Re: ESXi -> Proxmox
By: Warpslide to All on Fri May 02 2025 04:27 pm

The Windows XP VM sounds like it may be a little more work, but certainly possible. Does anyone have experience moving VMs from VMware to Proxmox? What's the best method? Export as an OVF? Use Clonezilla? Something else?

If it is just a handful VMs I thnk you can pretty much export them from ESXi as OVAs and reimport them on the target host. Not that I have tried it recently.

Proxmox has some docs to this effect:

https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migrate_to_Proxmox_VE#Automatic_Import_of_Full_VM


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Re: ESXi -> Proxmox
By: deon to Warpslide on Sat May 03 2025 09:40 pm

So Im thinking the same thing - of switching over to Proxmox. I'm not a fan of Debian though, but I though if I did change, then I should suck up and get used to it.

Well, the whole point of applianceable distributions like Proxmox is that you don't get to interact with the OS directly unless you really want you.

If you just install Proxmox and intend to run a handful VMs then you can manage the whole thing using the web interface and you won't notice anything that is running underneath.

Of course, if you want to do really cool stuff then you will have to ssh into the host at some point and hack it - which is the point of open solutions.


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If it is just a handful VMs I thnk you can pretty much export them from ESXi as OVAs and reimport them on the target host. Not that I have tried it recently.

You could also use clonezilla via network...

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On 03 May 2025, deon said the following...

So Im thinking the same thing - of switching over to Proxmox.

Keen to see how you fair, but Paulies enthusiasm has me thinking maybe I should try proxmox.

Everything went fairly well, I have an old HP box that I'm not using so installed Proxmox on that (which took all of maybe 10 minutes). I was then able to point Proxmox at ESXi as an import source (Datacentre -> Storage -> Add -> ESXi).

For the Linux VMs I didn't have to do any prep, just power them down on the ESXi side & import them one-by-one. They powered on & booted up on Proxmox no problem but initially didn't have a network connection. I just needed to update the nic name in /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml and then run "sudo netplan apply" and everything was up & running.

The Windows XP VM was a little more work, but in the end also straightforward. I thought just had to uninstall VMWare Tools and then import it over but got a bluescreen when it was booting up in Proxmox. A little more googling showed I had to run these scripts to convert the disk controller to IDE:

http://www.virtualbox.org/attachment/wiki/Migrate_Windows/MergeIDE.zip

Imported it to Proxmox again and this time it booted right up to the desktop.

Now that everything was imported into Proxmox on the HP box & the VMs powered down on the NUC, it was time to test each VM (one or two at a time as this HP box only has 12GB of RAM) and all was working well. I left it for the afternoon to make sure everything was stable (just left the Plex & XP VMs running, the others powered down) before continuing.

Next was to install Proxmox on the NUC, which I expected to go smoothly. Plugged the USB in, booted to it and began the installation process. This is where I hit my first snag. The install wizard ran as normal and then the installation process would start but hang at 3% "Creating LV's".

I left it alone for a about 15 minutes, came back and it's still on the same screen (the whole process took about 10 minutes on the HP), so shut it down & rebooted to give it a try again but it still hung at 3%. I left it on that screen again while I googled more about it. The common suggestion is "just wait", so I let it be while I did some other things.

Came back about an hour later and it's still on that same 3% screen. Did some more reading where some people said it would eventually finish while other said it ran overnight & it never did. For those where it never finished they just did a clean install of Debian and then used apt to install Proxmox.

I left it on that 3% screen while I downloaded the Debian 12 Server .iso and created a bootable USB. Walked down to the basement to begin the Debian sinatll and surprise surprise, the install completed and is sitting at the login prompt with the IP address & login URL displayed. *shrugs*

Log into the HP Promox box & choose Datacentre -> Cluster -> Create Cluster, copy the "Join Information" and paste that into the NUC Proxmox box. Now they scan see each other and it was as simple as selecting each VM and choosing "Migrate" to move them over to the NUC.

Migrating between two Proxmox boxes can be done while the VM is powered up, so there was no downtime. I only have a gigabit network, so a 32GB VM took about 12 minutes to migrate while the Plex VM with a 128GB drive took a little more than 40 minutes to move over.

Now with all of the VMs on the NUC and powered up, I thought it would be a simple task to go and remove a node from the cluster and delete the cluster entirely. And while it was simple, it's not something that can be done from the GUI. I just followed the instructions here:

https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Cluster_Manager#_remove_a_cluster_node

And now I have a standalone Proxmox server running on my NUC with VMs that were (in)directly imported from ESXi.

I'm not sure this approach was the best one, but it worked and I got to learn a bunch of stuff about Proxmox along the way.

Thanks to Paulie for pointing me at the Post Install scripts. Now to take a look at some of these backup options...

(Sorry for the wall of text)


Jay

... Before the crowbar was invented, crows had to drink at home

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
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(Sorry for the wall of text)

No, this was a good story and excellent information. Thanks for it.



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deon wrote to Warpslide <=-

So Im thinking the same thing - of switching over to Proxmox. I'm not a fan of Debian though, but I though if I did change, then I should suck
up and get used to it.

The beauty of Proxmox VE is you never need to go to the command line for
most things. Opening a shell and clearing a lock file is all I've needed
to do.


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On 04 May 2025, Warpslide said the following...

Everything went fairly well

And now I have a standalone Proxmox server running on my NUC with VMs
that were (in)directly imported from ESXi.

Hmmm... woke up this morning and asked Siri to turn on a couple of lights when I went downstairs & nothing happened (accessories unresponsive).

Turned them on via their switches like a cave man.

Tried to log into my Homebridge VM but the login page wasn't coming up, so tried to log into Proxmox but its login page wasn't coming up either. Also unable to ping the proxmox IP or SSH into it.

Went to the basement & was able to log into the NUC with a keyboard & monitor attached but not able to ping out of the box. Type in "reboot" & the screen clears but nothing seems to be happening (patience before caffeine is low).

(This is when the cat meows at me reminding me that I haven't fed him yet)

Yank the power & the machine boots back up to the login prompt.

Everything seems to be back up & working. Hopefully this is just a fluke, not sure what kind of logging Proxmox comes with, but something I'll dive into after work & when I'm more awake.

Never had a hang or crash under ESXi.


Jay

... I'm a patient person, but I'm not waiting for my coffee forever

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Northern Realms (21:3/110)

And now I have a standalone Proxmox server running on my NUC with VMs

Great job! I hope in the future to move to a GMKTec NUC for my proxmox.

I'm waiting until my current server ages out... A couple more years at least....

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Re: Re: ESXi -> Proxmox
By: Warpslide to All on Mon May 05 2025 07:20 am

Everything seems to be back up & working. Hopefully this is just a fluke, not sure what kind of logging Proxmox comes with, but something I'll dive into after work & when I'm more awake.

Proxmox uses journald. Most relevant logging information is accessible directly from the web interface. For everything else, ssh into the host and use journalctl.


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Warpslide wrote to All <=-

Everything seems to be back up & working. Hopefully this is just a
fluke, not sure what kind of logging Proxmox comes with, but something I'll dive into after work & when I'm more awake.

Never had a hang or crash under ESXi.

I have a non-responsive crash every couple of months. Everything comes
up after a power cycle. I'm using a 10+ year old Thinkpad that's been
running 24/7 for several years, though.




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On 05 May 2025, Warpslide said the following...

Everything seems to be back up & working. Hopefully this is just a
fluke, not sure what kind of logging Proxmox comes with, but something I'll dive into after work & when I'm more awake.

Running "journalctl | less" and scrolling around I see a whole bunch of these entries starting just after 6am:

May 05 06:07:40 pve kernel: e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 eno1: Detected Hardware Unit Hang:
TDH <d6>
TDT <2f>
next_to_use <2f>
next_to_clean <d5>
buffer_info[next_to_clean]:
time_stamp <104fcddd4>
next_to_watch <d6>
jiffies <104fce1c0>
next_to_watch.status <0>
MAC Status <40080083>
PHY Status <796d>
PHY 1000BASE-T Status <3800>
PHY Extended Status <3000>
PCI Status <10>

A google lead me to this post:

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/e1000-driver-hang.58284/page-8#post-390709


Which suggests adding these lines to /etc/network/interfaces under the interface in question:

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
offload-gso off
offload-gro off
offload-tso off
offload-rx off
offload-tx off
offload-rxvlan off
offload-txvlan off
offload-sg off
offload-ufo off
offload-lro off
address x.x.x.x
netmask a.a.a.a
gateway z.z.z.z
bridge-ports eno1
bridge-stp off
bridge-fd 0


Lets see if we're still online in the morning.


Jay

... Has anyone ever disappeared into thick air?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Northern Realms (21:3/110)

So Im thinking the same thing - of switching over to Proxmox. I'm not fan of Debian though, but I though if I did change, then I should suc up and get used to it.

The beauty of Proxmox VE is you never need to go to the command line for most things. Opening a shell and clearing a lock file is all I've needed to do.

... or, you CAN if you want to. I find myself doing PVE maintenance and even building VM/CTs from the CLI all the time now...



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

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* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Re: Re: ESXi -> Proxmox
By: Warpslide to deon on Sun May 04 2025 09:20 am

Howdy,

I'm not sure this approach was the best one, but it worked and I got to learn a bunch of stuff about Proxmox along the way.

(Sorry for the wall of text)

Glad it worked out for you.

My CM5's arrived, and I flashed Debian to the eMMCs, then did the proxmox install on them.

I must admit, I am liking it - but I've hit a brick wall. I wanted to install talos linux as a VM on 3 of them, to create a kube cluster. While getting it to boot the iso was easy, the install proceeds, but when the VM reboots, it reverts back to the CD. The hard drive doesnt appear to have had the UEFI boot loader installed.

So not sure if its me, the fact that I'm running arm proxmox, or if talos doesnt install the UEFI boot loader on arm. Argh!

Might be able to get around it using PXE - so I might try that next...


...ëîåï
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On 05 May 2025, Warpslide said the following...

Lets see if we're still online in the morning.

It was! :)


Jay

... What kind of horses go out after dark? Nightmares

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Northern Realms (21:3/110)

My CM5's arrived, and I flashed Debian to the eMMCs, then did the proxmox install on them.

I must admit, I am liking it - but I've hit a brick wall. I wanted to install talos linux as a VM on 3 of them, to create a kube cluster.
While getting it to boot the iso was easy, the install proceeds, but
when the VM reboots, it reverts back to the CD. The hard drive doesnt appear to have had the UEFI boot loader installed.

Theres options for UEFI when you create the VM. The PVE documentation is also very helpful - not saying RTFM, but it does cover all the advanced settings and whatnot fairly well...

Also, after an install you'll want to remove the CD/DVD drive - or at least the .ISO... there are more settings for the various CPU types, and ALL the good stuff. It can be done.



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Never had a hang or crash under ESXi.

It might always be a a hardware problem, not a software one... :/

ST

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Re: Re: ESXi -> Proxmox
By: paulie420 to deon on Tue May 06 2025 04:36 pm

Howdy,

While getting it to boot the iso was easy, the install proceeds, but when the VM reboots, it reverts back to the CD. The hard drive doesnt appear to have had the UEFI boot loader installed.

Theres options for UEFI when you create the VM. The PVE documentation is also very helpful - not saying RTFM, but it does cover all the advanced settings and whatnot fairly well...

Well that'll be a many hours I'm not getting back :(

I took the CD and it booted and installed fine on my Pi 4 ESXi server.

I changed my config so that the proxmox VMs PXE booted and that worked a treat. I discovered as part of the setup that the control client I was using "talosctl" was actually a really old version. (I discovered because it wouldnt update kube).

So I fixed talosctl, and then had another go booting the ISO, doing an install, and it worked. Argh :) It must have been related to the old ctrl client I was using. "brew upgrade talosctl" was working, but somehow an old version was still lingering...

Anyway, I've got three nodes running, now to play with Kube. Hoping I can get it to use the ceph that proxmox setup...


...ëîåï
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On 07 May 2025, StormTrooper said the following...

It might always be a a hardware problem, not a software one... :/

It looks like there's an issue with the Intel NIC drivers on Debian, found a workaround (see my later post) & so far, so good.


Jay

... How does a scientist freshen their breath? With experi-mints

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