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Migrating from VMware to VirtualBox (Part 1): Oracle E terprise Linux

By Fat Bloke on Feb 09, 2010

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Audio in 64-bit... | Main | Virtualization Produ...

There are a growing number of people asking the question: how do you move a VMware virtual machine to VirtualBox. So it is abouttime the Fat Bloke rolled up his sleeves and showed us ow. (BTW you can click on screenshots below to magnify)

People typically want to do this because they have spent time installing a guest OS together with a software stack and they don't reallywant to go thru all this again. But moving a vm from o e virtualization platform to another is analogous in the real world to unplugging ahard drive(s) from one computer and plugging it into a different manufacturer's computer. You may find that the guest operating systemgets upset when it boots up and sees virtual hardware which is different than it was expecting. Different guest operating systems reactdifferently to this situation (Linux is typically more accommodating than Windows in this respect). In fact some guest operating systemsget so upset, they may BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) on you.

Migrating from VMware to VirtualBox (Part 1): Oracle Enterprise Linux (The Fat Bloke Sings) https://blogs.oracle.com/fatbloke/entry/moving_a_vmware_vm_to

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Secondly, some of the software that you have installed he OS, such as VMware Tools, may also be relying on specific virtualhardware.

So the Fat Bloke's is: Don't, if you can help it. If you can create a new vm from scratch on the newvirtualization platform, you probably should. That way the guest OS installs the right drivers for your particular virtual hardware, andyou are not left with orphaned software which needs a specific virtualization layer.

That said, there are still going to be people looking to avoid a complete reinstallation and willing to live dangerously, so let's discusswhat is possible. Note that because different guests b o differently we're going to focus on one guest OS in this blog: OracleEnterprise Linux, and we'll move it from VMware Workstation 7 to VirtualBox 3.1. Here is our start state, the vm running in VMwareWorkstation 7 on Windows 7:

It's a good idea to take a copy of the vm that we're trying to migrate just in case you make a mess of things. With VMware Workstationyou can clone a vm to do this or copy the machine in some other way such as copying files.

First Rule of VM Migration

Step 1 - Preparing to Migrate


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To prepare for migration we're going to remove virtual zation platform-specific components:

Remove VMware tools1.Reset the Display and Input device configuration2.Remove incompatible devices 3.

The Fat Bloke's is that it is easier to unpick platform-specific software on the native virtualizationplatform. So let's start up the vm under VMware to prepare for migration

This is easy enough:

and you should see something like this:

Second Rule of VM Migration

Removing VMware Tools

vmware-uninstall-tools.pl


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Resetting the Display Device and Input Devices

When Oracle Linux was first installed the display was et as a VMware display adaptor and input devices as a VMware keyboard andmouse. By the time we're finished this won't be the ca let's prepare for that by moving aside the the OEL X.org conf file like this:

This file will get recreated later when we run on the irtualBox platform.

Now let's shutdown the guest.

mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.vmware


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Remove Incompatible Devices

The VMware soundcard device is different from the one that VirtualBox exposes so let's remove this device from the vm configuration inthe VMware Settings dialog:


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Step 2 - Exporting the Virtual Machine

A Virtual Machine consists of :

configuration information (in VMware a .vmx file)virtual hard drive(s) which the guest is installed on. Mware, typically .vmdk files)

An emerging standard for encapsulating this information to allow vm's to be transported more easily is the OVF or Open VirtualizationFormat. So in theory you should be able to Export this vm from VMware Workstation and Import into VirtualBox. Sadly, the VMwareconversion wizard (File...Import or Export...) doesn't support Oracle Enterprise Linux as a guest:


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But there is a command line ovftool that can be downlo from VMware's site.

So in a Windows command.exe window you can run:

And eventually you end up with 3 files:

OEL.ovf - configuration information1.OEL-disk1 - compressed disk format file2.OEL.mf - digital signatures (SHA1) of the other files.3.

We can now move these to the destination system for import by VirtualBox.

You can import an ovf file into VirtualBox from the graphical user interface or the command-line.

cd C:\\Users\\fatbloke\\Documents\\Virtual Machines\\C ne of Oracle Enterprise Linux

"\\Program Files\\VMware\\VMware OVF Tool"\\ovftool.ex "Clone of Oracle Enterprise Linux.vmx" OEL.ovf

Step 3 - Importing into VirtualBox


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Importing this takes a while as the compressed disk is converted to a usable format, but your should end up with a new entry in yourvm list in VirtualBox like this:


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Now the moment of truth, Start it up...and we should ee Oracle Enterprise Linux boot up under VirtualBox


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Step 4 - Install the VirtualBox Guest Additions

Finally don't forget to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions which is the mirror image operation to removing the VMware Tools.

Once you have mounted the Guest Additions iso image yo can run install them from the mounted directory using the command:

Like this:

sh VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run


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And after a restart of the guest you are all set to go.

Migration is complete!

There is an alternative to step 2 and 3 above for people who know what they are doing.

After performing Step 1 you could simply take the VMware disk image (.vmdk) and plug this into a manually configured VirtualBox vm.This effectively relies on the user to create an appro riately similar vm instead of relying on the ovf export and import (Steps 2 and 3above) process. Note that the default disk controller used by VMware is an LSI SCSI controller, so when manually creating a VirtualBoxvm you need to configure it appropriately.

Epilogue (Advanced users only)


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You still need Step 4 for optimal performance and ease of use. And don't forget the tip about Speeding up Linux Guests too.

Good Luck!

- FB

Category: VirtualBox

Tags: enterprise linux oracle ovf virtualbox virtualization vmware

Permanent link to this entry

Audio in 64-bit... | Main | Virtualization Produ... Comments:

[Trackback] RT @oracletechnet: Migrating from VMware t VirtualBox: Oracle Enterprise Linux (Via The Fat Bloke Sings) http://bit.ly/dlW4gn


12 sur 20 09-05-2013 16:51

Posted by on February 09, 2010 at 08:31 AM GMT #

[Trackback] This post was mentioned on Twitter by orac hnet: Migrating from VMware to VirtualBox: Oracle Enterprise Linux (ViaThe Fat Bloke Sings) http://bit.ly/dlW4gn


I'm running into an issue with the guest additions iso not being able to be used. Error says something to the effect of not being able tomount the CD/DVD drive and so forth.

Sorry for the lack of specifics but this occurred previously today after you visited my site and I was called into work right afterwards.Didn't have the time to recreate it just yet thus, the lack of specifics mentioned above.

I tried burning the .iso to a CD as well as mounting it and it still won't work for some reason. Ideas?

Posted by on February 09, 2010 at 04:30 PM GMT #

Scott,As your issue is off-topic for this blog, could you post it over at http://forums.virtualbox.org

Cheers,-FB


Sure, I can do that I suppose. Sorry about the goof.


Hello!

Unfortunately, for my command"\\Program Files\\VMware\\VMware OVF Tool"\\ovftool.ex "CentOS.vmx" OEL.ovfI get error:

Error: Failed to open file: ...Completed with errors

shakamca

uberVU - social comments

ScottW

Fat Bloke

ScottW


13 sur 20 09-05-2013 16:51

How can solve it? I can't create OEL.* files, so can't continue to migrate to the VirtualBox.

I hope, you can help me solve this issue

Thanks!

Posted by on October 19, 2012 at 09:49 PM BST #

I solved the problem by looked at the error itself. Wh n you try to import the virtualbox vm to vmware, its quite straight forward. Theproblem comes when you start importing the vmware imag s to the virtual box. The reason for this is: clumsy vmware image andconfiguration files generated after running ovftool to convert the image into an open virtual format. Below are the workaround to resolvethis error:1. While Importing in virtual box, you may get the error as:Failed to import appliance C:\Users\Desktop5\Documents irtual Machines\export.ovf.

Failed to import appliance export.ovf.

Error reading "export.ovf": unknown element quot;Config" under Item element, line 48.

Result Code: VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR (0x80BB0004)Component: ApplianceInterface: IAppliance {3059cf9e-25c7-4f0b-9fa5-3c42e44 70b}

Resolution: Open the file export.ovf and delete the li rting with Config, below the line number 48. Save the file and proceed. Youmay face the error at different line number, which can esolved my deleting the line which starts with:

2. Again, you may face the issue as:The SHA1 digest of 'export.ovf' does not match the one export.mf' (VERR_MANIFEST_DIGEST_MISMATCH).

Resolution: Delete the "mf" file and start the process again.

Cheers

Posted by on December 11, 2012 at 08:19 AM GMT #

I solved the problem by looked at the error itself. Wh n you try to import the virtualbox vm to vmware, its quite straight forward. The

alex

Raju Singh


14 sur 20 09-05-2013 16:51

problem comes when you start importing the vmware imag s to the virtual box. The reason for this is: clumsy vmware image andconfiguration files generated after running ovftool to convert the image into an open virtual format. Below are the workaround to resolvethis error:1. While Importing in virtual box, you may get the error as:Failed to import appliance C:\Users\Desktop5\Documents irtual Machines\export.ovf.

Failed to import appliance export.ovf.

Error reading "export.ovf": unknown element quot;Config" under Item element, line 48.

Result Code: VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR (0x80BB0004)Component: ApplianceInterface: IAppliance {3059cf9e-25c7-4f0b-9fa5-3c42e44 70b}

Resolution: Open the file export.ovf and delete the li rting with Config, below the line number 48. Save the file and proceed. Youmay face the error at different line number, which can esolved my deleting the line which starts with:

2. Again, you may face the issue as:The SHA1 digest of 'export.ovf' does not match the one export.mf' (VERR_MANIFEST_DIGEST_MISMATCH).

Resolution: Delete the "mf" file and start the process again.

Cheers

Posted by on December 11, 2012 at 08:20 AM GMT #

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