An error occurred during the conversion

[sonicc]

I'm in the process of moving a few virtual machines from Virtual Box to VMWare ESXi.  I was able to successfully convert 3 VMs out of 4 using the VMWare Converter Standalone.  VM is running Ubuntu 14.10.

The last VM, however, is giving me all kinds of issues.  Conversion starts fine and then fails anywhere between 25% and 70% with the following error:

FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion: '/usr/lib/vmware-converter/copyFileSystem.sh: line 125: 1917 Done echo <password> 1918 Done(141) | /usr/lib/vmware-converter/bin/ssh -z -F /usr/lib/vmware-converter/ssh.conf <[e-mail]> -p 22 "sudo tar --one-file-system --sparse -C '/' -cf - ." 1919 Killed | /bin/tar_1.28 --numeric-owner --delay-directory-restore -C '/mnt/p2v-src-root/' -y -xf - /usr/lib/vmware-converter/bin/ssh -z -F /usr/lib/vmware-converter/ssh.conf <[e-mail]> -p 22 "sudo tar --one-file-system --sparse -C '/' -cf - ." | /bin/tar_1.28 --numeric-owner --delay-directory-restore -C '/mnt/p2v-src-root/' -y -xf - (return code 137)' 

From Log Hightlights:

8/3/2016 5:35:51 PM Error: unable to clone the volume mounted on '/' from '<ip address>'

I've tried few things to try and figure out what was causing the issue:

• ran disk check to make sure there are no errors
• stopped Atlassian services that run on this VM
• tried converting to a different VMWare host
• tried changing the partition sizes in converter
• Reinstalled VMWare Converter
• tried running VMware Converter from another machine
• made sure no network drives/shares are connected

Any help would be much appreciated.

[patanassov]

Hello

"return code 137" means the process has been killed forcefully. This reminds me of a similar issue, check if it can help you: Failed convert physical Centos machine to VM

HTH,

Plamen

[sonicc]

I think that did the trick.  I didn't realize settings for helper VM can be changed...or that it only assigns 512mb

Bumped it up to 12GB and it finished successfully when I tested it earlier today.

Going to attempt again later today when everyone leaves office.

Thanks, @plamen

[BEBO492011]

Hello sonic,

I have the same issue, but I tried to increase the helper vm memory, then power it up and mount the convertor iso, unfortunately it didn't get the network setting and helper password again, then the task fails, could you please explain how did you increase the memory

I'm using convertor 6.1

thanks

[patanassov]

Hello

you should do this before converter server connects and authenticates to the helper. This is not difficult as this connecting takes some time. Prepare a vSphere client and watch the creating of the destination VM. As soon as it gets powered on, change the memory and reboot it. Don't use power reset, just send ctrl-alt-del to the guest; this way you won't need to reattach the helper ISO.

HTH,

Plamen

[BEBO492011]

Hello Palmen,

thanks a lot for answering my question , but I'm using vsphere  6.5, so vSphere client is not support, in addition to the limitation that you need to power off the machine to increase the memory

any workaround for this, it's urgent for me

thanks

[patanassov]

Hello

It doesn't matter whether you use the old client or the web client. However you can't change the memory by just rebooting the guest, you need to power off the VM (sorry for that).

Another issue is that you can't connect to a local iso in vSphere 6.*, so you need to upload it to a datastore in advance. Look for converter-helper-vm.iso and converter-helper-vm-x64.iso in the folder where Converter is installed (%ProgramFiles(x86)%\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone). They are different depending on the bitness of the source machine to convert (the shorter name is for 32bit machines). Copy the one you need to the datastore. Then: start the conversion and wait for the destination VM to power on; power off the VM; edit the VM and increase the memory; power it on again; attach the helper iso to its virtual CD; reboot the VM (open its console and press "ctrl+alt+insert). The conversion will continue.

[BEBO492011]

Hello Plamen

many thanks for your support, unfortunately it didn't work

however I have done the same procedures before, with little bit difference that was mounting the ISO from the converter installation directory . I have followed your suggestion exactly but after booting the helper VM with the ISO, it seems it lost the helper VM setting, where it keeps looking for  helper password, network settings ,...... until the conversion fails the vm get deleted

appreciate you support in this issue

I have attached a screenshot of the VM console as well as the converter error while I'm simply converting the Linux machine , and always fails at 95%, or 93%

converter error

Error: Unable to clone the volume mounted on '/apps' from 'x.x.x.x'.

status: FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion: '/usr/lib/vmware-converter/copyFileSystem.sh: line 125:

2188 Done echo 'password' 2189 | /usr/lib/vmware-converter/bin/ssh -z -F /usr/lib/vmware-converter/ssh.conf root@x.x.x.x -p 22 " tar --one-file-system --sparse -C '/apps' -cf - ." 2190 Killed | /bin/tar_1.28 --numeric-owner --delay-directory-restore -C '/mnt/p2v-src-root/apps' -y -xf - /usr/lib/vmware-converter/bin/ssh -z -F /usr/lib/vmware-converter/ssh.conf root@x.x.x.x -p 22 " tar --one-file-system --sparse -C '/apps' -cf - ." | /bin/tar_1.28 --numeric-owner --delay-directory-restore -C '/mnt/p2v-src-root/apps' -y -xf - (return code 137)'

[patanassov]

I've done this in the morning in order to write the exact steps and it worked. I don't know why it didn't with your attempt. It most likely has something to do with timing.

The worker log contains entries about that. Have a look at it or post it here.

[BEBO492011]

attached the worker diagnostics

[patanassov]

2017-09-27T15:32:34.676+03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[06932] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] poweron vm succeeded

...

2017-09-27T15:32:37.723+03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[06932] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] remote ISO image connected

...

2017-09-27T15:32:42.091+03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[06932] [Originator@6876 sub=task-31] successfully sent client thumbprint to helper:...

I see something strange here. The iso image gets connected 3s after powering on the helper, this is fine. However exchange of thumbprints starts happening only 5s later! The helper has a 30s timeout before booting, plus another 1/2 to 1 min booting before vmware tools service starts. That should be plenty of enough time to insert powering off, configuring memory etc.. steps. (Converter then retries connecting for 5min which is also enough time)

I don't know why only 5s. For the first part, the boot delay, I can think of two possible reasons: some changes in vSphere 6.5 (which is not supported by Converter 6.1) that has prevented setting that delay or someone hitting enter in the console thus skipping the delay. As for the lightning fast boot - I have no idea at all.

If you could somehow manage to power off the VM before the exchange starts, the hack should work. Otherwise I am short of ideas.

HTH

[BEBO492011]

OK, I'll give it one more try

thinking from a different angle, do you think increasing the memory is the right solution for the conversion error, where the conversion completes successfully without the volume /apps

is there any other workaround that can help?

appreciate your support and efforts

[patanassov]

You can convert w/o /apps and copy the data after the conversion.

[marcosmendozaa]

Hello sonicc‌

Chek this article:

HOW-TO: P2V (Physical to Virtual) Prep Work for Ubuntu

It could help you.

Regards