Logical Domains P2V Migration Tool Overview

The Logical Domains P2V Migration Tool automatically converts an existing physical system to a virtual system that runs in a logical domain on a chip multithreading (CMT) system. The source system can be any of the following:

• Any sun4u SPARC system that runs at least the Solaris 8 Operating System

• Any sun4v system that runs the Solaris 10 OS, but does not run in a logical domain

The conversion from a physical system to a virtual system is performed in the following phases:

• Collection phase. Runs on the physical source system. collect creates a file system image of the source system based on the configuration information that it collects about the source system.

• Preparation phase. Runs on the control domain of the target system. prepare creates the logical domain on the target system based on the configuration information collected in the collect phase. The file system image is restored to one or more virtual disks. The image is modified to enable it to run as a logical domain.

• Conversion phase. Runs on the control domain of the target system. In the convert phase, the created logical domain is converted into a logical domain that runs the Solaris 10 OS by using the standard Solaris upgrade process.

For information about the P2V migration tool, see the ldmp2v(1M) man page.

The following sections describe how the conversion from a physical system to a virtual system is performed in phases.

Collection Phase

This phase runs on the system to be converted. To create a consistent file system image, ensure that the system is as quiet as possible and that all applications are stopped. ldmp2v creates a backup of all mounted UFS file systems, so ensure that any file systems to be migrated to the logical domain are mounted. You can exclude mounted file systems by using the -x.

No changes are required on the source system. The only thing required is the ldmp2v script that was installed on the control domain. Depending on the selected archiving method you intend to use, ensure that the ufsdump or flarcreate utility is present on the source system.

Preparation Phase

The preparation phase uses the data collected during the collection phase to create a logical domain that is comparable to the source system.

You can use the ldmp2v prepare command in one of the following ways:

• Automatic mode. Automatically creates virtual disks and restores file system data.

  • Creates the logical domain and the required virtual disks of the same size as on the source system.

  • Partitions the disks and restores the file systems.

    If the combined size of the /, /usr, and /var file systems is less than 10 Gbytes, the sizes of these file systems are automatically adjusted to allow for the larger disk space requirements of the Solaris 10 OS. Automatic resize can be disabled by using the -x no-auto-adjust-fs option or by using the -m option to manually resize a file system.

  • Modifies the OS image of the logical domain to replace all references to physical hardware with versions that are appropriate for a logical domain. This enables you to upgrade the system to the Solaris 10 OS by using the normal Solaris upgrade process. Modifications include updating the /etc/vfstab file to account for new disk names. Any SVM mirrored disks are automatically unencapsulated during this process.

• Non-automatic mode. You must create the virtual disks and restore the file system data. This enables you to change the size and number of disks, the partitioning, and the file system layout. The preparation phase in this mode only runs the logical domain creation and the OS image modification steps on the file system rooted at guest-root.

• Cleanup mode. Removes a logical domain and all of the underlying backend devices that are created by ldmp2v.

Conversion Phase

In the conversion phase, the logical domain uses the Solaris upgrade process to upgrade to the Solaris 10 OS. The upgrade operation removes all existing packages and installs the Solaris 10 sun4v packages, which automatically performs a sun4u-to-sun4v conversion. The convert phase can use a Solaris DVD iso image or a network install image. You can also use Custom JumpStart to perform a fully automated hands-off upgrade operation.