Promox Physical to Virtual, sorta ??

[GeeSharp]

Here's the scenario. I have a linux server running Ubuntu on bare metal. I want to change that server to run Proxmox so I can better utilize the resources but I need to keep the original server functions and IP. So I want to virtualize the current server.  Here is what I am thinking.  So tell me where it might not work or if there are some extra steps to make it work.

 

1. Using a new SSD in the server, I'll install Proxmox and assign a new IP.
2. I'll create a new VM with the CPU type set to be same type=host
3. The new VM will not have any virtual disks.
4. I pass through the original bare metal drives to the VM
5. Set the VM boot order to be the original physical boot drive.
6. Boot up the VM.

Is this possible? I'm trying to figure out the lowest downtime to migrate from physical to virtual.

Assuming that works. I'll leave it running for a while to keep the family happy until the next maintenance window.

Next, I think I want to do the following.

 

1. Create a blank virtual disk and add to VM.
2. Clone the contents of the physical boot drive to the new virtual boot drive.
3. Detach physical boot drive from VM.
4. Change boot drive in VM to new virtual boot drive.

Seem OK??

Thanks,
Greg

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 minutes ago, GeeSharp said:

 

1. Using a new SSD in the server, I'll install Proxmox and assign a new IP.
2. I'll create a new VM with the CPU type set to be same type=host
3. The new VM will not have any virtual disks.
4. I pass through the original bare metal drives to the VM
5. Set the VM boot order to be the original physical boot drive.
6. Boot up the VM.

 

Yup that should work fine.

 

I'm guessing your passing through the disks by adding a virtual disk and editing the config file with the device like /dev/sda. You can also pcie pass through the whole controller here.

 

6 minutes ago, GeeSharp said:

ext, I think I want to do the following.

 

1. Create a blank virtual disk and add to VM.
2. Clone the contents of the physical boot drive to the new virtual boot drive.
3. Detach physical boot drive from VM.
4. Change boot drive in VM to new virtual boot drive.

Seem OK??

Yup that should work work and give you the advantages of virtual disks like snapshots and backups.

 

I'd make sure you backup the orginal server before doing this just in case something goes wrong.

 

 

[igormp]

17 minutes ago, GeeSharp said:

Is this possible? I'm trying to figure out the lowest downtime to migrate from physical to virtual.

Yes, I've done so before without issues. Be aware that you'll need to change some networking settings within your new VM since it'll be a bridge, NAT or some other virtual device, so if you want to keep the same IP it had before and allow it to be accessed by the rest of your network you'll need to change some things around.

[Jarsky]

You can do that. Personally, I would P2V the existing disk if you really have a need to run a hypervisor. 

 

Using something like StarWind P2V to convert it to a .qcow2, or Disk2Vhd; then convert it using qemu-img into raw or qcow2. 

Honestly most of your time, is going to be installing and configuring Proxmox, including its storage and networks.

 

If you need to mess about setting stuff up, and reduce downtime; you could always temporarily P2V the disk into a .VHD or .VMDK and run it in Hyper-V / VMWare Player on your Desktop while you mess around with the Proxmox Server. Once Proxmox is setup, then shutdown the VM, copy the disk to your Proxmox, and convert it to a QEMU image and load it into the new Virtual Machine. 

I used to do this sort of thing often when I would do a full VMware upgrade at home before I ran vCenter. I would V2V the machines to my desktop and run them in VMware Workstation; until I was done with the server

[gentlemanspot]

Ive done it with an SSD, Just had to mess with network setting. 

 

I've also used Veeam and Clonezilla to move a Servers to "Blank" VM's this allowed me to keep the server online till it was time to turn it off. and flick on the VM 

[BoomerDutch]

You can run os like clonezilla

Passthrough hdd and add same size virtual disk then clone inside VM then detach hdd and configure vm to boot virtual disk

 

Then you have VM running.