tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post1405304919263526532..comments2023-11-01T18:25:49.063+01:00Comments on VMware Front Experience: How to clone ESXi 5Andreas Peetzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12918778845056237847noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-50790525767280769352018-11-06T08:52:29.058+01:002018-11-06T08:52:29.058+01:00an other reason of cloning esxi could be because y...an other reason of cloning esxi could be because you made some manual host configuration e.g. integrating ghettoVCB or XSIbackuphuwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04220909471960510784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-43765885048531207712016-03-29T05:37:02.104+02:002016-03-29T05:37:02.104+02:00I fixed the issue. Both USB flash drives were perf...I fixed the issue. Both USB flash drives were perfect. I just had to force the Dell Boot mode from BIOS to uEFI and reboot. Now I have a good copy and I'll be backing up my host from now on.<br />-CarlCarl Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03409067304211816380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-14211966585675519212016-03-25T14:53:13.086+01:002016-03-25T14:53:13.086+01:00Hello everyone. I used Clonezilla to clone my curr...Hello everyone. I used Clonezilla to clone my current usb esxi 6 drive to a new one using all defaults. Now neither usb will boot in my Dell r730 server. I have 3 hosts in a cluster with vsan. I did not backup the configuration. <br />I have no idea why source usb was touched or changed. I booted a Clonezilla iso and it all went without error. Esxi 6 gpt boot partition may be unsupported. <br />Can I repair the boot sector? Maybe run esxi install and choose upgrade?<br />ThanksCarl Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03409067304211816380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-33158190575993056092016-02-05T21:06:16.884+01:002016-02-05T21:06:16.884+01:00Assign a new UUID to the cloned datastore by follo...Assign a new UUID to the cloned datastore by following instructions <a href="https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc_50/GUID-5A4E2248-12CB-4A10-B167-79D3D13D3751.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br />Andreas Peetzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12918778845056237847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-52262259434465657332016-02-05T16:45:44.739+01:002016-02-05T16:45:44.739+01:00As a note. there is not snapshot for this LUN. So ...As a note. there is not snapshot for this LUN. So the method to resignature datastore won't work. Is there a way to change UUID of main datastore (not a snapshot)? I tried rename datastore but it shows renamed datastored on both ESXi server1 and server2. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-49582439798766760862016-02-05T15:12:21.686+01:002016-02-05T15:12:21.686+01:00Thanks Andreas,
After I configured both ESX server...Thanks Andreas,<br />After I configured both ESX server1 & server2(cloned) I see that datastore1(22) is shown as mounted on both servers? Is this a problem? Is there any ID need to be change after cloning?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-7016666059591489282016-02-05T07:51:39.991+01:002016-02-05T07:51:39.991+01:00Yes, also set
esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /Net/FollowHardw...Yes, also set<br /><br />esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /Net/FollowHardwareMac<br /><br />and reboot. That should be sufficient. You don't need to do anything about the VM templates.<br />Andreas Peetzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12918778845056237847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-6039200590253946642016-02-04T17:46:20.156+01:002016-02-04T17:46:20.156+01:00Thanks much Andreas,
is there anything else I nee...Thanks much Andreas,<br /><br />is there anything else I need to change besides this which I might not have notices yet? Do I need to set esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /Net/FollowHardwareMac also?<br />I see same/dumplicate mac address for vmk2 IMM_Network on both ESX hosts when I run esxcfg-vmnic -l which is I believe for vSwitchUSB0 128 3 128 1500 vusb0. vusb0 Pseudo cdc_ether Up 10Mbps Half 0a:94:ef:06:73:c7 1500 Unknown Unknown Do I need to change it. if yes, what need to do?<br />How about VMTemplate? Do I need to change anything for VM template?<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-40483559106878770552016-02-04T10:35:56.941+01:002016-02-04T10:35:56.941+01:00Hi Anonymous,
having duplicate host UUIDs will ca...Hi Anonymous,<br /><br />having duplicate host UUIDs will cause issues sooner or later, so I would fix that asap.<br />Just remove the line from the /etc/vmware/esx.conf file on the cloned host and reboot it. A new unique UUID will be automatically generated.<br /><br />AndreasAndreas Peetzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12918778845056237847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-66316160245989808652016-02-04T00:44:00.262+01:002016-02-04T00:44:00.262+01:00Hi,
I built one ESXi 5.1 patch 2 host with RAID1...Hi, <br /><br />I built one ESXi 5.1 patch 2 host with RAID1 OS boot disks on IBM 3650M H/W. All disks are internal disks. Customized the settings and copied some files/scripts/software ISO into datastore1 which is the same boot disks. Then to clone the ESXi host1 I took one boot disks out and used it to build other ESXi hosts2 as I need to built more ESXi hosts. The cloned ESXi host2 booted from the disk which I took from ESXi host1 and reconfigured IMM & hostname/IP on ESXi host2 and working fine. <br />The question is that I see same system/uuid in /etc/vmware/esx.conf file. I was reading article for nested ESXi host but mine is not nested but they are two independent h/w. Do I need to do anything in this scenerio. Do I need to change system/uuid or MAC address or any other settings? I do not have any VMs but I do have some VM Templates *.vmtx (not .vmx). Do I need to change anything for these VM templates? I am planning to use VM templates to build VMs on both ESXi servers. I haven't yet tried to add them into Vcenter servers yet. Would there be any issue while adding into Vcenter servers with same system/uuid?<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-80064573584012604952015-12-23T05:35:14.451+01:002015-12-23T05:35:14.451+01:00Yes I did. Initially, it was grayed out and I foun...Yes I did. Initially, it was grayed out and I found out that in order to enable that button I needed to unmount the datastore, and re-mount it and change the signature. Once I did that, the Increase button became available. However, after clicking Increase, the LUN selection window was blank so there was nothing I could increase. I was stuck with the old partition size. I read in VMware forums that the only way would be to destroy the datastore entirely and reformat it. So I did. I moved my VMs to another drive I had (I connected it and added it as a second datastore). Then I went to ESXi shell and with the partedUtil deleted the old VMFS datastore partition in the SSD. I then used the GUI to recreate the datastore in the SSD and this time it used the entire available space. Finally, I moved the VMs back from the second datastore and re-added them to the inventory. Everything is working great now!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10094508636472820541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-27906253641218041192015-12-22T20:11:12.014+01:002015-12-22T20:11:12.014+01:00Hi Mario,
have you tried using "Increase...&...Hi Mario,<br /><br />have you tried using "Increase..." from the datastore properties window in the vSphere Client?<br /><br />AndreasAndreas Peetzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12918778845056237847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-9695637478426317312015-12-22T20:00:16.961+01:002015-12-22T20:00:16.961+01:00Just for future reference, if this helps anyone, I...Just for future reference, if this helps anyone, I was able to get around the problem. I installed a fresh copy of ESXi on the new SSD drive, which made the SSD bootable and created the partition layout and structure. I then used Clonezilla to do partition cloning, instead of entire disk cloning. First, I cloned the two 250MB partitions from the old HDD. This is where the ESXi Linux operating system images reside, which contain all the settings, drivers and customizations. Then I cloned the largest VMFS partition from the old HDD to the SSD. This is where the Datastore with my VMs are located. After booting up the new SSD, the VMs were not available because the VMFS partition was not mounted. I mounted the partition in the ESXi GUI (keeping existing signature), and this made my VMs immediately available and able to boot up. Everything is now intact as it was working with the old HDD. The only problem now is that the VMFS partition is the same size as it was in the old HDD. Since the SSD is larger than the old HDD, I now have some open space in the SSD that is not being used. Clonezilla was unable to resize the VMFS partition when it copied it, saying that VMFS is an unknown format. This leads me to think that Clonezilla may not be fully compatible with VMFS partitions. I would like to be able to resize the VMFS partition on the SSD where my datastore resides, and I am currently researching how to do that so it can use all the space available in the new SSD.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10094508636472820541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-88612022936844560342015-12-21T19:43:56.658+01:002015-12-21T19:43:56.658+01:00This method did not work for me. I was trying to c...This method did not work for me. I was trying to clone an ESXi 5.5 host using Clonezilla, I followed the steps, after Clonezilla finished, I powered off the system and tried to start from the new SSD drive (disconnected the old HDD), and the system said no bootable drive found.... I did not get any errors during the process. I'm just going to do a fresh install, backup and restore using other tools.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10094508636472820541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-48075762777679968892015-06-16T21:26:27.630+02:002015-06-16T21:26:27.630+02:00Hi Anonymous,
you can clone it using the instruct...Hi Anonymous,<br /><br />you can clone it using the instructions here, but you can also just backup the ESXi configuration, and - in case of desaster: reinstall ESXi on a new USB drive and restore the ESXi configuration.<br />See <a href="http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2042141" rel="nofollow">KB2042141</a> for instructions.<br /><br />AndreasAndreas Peetzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12918778845056237847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-87583339321087322842015-06-12T09:38:05.760+02:002015-06-12T09:38:05.760+02:00Hi guys, I inherited a machine with esxi installed...Hi guys, I inherited a machine with esxi installed on USB drive and i think there is definitelly no backup of this USB key. Can I simply copy everything as it is from one usb key to another one and use it as backup? Or is the originall key somehow signed? Must the usb key has the same size? Thanks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-49351721861889141912015-05-13T16:13:10.010+02:002015-05-13T16:13:10.010+02:00Hi Bob,
I'd prefer building a customized ESXi...Hi Bob,<br /><br />I'd prefer building a customized ESXi installation ISO that includes all the additional drivers that you need and use that to install the 12 new hosts.<br />You can use my <a href="http://esxi-customizer-ps.v-front.de" rel="nofollow">ESXi-Customizer-PS</a> to build the customized ISO.<br /><br />AndreasAndreas Peetzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12918778845056237847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-68600774257583384542015-05-13T15:58:37.366+02:002015-05-13T15:58:37.366+02:00How do I copy an existing esxi host to deploy to 1...How do I copy an existing esxi host to deploy to 12 new servers? I have nimber drivers on the "master" host.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05275800201523931807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-41543756860137586722014-06-11T20:11:11.578+02:002014-06-11T20:11:11.578+02:00Hi Todd,
please do not try to clone ESXi together...Hi Todd,<br /><br />please do not try to clone ESXi together with the VMs! The normal procedure in your case would be:<br />1. Backup all VMs to an external hard disk (using the Export to OVF function of the vSphere client) and ship it to the destination datacenter<br />2. Install ESXi on the new host in the target location (this is done really quickly)<br />3. Import the VMs from the backup disk to the new host.<br /><br />If you have network connectivity between the old and the new site with sufficient bandwidth then you could also copy the VMs directly from the old host to the new host using ovftool.<br /><br />AndreasAndreas Peetzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12918778845056237847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-50273744052253727962014-06-11T17:38:41.904+02:002014-06-11T17:38:41.904+02:00I need to move the OS and all VM's from physic...I need to move the OS and all VM's from physical site to physical site. I work in a business that installs new datacenters and the ability to build out while waiting for equipment delivery to another site is priceless. This method allows me to work weeks in advance and if time is money, this is proceless. My onely question is, which will allow this move to a different server altogether with new NICs and MAc Addresses - backup or cloning? Does either have any issues with that or can they be changed after the cloning process? Thanks! -Toddtoddrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17004087917334742818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-46537072371106823782014-04-13T04:55:40.928+02:002014-04-13T04:55:40.928+02:00Hi all,
I'm no ESX expert but after several y...Hi all,<br /><br />I'm no ESX expert but after several years of using ESXi I would higly recommned Canalla's method as being one of the safest options, BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP. I have done something similar in that the ESXi OS was installed on a smaller drive with no datastore or VM's, in this case you can replace the OS drive and simply re-install ESX 5.1, it will detect existing Datasores and ask if you want to add them to the fresh install.<br /><br />Then it's just a case of adding your VM's to inventory. Bear in mind I have only done this from ESX 5.1 to 5.1, so am not sure about cross versions!Gazzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02979223695025238824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-11455274751611904452014-02-27T15:21:08.084+01:002014-02-27T15:21:08.084+01:00I've done the same, using clonezilla to copy a...I've done the same, using clonezilla to copy across an ESXi host and it's local datastore.<br /><br />However the local datastore was absent when the machine was brought back up.<br />(I needed to change the underlying RAID so cloning the whole host was an attractive idea - although I did also backup the VM and ESXi configuration so if the clone failed I wasn't stuffed).<br /><br />I did find that the datastore was copied across though and can be re-instated.<br />I removed the inaccessible VM from the inventory, which meant the datastore the ESXi host couldn't 'find' vanished.<br />Rescanning the HBA didn't help.<br /><br />So then I tried adding the datastore back, specifiying the partition I had cloned.<br />It did add the datastore back, using the 'Add storage' wizard but only when you specify 'Assign a new signature' withing the Select VMFS Mount Options.<br />The datastore is added with a name in the format:<br />snap-xxxxxxxx-<br />Seems to work ok and I was able to browse the data store and add the VM without any problems.D Grayhttp://users.ox.ac.uk/~clas0415/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-9671108867115252432013-12-12T08:43:11.081+01:002013-12-12T08:43:11.081+01:00I'm reading this because I just bought an SSD ...I'm reading this because I just bought an SSD drive for my white box ESXi installation. Right now there is a 1tb drive in the box that has both the ESXi system files and a datastore on it, and the write performance is pretty slow because EXSi does no caching as it expects a caching disk controller, which I don't have on this whitebox. I was looking for a way to clone the whole thing onto a 1tb SSD drive by connecting both drives and booting clonezilla from a usb key. Scottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-14602520238249712062013-10-22T12:00:23.462+02:002013-10-22T12:00:23.462+02:00Hi, For the scenario mentioned earlier cloning the...Hi, For the scenario mentioned earlier cloning the ESXi system and the VMs on three different HDDs I would:<br />1)Clone the system as described in this tutorial<br />2)Backup each VM using thinware or vconverter to a temporary storage<br />3)Boot up your new ESXi system (with no VMs)<br />4)Restore the backups back on the bigger single HDD datastore.<br /><br />:)canallahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17245557967603115038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6059874241017858476.post-45549052465600201932013-10-18T22:32:17.455+02:002013-10-18T22:32:17.455+02:00I don't think that this will work, and it is a...I don't think that this will work, and it is also not necessary to try this.<br />Just install ESXi to a USB thumb drive and boot ESXi from it.Andreas Peetzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12918778845056237847noreply@blogger.com