virt-p2v-make-disk - Man Page

Build the virt-p2v disk using virt-builder

Synopsis

 virt-p2v-make-disk -o /dev/sdX [os-version]

virt-p2v(1) converts a physical machine to run virtualized on KVM, managed by libvirt, OpenStack, oVirt, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualisation (RHEV), or one of the other targets supported by virt-v2v(1).

virt-p2v-make-disk is a script which creates a bootable disk image or USB key containing virt-p2v. It uses virt-builder(1) to do this, and is just a small shell script around virt-builder.

The required -o parameter specifies where the output should go, for example to a USB key (eg. -o /dev/sdX) or to a file. If you pass a device name, then the existing contents of the device will be erased.

The root user on the disk image uses p2v as its initial password.

os-version parameter

The optional os-version parameter is the base Linux distro to use for the operating system on the ISO. If you don't set this parameter, the script tries to choose a suitable default for you. Most users should not use the os-version parameter.

The base OS selected for virt-p2v is not related in any way to the OS of the physical machine that you are trying to convert.

To list possible os-version combinations, do:

 virt-builder -l

Examples

Write a virt-p2v bootable USB key on /dev/sdX (any existing content on /dev/sdX is erased):

 virt-p2v-make-disk -o /dev/sdX

Write a virt-p2v bootable virtual disk image, and boot it under qemu:

 virt-p2v-make-disk -o /var/tmp/p2v.img
 qemu-kvm -m 1024 -boot c \
   -drive file=/var/tmp/p2v.img,if=virtio,index=0 \
   -drive file=/var/tmp/guest.img,if=virtio,index=1

where /var/tmp/guest.img would be the disk image of some guest that you want to convert (for testing only).

Adding Extra Packages

You can install extra packages using the --install option. This can be useful for making a more fully-featured virt-p2v disk with extra tools for debugging and troubleshooting. Give a list of packages, separated by commas. For example:

 virt-p2v-make-disk -o /var/tmp/p2v.img --install tcpdump,traceroute

Adding an SSH Identity

You can inject an SSH identity (private key) file to the image using the --inject-ssh-identity option.

First create a key pair. It must have an empty passphrase:

 ssh-keygen -t rsa -N '' -f id_rsa

This creates a private key (id_rsa) and a public key (id_rsa.pub) pair. The public key should be appended to the authorized_keys file on the virt-v2v conversion server (usually to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys).

The private key should be injected into the disk image and then discarded:

 virt-p2v-make-disk [...] --inject-ssh-identity id_rsa
 rm id_rsa

When booting virt-p2v, specify the URL of the injected file like this:

 │         User name: [root_____________________________] │
 │                                                        │
 │          Password: [    <leave this field blank>     ] │
 │                                                        │
 │  SSH Identity URL: [file:///var/tmp/id_rsa___________] │

or if using the kernel command line, add:

 p2v.identity=file:///var/tmp/id_rsa

For more information, see "SSH IDENTITIES" in virt-p2v(1).

32 Bit Virt-P2v

For improved compatibility with older hardware, virt-p2v-make-disk has an --arch option. The most useful setting (on x86-64 hosts) is --arch i686, which builds a 32 bit virt-p2v environment that will work on older hardware. 32 bit virt-p2v can convert 64 bit physical machines and can interoperate with 64 bit virt-v2v and 64 bit hypervisors.

This option requires that you have built virt-p2v.$arch (ie. usually virt-p2v.i686) by some means, and that you install it next to the ordinary virt-p2v binary (eg. in $libdir/virt-p2v/ or $VIRT_V2V_DATA_DIR). This is outside the scope of this manual page, but you can find some tips in "BUILDING i686 32 BIT VIRT-P2V" in p2v-building(1).

Options

--help

Display help.

--arch ARCH

Set the architecture of the virt-p2v ISO. See "32 Bit Virt-P2v" above.

If this option is not supplied, then the default is to use the same architecture as the host that is running virt-p2v-make-disk.

--inject-ssh-identity id_rsa

Add an SSH identity (private key) file into the image. See "Adding an SSH Identity" above.

--install pkg,pkg,...

Add extra packages to the image. See "Adding Extra Packages" above.

--no-warn-if-partition

Normally you should not write to a partition on a USB drive (ie. don’t use -o /dev/sdX1, use -o /dev/sdX to make a bootable USB drive). If you do this, virt-builder prints a warning. This option suppresses that warning.

-o OUTPUT

--output OUTPUT