--- qm.adoc | 68 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 68 insertions(+)
diff --git a/qm.adoc b/qm.adoc index d8ab448..87071b2 100644 --- a/qm.adoc +++ b/qm.adoc @@ -645,6 +645,74 @@ NOTE: It is not possible to start templates, because this would modify the disk images. If you want to change the template, create a linked clone and modify that. +Importing Virtual Machines from foreign hypervisors +--------------------------------------------------- + +A VM export from a foreign hypervisor takes usually the form of one or more disk + images, with a configuration file describing the settings of the VM (RAM, + number of cores). + +The disk images can be in the vmdk format, if the disks come from +VMware or VirtualBox, or qcow2 if the disks come from a KVM hypervisor. +The most popular configuration format for VM exports is the OVF standard, but in +practice interoperation is limited because many settings are not implemented in +the standard itself, and hypervisors export the supplementary information +in non-standard extensions. + +Besides the problem of format, importing disk images from other hypervisors +may fail if the emulated hardware changes too much from one hypervisor to +another. Windows VMs are particularly concerned by this, as the OS is very +picky about any changes of hardware. This problem may be solved by +installing the MergeIDE.zip utility available from the Internet before exporting +and choosing a hard disk type of *IDE* before booting the imported Windows VM. + +Finally there is the question of paravirtualized drivers, which improve the +speed of the emulated system and are specific to the hypervisor. +GNU/Linux and other free Unix OSes have all the necessary drivers installed by +default and you can switch to the paravirtualized drivers right after importing +the VM. For Windows VMs, you need to install the Windows paravirtualized +drivers by yourself. + +GNU/Linux and other free Unix can usually be imported without hassle. Note +that we cannot guarantee a successful import/export of Windows WM in all +cases due to the problems above. + +Step-by-step example of a Windows disk image import +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Microsoft provides +https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/[Virtual Machines exports] + in different formats for browser testing. We are going to use one of these to + demonstrate a VMDK import. + +Download the export zip +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +After getting informed about the user agreement, choose the _Microsoft Edge on +Windows 10 Virtual Machine_ for the VMware platform, and download the zip. + +Extract the disk image from the zip +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Using the unzip utility or any archiver of your choice, unpack the zip, +and copy via ssh/scp the vmdk file to your {pve} host. + +Create a new virtual machine and import the disk +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Create a virtual machine with 2 cores, 2GB RAM, and one NIC on the default ++vmbr0+ bridge: + + qm create 999 -net0 e1000,bridge=vmbr0 -name Win10 -memory 2048 -bootdisk sata0 + +Import the disk image to the +local-lvm+ storage: + + qm importdisk 999 MSEdge "MSEdge - Win10_preview.vmdk" local-lvm + +The disk will be marked as *Unused* in the VM 999 configuration. +After that you can go in the GUI, in the VM *Hardware*, *Edit* the unused disk +and set the *Bus/Device* to *SATA/0*. +The VM is ready to be started. + Managing Virtual Machines with `qm` ------------------------------------ -- 2.11.0 _______________________________________________ pve-devel mailing list pve-devel@pve.proxmox.com https://pve.proxmox.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pve-devel