10.3 Converting Hosts Silently with a Kickstart File

To convert physical hosts to a guest image silently, you use a kickstart file to pass parameters to the P2V utility.

The following steps provide a high-level overview of how to convert hosts silently:

Create a P2V kickstart file and copy it to your kickstart server.
Insert the Oracle VM Server installation media into the optical disc drive of the computer you want to image.
Change the boot order to start from the optical disc drive in the BIOS or UEFI settings.
Boot the computer with the Oracle VM Server installation media.
The Oracle VM Server boot screen displays.
At the boot prompt, enter the following:
```
# mboot.c32 xen.mb.efi --- vmlinuz p2v ksdevice=9C:B6:54:82:15:AC 
ks=http://example.com/mypath/ks.cfg --- initrd.img
```
Where:
- ksdevice specifies the network interface to use.
- ks is the path to the P2V kickstart file.

The P2V utility begins the conversion process. If there are any missing parameters in the kickstart file, you are prompted to enter them.

When the conversion process completes, you can import the hardware virtualized guest into Oracle VM Manager as a virtual machine template. See Section 10.4, “Importing Guests as Virtual Machine Templates to Oracle VM Manager”.

Considerations for Using a Kickstart File

Before you attempt to convert hosts with a kickstart file, you should consider the following:

The P2V utility converts disks on the computer to virtual disk images. The virtual disk images are created as IDE disks (hda, hdb, hdc, hdd, and so on) on the guest, using the original disk names. When you use a P2V kickstart file, up to four disks are automatically deployed in the guest. Any extra disks are converted and added to the guest configuration file (vm.cfg) but are not deployed in the guest.
To deploy the additional disks in the guest, edit the guest configuration file to remove the comments from the disk entries and map the additional disks to SCSI device names; for example, sda, sdb, and sdc. The boot disk must always be mapped to device hda. Any files on the guest that contain references to these devices must also be changed; for example, the /etc/fstab file might contain references to /dev/hda1,/dev/sda1, and so on.
At least one network interface must use DHCP so that the computer on which the P2V utility is running can read the kickstart file over the network.
If you want the P2V utility web server to listen using a network interface other than the one that initiates the kickstart session, specify the network configuration for that network interface in the kickstart file.

P2V Kickstart Parameters

To converting hosts with a kickstart file, you must specify parameters at the boot prompt and in a P2V kickstart file.

At the boot prompt, you must specify parameters as follows:

# mboot.c32 xen.mb.efi --- vmlinuz p2v ksdevice=device ks=ksfile --- initrd.img

Boot Parameters

Option	Description
`p2v`	Loads the P2V conversion utility.
`ks=ksfile`	Specifies the name and location of a P2V kickstart file.
`ksdevice=value`	Specifies the network interface to use. You can set one of the following values: The device name of the interface, for example: `eth0` The MAC address of the interface, for example: `9C:B6:54:82:15:AC` The keyword `link`, which uses the first active network interface found on the system. The keyword `bootif`, which uses the interface that the system used to boot from a PXE server. The keyword `ibft`, which uses the MAC address of the interface specified by the iSCSI Boot Firmware Table (iBFT) in the system BIOS or firmware.

Kickstart File Options

Option	Description
`p2v`	Indicates the kickstart file is intended to automate a P2V conversion. It accepts no parameters.
`target --ovmmanager`	Sets the end destination for the guest image. Sets the P2V utility to operate in HTTPS server mode to transfer the guest image to a running instance of Oracle VM Manager.
`diskimage` `option` ...	Denotes a disk to be included in the guest image. The P2V utility uses device mapper-based snapshotting to copy the disk as a `system-*.img` file on the target computer. There may be multiple `diskimage` directives in a P2V kickstart file, each resulting in a disk image in the guest image. The `--device` parameter must always be used with the `diskimage` directive to indicate which device should be imaged. The `option` parameter is one or more of the following: `--device path` The device to image. `path` must be the full path to the device. For example: diskimage --device /dev/sda `--type` { `IDE` \| `SCSI` \| `LVM` \| `MDRAID` } Sets the type of disk. Must be one of `IDE`, `SCSI`, `LVM`, or `MDRAID`. Devices /dev/hda, /dev/hdb, /dev/hdc, and /dev/hdd should be `IDE`. Devices /dev/sd[a-zz] should be `SCSI`. A logical volume should be `LVM`. Devices /dev/md[a-zz] should be `MDRAID`. For example: diskimage --device /dev/hda --type IDE
`network` `option` ...	Configures network information for the computer. The `option` parameter is one or more of the following: `--bootproto` { `dhcp` \| `bootp` \| `static` } Sets the method by which the network configuration is determined. Must be `dhcp`, `bootp`, or `static`. The default is `dhcp`. `bootp` and `dhcp` are treated as the same. `dhcp` uses a DHCP server to obtain the networking configuration, for example: network --bootproto dhcp `static` requires all the necessary networking information. As the name implies, this information is static and is used during and after the installation. The entry for static networking is more complex, as you must include all network configuration information on one line. You must specify the IP address, netmask, gateway, and nameserver, for example: network --bootproto static --ip 10.0.2.15 --netmask 255.255.255.0 --gateway 10.0.2.254 --nameserver 10.0.2.1 The `static` method has the following restrictions: All static networking configuration information must be specified on one line; you cannot wrap lines using a backslash. You can only specify one nameserver. `--ip ipaddress` The IP address for the computer. `--gateway ipaddress` The IP address for the default gateway. `--nameserver ipaddress` The IP address for the primary nameserver. `--netmask netmask` The netmask for the computer.
`vm_options` `option` ...	Sets the configuration options for the guest. The `option` parameter is one or more of the following: `--name name` The name of the guest. `--mem size` The memory allocation for the guest in Mb. `--vcpus number` The number of VCPUs for the guest. `--consolepasswd password` The console password for the guest. This option is ignored by Oracle VM Manager when the guest is imported. For example: vm_options --name MyVM --mem 2048 --vcpus 2 --consolepasswd `mypassword`

P2V Kickstart File Example

The following provides an example of a P2V kickstart file:

p2v
target --ovmmanager
network --device eth0 --bootproto dhcp
diskimage --device /dev/sda --type IDE
vm_options --name myVM --mem 2048 --vcpus 2 --consolepasswd password