Is it possible at all?

12

That depends on what format the img file is in … is it a raw disk image, or some other format?

13

Hi Jamie,

Thanks for replying. I am trying to import existing KVM guest instances from non-Cloudmin system. So since I still have them running I can pre-format them to any required format. What is the ideal format to make it easy to import existing KVM images to Cloudmin? And what sequence of steps I should follow when I have them in best format?

Thanks again!

14

The only supported format is a raw disk image.

Once you have that, you could perform an import as follows :

  1. Shut down the VM using your old software
  2. Create an empty VM in Cloudmin with the same RAM, CPU, IP address and other settings
  3. Go to Resources -> Manage Disks and remove the default disk
  4. On the same page, add the disk image file from the VM you are importing.
  5. Start up the VM in Cloudmin
15

Thanks Jamie,

Stuck again on step 2. It gives: “Failed to create system : Missing or non-absolute path for CD image file” Should I specify path to the image of copied guest system? I think I should not, because in step 3 you recommend to remove the disk and add in step 4. So then what path and to which file I should specify in step 2?

16

Jamie,

I’ve created a small raw.img file and overcome the problem described in my previous comment. Then I proceeded to the rest of steps and couldn’t start the VM. Further troubleshooting I found out that Cloudmin normally puts “/dev/hda” for “Device on virtual system” and creates “/etc/fstab” with the following content:

/dev/vda1 / ext3 grpquota,usrquota,rw 0 1 tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0 devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0 proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/vdb1 swap swap defaults 0 0

However “/etc/fstab” file of VM that I am trying to import to Cloudmin has:

# # /etc/fstab # Created by anaconda on Mon May 21 14:03:15 2012 # # Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk' # See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or blkid(8) for more info # /dev/mapper/vg_ns1007-lv_root / ext4 grpquota,usrquota,rw 0 1 UUID=0fdc149d-b9d9-434f-9278-15a02a84261c /boot ext4 defaults 1 2 /dev/mapper/vg_ns1007-lv_swap swap swap defaults 0 0 tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0 devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0 proc

I tried to detach and re-add the img by putting “/dev/mapper/vg_ns1007-lv_root” for “Device on virtual system” field this time. I am not sure what should I choose for “Mount new disk as”, so left default “Don’t mount”. Unfortunately when I go to Edit disk it again shows “/dev/hda” for “Device on virtual system”.

Also file system of default Cloudmin VM ext3 differs from ext4 of the image I am trying to import.

Is it possible to successfully import this kind of images in my situation?

17

For “device on virtual system”, entering /dev/hda should work just fine. There is no need to enter any mount point, as that is already specific in the /etc/fstab file.

Be aware though that a VM like this which uses LVM internally cannot be fully managed by Cloudmin, as its filesystem won’t be accessible from on the host. Only VMs that have their root filesystem directly on /dev/hda1 can be properly managed.

18

Thanks for clarification. I tried different ways and couldn’t make Cloudmin to see any of this kind of KVM guest systems. Besides you say this kind of guests can’t be fully managed by Cloudmin. So I am giving up importing trials, I guess I have to just copy files and databases, instead of whole guest images.