How to migrate a physical system to a KVM virtual server with only network access?

Question

I have an obsolete linux app-server running which I would like to migrate to a KVM virtual server with greater specifications.

I do not have physical access to the machine itself or its harddisks.

I only have access to the server across the network.

If it can be used for anything, I already have an empty spare HD installed in the server. This 2nd HD is about three times larger than then one where the data resides on.

Please ask for any other details you may need.

Solution 1

Assuming you don't have remote console access, or it's through some crappy horrible useless Java applet:

1. ssh to the remote system and shut down as many services as possible. Basically everything but the ssh server itself.

2. From your local system, capture a copy of the running disk image back to your local system:

   ssh [email protected] "dd if=/dev/sda bs=1024k" > p2v.img
   

   Wait several hours. Depending on the size of the hard disk and your available bandwidth, this may take a very long time.

3. You will end up with a file p2v.img. Mount this to a KVM virtual machine as a raw disk image and fsck it, as there will be errors.

---

Since you do have remote console access to the server, I would do something like this:

1. From the remote console, bring the system to single-user mode (init 1 as root, or reboot with 1 added to the boot command line).
2. Bring up the network manually, e.g. with the appropriate ifconfig and route commands.

3. P2V it to the remote hypervisor (or a storage server):

   dd if=/dev/sda bs=1024k | ssh [email protected] "cat > /path/to/p2v.img"
   

4. Create a new KVM virtual machine using p2v.img as the disk, start it up and make any necessary changes.

---

The virt-v2v tool can also P2V a Linux server to a KVM virtual machine.

Solution 2

All major hypervisors have a native P2V tool. Pick a hypervisor and use its tool.

Comments

[Chopper3]

Which hypervisor?

[Dan]

This is called "Physical to Virtual" or "P2V" for short. Nearly every hypervisor has tools to do this, such as XenConvert or VMWare Converter

[mr-euro]

@Chopper3 I am open to any if I could get it migrated successfully. Preference is KVM or OpenVZ (Proxmox).

[mr-euro]

@gravyface Please ask for what details you need. Thank you.

[mr-euro]

@Dan Thank you. I will have a look for those terms.

[Michael Hampton]

@mr-euro Please remember to edit your question with the additional details, since many people will not see the comments.

[mr-euro]

@MichaelHampton Thx, I have completely rewritten the question now.

[mr-euro]

Thx MDMarra, I prefer KVM. Do you have any references on how to accomplish this with no physical access to the harddisk?

[gravyface]

+1 nc is probably quicker, but likely both hosts are not on the same private network.

[Michael Hampton]

@gravyface I don't worry too much about one-hour differences on 10-hour jobs, since in either case I'm going to look at it the next day anyway.

[mr-euro]

@MichaelHampton I do have access to a rescue system (via SSH) so I can entirely stop the system and still work on it. In which way could this change your suggested approach? Thank you.

[Michael Hampton]

@mr-euro I don't know if you ever saw my edits. From a rescue system the process would be about the same, except that you would connect to the rescue system instead of to your live system.