strange guest behaviour after migrated to esxi4.1

[zaccaz]

hi there,

i've just converted a vmware1 guest to esxi4.1 via vm converter 3, my steps as below:
1. on vmware1, power off the guest (w2k3sp2, ad server)
2. run vm converter to convert existing vm files into esxi4.1 version with options install vmtool, remove checkpoint
3. it went very smooth & finished within 20 mins
4. on ewxi4.1, power on the converted guest

here got problem 1 - via vsphere client's console tab, mouse/keyboard didn't work at all, anyway use remote desktop to access the server to continue my works.

5. set the fix ipaddr on the guest, reboot the server

here got problem 2 - after "server is shutting down..." message gone, it stay in forever grey background screen, after waiting some 30mins then i power it off.

6. restart the guest, uninstall vmtool, reboot (manually power off), reinstall vmtool, reboot (manually power off), still didn't help.

here got problem 3 - found server display settings' advance button dimmed so i can't change the hardware acceleration settings, also the screen resolution is fixed at 1280x800 also cannot be changed.

i didn't know where i've done wrong, as it's AD server seems better not to bring up the old vmware1 image file to do it again.... in this case any suggestion to fix?

million thx in advance!

 

[cabraun]

So I don't have answers for you, but I do have questions. P2Ving or V2Ving domain controllers is a tricky task and ALL best practices say don't do it. It's not impossible, but it is never thought of as a good idea.

Why didn't you either just shut down the VM on the old host and copy/move the VM files to the new server and power it up or why didn't you just build a new VM on the new host and promote the new VM to a DC?

Absolutely would have saved a lot of troubleshooting.

So, that being said, I think you have a few options:

1) Hopefully you have other DCs (At least 1 physical) in your environment that have been running all along. If that is the case, just disregard this VM and build a new VM and promote it to a new DC. You will have to do some ugly clean up in AD to get rid of the non-existent DC and have other DCs seize any FSMO roles it had etc. Still easier than trying to troubleshoot the problem you have today.

2) If you don't have another DC bring the old VM DC back online. Of course you will lose any changes in AD since you went down this road. Then build a new VM on the new host and promote it. Then if you are still planning to get rid of the original, still BUILD A 2nd DC!

3) Also if you don't have another DC, leave the old VM DC off and copy the files to your new host and add it to inventory and turn it on. As soon as it is up and running, BUILD A 2nd DC!

If you insist on having 2 VM DC's keep them on separate hosts. Also just as a best practice for Virtual Domain Controllers, make sure that you configure your virtual disks as "Independent Persistent" so that they can't be snapshoted from within the vSphere Client. Also, make sure 1 DC in your environment is getting it's time from an external stratum 1 time source and all other DCs are getting their time from that DC.

Good luck.

 

[zaccaz]

thx cabraun for the info!

 

[ArizonaGeek]

I am going to agree with cabraun, there are a few people that have done P2V or V2V's of a domain controller and have gotten it to work but they must have sacrificed a virgin in order to get them to work correctly I did two about 4 years ago and I spent a week cleaning up the mess. If I were in your shoes, and I've been there before, I would hope you have two DCs. I would just shut off the P2V'ed machine. Force remove it from AD (

http://www.petri.co.il/delete_failed_dcs_from_ad.htm)

then create a new virtual 2008 (or even 2003) server and promote it to a DC.

I have 4 DCs for two domains virtualized. Two running in my production environment and two in my development environment (one in prod for each domain and one in dev for each domain)

I used to be a fan of doing a P2V but any more, it is WAY more work than it is to just create a new virtual server and migrate the settings over. It just seems to be more trouble than it is worth, I would only recommend doing a P2V if whatever was running on the machine just couldn't be migrated for whatever reason.

Really, since I've created templates, I can have a new virtual machine running faster than I can P2V a physical machine, then log in to remove all the old hardware and hidden devices, reboot 40 times etc... I could spend 2 + hours doing a P2V or 25 minutes to deploy from template and run a few updates.

Good luck!

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!