How to Migrate Oracle OLVM (OVM) to VMware and Vice Versa?

Nowadays, a multi-hypervisor infrastructure or turning to another platform for preference is nothing new, in this article, we’ll about to learn how to convert Oracle OLVM/Oracle Linux KVM to VMware and vice versa in great detail.

But before that, let’s get to know what are they and their strengths and weaknesses.

Overview of OLVM and VMware

Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager (OLVM) is a server virtualization management platform used to set up, administer, and monitor an Oracle Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) environment. OLVM replaced OVM in 2021.

Oracle Linux KVM is a free solution for Oracle Cloud customers built in Linux distributions and provides the same features as other platforms like vendor support, GUI tool, and upgrades.

It’s easy to install and configure. It also supports thick and thin provisioning, guest memory management, disaster recovery, and VM migration to cloud infrastructure.

But at the same time, it is only available for Linux distributions and increases data loss risk from centralized hardware. Meanwhile, Oracle Linux KVM has its learning curve to use it.

While VMware is a multi-cloud services provider for cloud computing and virtualization technology with a suite of products like ESXi hypervisor, vSphere Client management, vCenter Server, Workstation, and more.

VMware has a full set of virtualization products that support high availability, live migration, failover, and fault tolerance. It also has a fully functioning ecosystem and great technical support. Additionally, VMware is compatible with many operating systems, storage, and third-party products like AWS, PowerShell, etc.

However, the price tag of VMware products is also higher than OLVM, and it’s very complicated with so many products.

Thus, choose the right solution according to your needs and assess whether you can stand the shortcomings.

Migrate VMware to Oracle OLVM

Way 1: Use qemu to migrate VMware to Oracle Linux KVM

Preparations

• A network connection between VMware hosts and Oracle Linux KVM/OLVM hosts.

• A storage domain and one or more running Linux KVM hosts on OLVM.

1.     Install "qemu-block-curl" RPM on the target KVM server.

# yum install oraclelinux-developer-release-el7 yum-utils -y

# yum-config-manager --enable ol7_developer_kvm_utils

# yum install qemu-block-curl

2.     Update packages to keep the system supported by Oracle.

Edit "/etc/yum.repos.d/oraclelinux-developer-ol7.repo" and add the following:

[ol7_developer_kvm_utils]

name=Oracle Linux $releasever KVM Utilities for Development and test ($basearch)

baseurl=https://yum$ociregion.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL7/developer/kvm/utils/$basearch/

gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle

gpgcheck=1

enabled=1

includepkgs=qemu-block-curl*

3.     Create password files for migration.

# echo <vmware-admin-password> > /root/v2v/vmware-admin-password

# echo <olvm-admin-password> > /root/v2v/ovirt-admin-password

4.     Copy the OLVM certificate to the KVM host to access its web server.

# scp root@<OLVM-hostname>:/etc/pki/ovirt-engine/ca.pem /root/v2v/ca.pem

5.     Shut down source VMware VMs.

6.     Connect to KVM with ssh.

7.     Get the list of VMs and state on vSphere by root.

# virsh -c vpx:// vsphere-domain>%5c<vsphere-user>@<vsphere-host>/Datacenter/<vsphere-datacenter-name>?no_verify=1 list --all

# virsh -c vpx://vsphere.local%5cAdministrator@topgear.demo.com/Datacenter/topgear.demo.com?no_verify=1 list –all

8.     Migrate vSphere VM to OLVM.

export LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND=direct

# virt-v2v -ic vpx://<vsphere-domain>%5c<vsphere-user>@<vsphere-host>/<vsphere-datacenter-name>?no_verify=1 <vm-name> --password-file /root/v2v/vmware-admin-password -o rhv-upload -oc https://<olvm-hostname >/ovirt-engine/api -os <olvm-storage-domain> -op /root/v2v/ovirt-admin-password -oo rhv-cafile=/root/v2v/ca.pem -oo rhv-cluster=<olvm-cluster-name> -of raw -oo rhv-direct --bridge <olvm-bridge-name>

Note: virt v2v works with VMware vSphere 5.0 and above.

Way 2: Convert OVA to RAW

1.     Shut down the source VMware VM.

2.     Download the OVF Tool (CMD for Windows), upload the installation file to the Linux host and install.

[root@ol7-kvm05 vmware]# chmod +x VMware-ovftool-4.4.1-xxxxxx-lin.x86_64.bundle

[root@ol7-kvm05 vmware]# ./VMware-ovftool-4.4.1-xxxxxx -lin.x86_64.bundle

3.     Export OVA files.

[root@ol7-kvm05 vmware]# ovftool vi://root@xxx.xx.xxx.x/test-win02 test-win02.ova

4.     Convert it to RAW format.

[root@ol7-kvm05 vmware]# qemu-img convert -O raw test-win02-disk2.vmdk test-win02.img

5.     Upload image files to OLVM.

6.     Create a new VM in OLVM.

7.     Attach the image files and change the Interface to IDE.

8.     Configure the VM.

9.     Navigate to Compute> Virtual Machines to start the host.

10.  Open the Console to check the progress.

Migrate Oracle OLVM to VMware and Vice Versa

There is an easier way for OLVM to VMware migration and vice versa without needing conversion command lines, certificates, or host privileges.

Vinchin Backup & Recovery supports the effortless V2V migration for 10+ virtualizations including VMware, Oracle Linux KVM, Xen, oVirt, RHV, and more.

Vinchin V2V works by restoring the backups of source virtualization to the target platform within 4 steps after adding, licensing, and backing up both.

1.     Download the 60-day free trial of the Enterprise version.

2.     Go to VM Backup> Restore to expand and select the Restore Point (OLVM) from the 

backup list.

3.     Select the target VMware host as the destination and configure the restored VM.

Unified Configurations: unified setup for multiple VMs.

VM Configurations: set up a single VM without affecting the unified settings.

4.     Customize backup strategies.

General Strategy: set the job as a once-off or scheduled one, and put the limit on speed for less impact on bandwidth, while specifying the multithread lines to enable multiple lines for a single task concurrently.

Transmission Strategy: transfer via LAN/SAN/HOTADD/Encrypted Transmission for fast or safe data transmission.

Lastly, review the settings and hit Submit to start the job.

Vinchin Backup & Recovery secures all backups and the Vinchin backup server with real-time IO monitoring and rejects any unauthorized visits. It also leverages double data encryption (data backups and path encryption) to make sure data is perfectly safe in the solution.

Besides that, the software also supports CBT, offsite backup copy, instant recovery, database protection, data archiving, backup and recovery for NAS and physical servers, and other advanced features.

Conclusion

Moving VMware to Oracle Linux KVM relies on various tools such as qemu, virt v2v, OVF Tool, etc. The process needs preparation and version compatibility.

You can use the tools to convert the format and import the files to the target VM for migration, or you can use Vinchin Backup & Recovery without any extra tools for smooth V2V migration.