Importing an OVF File

Import an Open Virtualization Format (OVF) file from a system if you want to transfer a VM from one system another, or if you want to transfer an image that you created back to the same system to restore or duplicate the original VM. (To migrate a physical machine (PM) or virtual machine (VM) to a system without using an OVF file, see Migrating a Physical Machine or Virtual Machine to a System.)

You can import or restore the VM. Importing a VM creates a new instance of the VM with unique hardware IDs. Restoring a VM creates an identical VM with the same hardware IDs (SMBIOS UUID, system serial number, and MAC addresses, if provided in the VM image) that your guest operating system and applications may require for software licensing. To prevent conflicts with the original VM, restore a VM only if you want to transfer it to the everRun system and stop using it on the source system.

This topic explains how to import an OVF file from a local computer, a USB device, or a remote file system such as an NFS export or a Windows share (also known as a CIFS share, such as, for example, Samba).. If you want to restore an existing VM on the same system to overwrite the VM and recover it from a previous backup copy, see Replacing/Restoring a Virtual Machine from an OVF File. If you need to import an OVF file from an Avance system or an everRun MX system, see Importing an OVF File from an Avance System or Importing an OVF File from an everRun MX System.

To import an OVF file

1. Log on to the everRun Availability Console on the target system.
2. If you are importing a VM from a USB device or network share (instead of the PC running the everRun Availability Console), mount the device or share on the everRun system as described in Mounting a USB Device or Network-mounted Folder on the everRun System.
3. On the Virtual Machines page (see The Virtual Machines Page), click Import/Restore to open the Import/Restore Virtual Machine wizard.

4. Select one of the following:

   • Browse for OVF

     Note: Browsing for VMware OVFs is not supported.

     Click Browse and locate the OVF on a local computer.

   • Browse for OVF from USB

     Select a partition from the pull-down menu, click List OVFs, and select a file from the pull-down menu.

   • Remote OVF via Windows Share(CIFS/SMB)

     The OVF is located in a folder on a CIFS share. Enter values for Username and Password. For Repository, enter a value in the format \\machine_URL\ShareName (for example, \\192.168.1.34\MyOVFsForImport). Then, click List OVFs and select an OVF file from the list.

   • Remote OVF via NFS

     The OVF is in a folder on a remote system accessed through NFS. For Repository, enter the URL of the remote system in the format nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn (do not include http:// or https://). Click List OVFs to display a list of all OVF files in the remote folder. Select the file to import.

5. Select Import (scroll down the window, if necessary). Import creates a new instance of the VM with unique hardware IDs.

6. When prompted, click Browse and the wizard displays the Importing Virtual Machine window. Select the appropriate .vhd file to include for each volume associated with the VM.

7. Review and, if necessary, edit the information (you may need to scroll down the window):

   • Name, CPU, and Memory

     Displays the name of the VM, the number of vCPUs, and the total memory the VM can use. Edit the information, if necessary.

   • Storage

     Displays the name, size, destination, and sector size of each volume. In the Create column, select a box for a volume to allocate a storage container for the volume on the system (the boot volume is required). In the Restore Data column, select a box to import data for a volume from the VHD file.

     If the target everRun system has more than one storage group, you can also select the storage group in which to create each volume. Ensure that you select a Destination group that supports the sector size of the volume you are importing (see Planning Virtual Machine Storage) and select the Sector Size that matches the source volume (the import wizard cannot convert the sector size of a volume). Note that the boot volume must have a sector size of 512 B. You can select the sector size, either 4K or 512B, only for data disks.

   • Network

     Displays the available networks. You can remove a network or add one that is not already allocated. You can also specify a MAC address for each selected network. A minimum of one network is required.

8. Optionally, clear the check box for Auto start Virtual Machine after import if you need to reprovision the VM before starting it for the first time.

9. Click Import to begin importing the VM.

   The wizard displays progress information. When the transfer is complete, click Done to close the wizard.

   Note: Imported volumes begin to appear on the Volumes page of the everRun Availability Console while the import is still in progress. Do not attach or remove any of these imported volumes until the import window reports that the process is complete; otherwise, the import fails.

10. If applicable, use the Reprovision Virtual Machine wizard to allocate additional resources to the VM, as described in Reprovisioning Virtual Machine Resources. Also, if you want to allocate additional space in each volume container for snapshots, see Expanding a Volume Container on the everRun System.

    When you are finished reprovisioning the VM, click Start to boot the VM.

11. Click Console to open the console of the VM and log on to the guest operating system.

12. For Windows-based VMs only, download and update the VirtIO drivers to the latest supported versions, as described in Updating the VirtIO Drivers (Windows-based VMs). (The correct VirtIO drivers are already present in Linux-based VMs.)

    Note: After updating the drivers, you may need to restart the guest operating system.
13. If necessary, update the network settings in the guest operating system.

After you verify that the new VM is functioning properly, the import process is complete; however, the system may continue to synchronize data between PMs to enable High Availability (HA) or Fault Tolerant (FT) operation.

Troubleshooting

If necessary, use the following information to resolve problems with the export or import process.

To clean up after a canceled or failed import

In the everRun Availability Console on the target system, remove the imported VM and any volumes associated with the imported VM, if present.

To recover missing data volumes in the target VM

If data volumes do not appear in the VM on the target system after the import, you may need to manually restore the volumes, as follows:

• Shut down the VM, run the Reprovision Virtual Machine wizard, and verify that you have included the volumes on the Volumes page.
• For Windows-based VMs, use Disk Management to bring data volumes online.
• For Linux-based VMs, edit the /etc/fstab file to reflect the new device names for the storage devices. Device names may have shifted, for example, if volumes were not included in the import.

To recover missing network devices in the VM on the everRun system

If network devices do not appear in the VM on the target system after the import, you may need to manually restore them, as follows:

• Shut down the VM, run the Reprovision Virtual Machine wizard, and verify that you have included the networks on the Networks page. If the VM requires more networks than shown in the wizard, connect additional business networks to the everRun system and then reprovision the VM to include the new networks.
• For Linux-based VMs, reconfigure the network startup script to reflect the new device names for the network interfaces.

To manually install a new network driver

After importing a PM or VM, the network driver might not be properly installed (for example, Device Manager might list the driver with a warning, ). In this situation, manually install the driver:

1. In the VM console window, open Device Manager in the guest operating system.
2. Expand Network adapters and right-click the Red Hat VirtIO Ethernet Adapter (the driver that does not work correctly).
3. Select Update Driver Software.
4. In the pop-up window, click Browse my computer for the driver software.
5. Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers.
6. Select Red Hat VirtIO Ethernet Adapter.
7. Click Next to install the network driver.

After the driver is installed, check the VM's state in the everRun Availability Console. If the state is running (), the driver is working properly.

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Product Documentation (PDF Format) everRun User's Guide	About Help Help created at 9:56 PM on 4/29/2021.