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Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie

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  Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie Daniel Bareiro <daniel-listas@gmx.net> - 2016-05-03 22:30 +0200
    RE: Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie "Andrew Wood" <andrewjameswood@ymail.com> - 2016-05-03 22:40 +0200
      Re: Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie Daniel Bareiro <daniel-listas@gmx.net> - 2016-05-03 23:00 +0200
    Re: Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> - 2016-05-03 23:00 +0200
      Re: Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie Martinx - ジェームズ <thiagocmartinsc@gmail.com> - 2016-05-03 23:20 +0200
        Re: Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie Daniel Bareiro <daniel-listas@gmx.net> - 2016-05-04 00:10 +0200
          Re: Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie Martinx - ジェームズ <thiagocmartinsc@gmail.com> - 2016-05-04 05:50 +0200
            Re: Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie Daniel Bareiro <daniel-listas@gmx.net> - 2016-05-05 00:00 +0200
              Re: Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie Daniel Bareiro <daniel-listas@gmx.net> - 2016-05-05 15:20 +0200

#167445 — Migrating Windows on a physical server to KVM with Debian Jessie

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Hi all!

A client who has a dermatology center currently uses a patient
management system that works on Windows. This system is installed on a
computer with a single disk.

I'm thinking of offering a migration of this system to a virtual machine
with KVM on Debian Jessie using software raid 1 with two disks and
mdadm. I think this would give a level of contingency that they now have
not given if that disk fails; they could have a very large dead time by
having to install the operating system, the medical management software
and then restore the backup.

I have also gotten some feedback saying Windows works better with KVM
than with physical hardware, although it is not something I have
validated because I don't use Windows regularly.

I was thinking of making an image of the current disk using "dd" (I
could even convert the raw disk to qcow if on this way the access is
more efficient), to start the KVM virtual machine with this disk image,
but I have doubts whether Windows might fail on the starting process
when discovering the hardware has changed.

I would like to know what opinions you have about it.


Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,
Daniel

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#167446

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Bareiro [mailto:daniel-listas@gmx.net] 

I was thinking of making an image of the current disk using "dd" (I could even convert the raw disk to qcow if on this way the access is more efficient), to start the KVM virtual machine with this disk image, but I have doubts whether Windows might fail on the starting process when discovering the hardware has changed.

I would like to know what opinions you have about it.

-----------------------------
What version of Windows is it? Windows 10 is slightly better in regard to accepting major hardware changes but still not problem free.

Are we talking server software here or a desktop system that non-IT staff interact with?

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#167447

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Hi, Andrew. Thanks for the prompt reply.

On 03/05/16 17:33, Andrew Wood wrote:

>> I was thinking of making an image of the current disk using "dd" (I could
>> even convert the raw disk to qcow if on this way the access is more
>> efficient), to start the KVM virtual machine with this disk image, but I
>> have doubts whether Windows might fail on the starting process when
>> discovering the hardware has changed.
>> 
>> I would like to know what opinions you have about it.

> What version of Windows is it? Windows 10 is slightly better in regard to
> accepting major hardware changes but still not problem free.

Honestly I have not done an audit yet to see what version of Windows is
because it was something we talked at a meeting of a few minutes we had
last Saturday and this migration was something I was thinking today to
propose next Saturday in another meeting. But I do not think it is
Windows 10. Anyway I would have to check it.

> Are we talking server software here or a desktop system that non-IT staff
> interact with?

It is a client-server system. Doctors in each consulting room are
connected to this server using a desktop client. This server keeps track
of clinical records of patients, medical studies, among other things.


Thanks again for your time.

Kind regards,
Daniel

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#167448

Daniel Bareiro wrote:

> Hi all!
> 
> A client who has a dermatology center currently uses a patient
> management system that works on Windows. This system is installed on a
> computer with a single disk.
> 
> I'm thinking of offering a migration of this system to a virtual machine
> with KVM on Debian Jessie using software raid 1 with two disks and
> mdadm. I think this would give a level of contingency that they now have
> not given if that disk fails; they could have a very large dead time by
> having to install the operating system, the medical management software
> and then restore the backup.
> 
> I have also gotten some feedback saying Windows works better with KVM
> than with physical hardware, although it is not something I have
> validated because I don't use Windows regularly.
> 
> I was thinking of making an image of the current disk using "dd" (I
> could even convert the raw disk to qcow if on this way the access is
> more efficient), to start the KVM virtual machine with this disk image,
> but I have doubts whether Windows might fail on the starting process
> when discovering the hardware has changed.
> 
> I would like to know what opinions you have about it.
> 
> 

I've not done this with KVM, but with XP and 7 it was not a big issue to
move into virtual machine vmware/player (we used a ghost image back then).
As the drivers provided by vmware are supported out of the box by windows
it is able to discover and load the proper drivers for the virtual
hardware - usually going into admin mode updating drivers and booting in
normal + updating drivers.

There were occasionally issues where we had to go through the windows
recovery doing an update to reinitialize the boot process.
What you probably should pay attention is the disk type (sata/ide).
If you can not boot, use windows recovery. If you boot but get blue screen,
go into admin mode or again windows recovery (this overwrites the base
system). Do not mix this with system recovery offered by some vendors.

In your case I would offer to try it for free and in case of success,
collect the award.

Alternatively if it is only about RAID, windows supports raid as well, so
make a backup, add 2nd disk, raid and restore from backup. If it is a
rather modern mainboard the hard disk controller could have built-in raid
support.

I hope this helps

regards

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#167449

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On 3 May 2016 at 17:51, deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> wrote:

> Daniel Bareiro wrote:
>
> > Hi all!
> >
> > A client who has a dermatology center currently uses a patient
> > management system that works on Windows. This system is installed on a
> > computer with a single disk.
> >
> > I'm thinking of offering a migration of this system to a virtual machine
> > with KVM on Debian Jessie using software raid 1 with two disks and
> > mdadm. I think this would give a level of contingency that they now have
> > not given if that disk fails; they could have a very large dead time by
> > having to install the operating system, the medical management software
> > and then restore the backup.
> >
> > I have also gotten some feedback saying Windows works better with KVM
> > than with physical hardware, although it is not something I have
> > validated because I don't use Windows regularly.
> >
> > I was thinking of making an image of the current disk using "dd" (I
> > could even convert the raw disk to qcow if on this way the access is
> > more efficient), to start the KVM virtual machine with this disk image,
> > but I have doubts whether Windows might fail on the starting process
> > when discovering the hardware has changed.
> >
> > I would like to know what opinions you have about it.
> >
> >
>
> I've not done this with KVM, but with XP and 7 it was not a big issue to
> move into virtual machine vmware/player (we used a ghost image back then).
> As the drivers provided by vmware are supported out of the box by windows
> it is able to discover and load the proper drivers for the virtual
> hardware - usually going into admin mode updating drivers and booting in
> normal + updating drivers.
>
> There were occasionally issues where we had to go through the windows
> recovery doing an update to reinitialize the boot process.
> What you probably should pay attention is the disk type (sata/ide).
> If you can not boot, use windows recovery. If you boot but get blue screen,
> go into admin mode or again windows recovery (this overwrites the base
> system). Do not mix this with system recovery offered by some vendors.
>
> In your case I would offer to try it for free and in case of success,
> collect the award.
>
> Alternatively if it is only about RAID, windows supports raid as well, so
> make a backup, add 2nd disk, raid and restore from backup. If it is a
> rather modern mainboard the hard disk controller could have built-in raid
> support.
>
> I hope this helps
>
> regards
>

I would recommend for you to reinstall the same Windows version on top of
KVM, using VirtIO drivers for both HDD and NIC devices, then, reinstall the
applications and copy the data to the new Windows...

To install Windows on top of VirtIO, you'll need to boot Windows ISO, plus
a second virtual CD-Drive, with the VirtIO drivers on it, then, during
Windows install, when asked, point to the second CD...

Cheers!

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#167451

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Hi, Martinx

On 03/05/16 18:17, Martinx - ジェームズ wrote:

> I would recommend for you to reinstall the same Windows version on top
> of KVM, using VirtIO drivers for both HDD and NIC devices, then,
> reinstall the applications and copy the data to the new Windows...
> 
> To install Windows on top of VirtIO, you'll need to boot Windows ISO,
> plus a second virtual CD-Drive, with the VirtIO drivers on it, then,
> during Windows install, when asked, point to the second CD...

Thanks for the recommendation.

A long time ago that I don't read about VirtIO drivers for Windows. The
last time I did, they were experimental.

I just do a little research and found this page [1] of the KVM project.
Do you mean to one of the ISOS published here [1]?

These ISOs have drivers for any version of Windows and any architecture
(32 and 64 bit)?


Thanks again for your time.


Kind regards,
Daniel

[1] http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/Download_Drivers
[2] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Windows_Virtio_Drivers

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#167454

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On 3 May 2016 at 19:06, Daniel Bareiro <daniel-listas@gmx.net> wrote:

> Hi, Martinx
>
> On 03/05/16 18:17, Martinx - ジェームズ wrote:
>
> > I would recommend for you to reinstall the same Windows version on top
> > of KVM, using VirtIO drivers for both HDD and NIC devices, then,
> > reinstall the applications and copy the data to the new Windows...
> >
> > To install Windows on top of VirtIO, you'll need to boot Windows ISO,
> > plus a second virtual CD-Drive, with the VirtIO drivers on it, then,
> > during Windows install, when asked, point to the second CD...
>
> Thanks for the recommendation.
>
> A long time ago that I don't read about VirtIO drivers for Windows. The
> last time I did, they were experimental.
>
> I just do a little research and found this page [1] of the KVM project.
> Do you mean to one of the ISOS published here [1]?
>
> These ISOs have drivers for any version of Windows and any architecture
> (32 and 64 bit)?
>
>
> Thanks again for your time.
>
>
> Kind regards,
> Daniel
>
> [1] http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/Download_Drivers
> [2] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Windows_Virtio_Drivers
>
>
Yep, this is it!   :-)

I have many Windows 2008 R2 64-bit running in production, with those
drivers:

https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso


I only tested Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 R2, both works fine... Boot
Windows ISO as primary CD, and virtio-win.iso as secondary CD, all good...


Oh, also, I am using SPICE VDI, instead of ugly VNC... Super smooth video
experience for Windows guests. After all installed (don't need to provide
video drivers during Windows install), you can download SPICE drivers from
here:

http://www.spice-space.org/download.html:

http://www.spice-space.org/download/windows/spice-guest-tools/spice-guest-tools-0.100.exe


All running on OpenStack! Only diff is that I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 as a
host and now, 16.04, but Debian is just fine too, of course...   =)

Cheers!
Thiago

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#167481

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Hi, Thiago.

> > > I would recommend for you to reinstall the same Windows version on top
> > > of KVM, using VirtIO drivers for both HDD and NIC devices, then,
> > > reinstall the applications and copy the data to the new Windows...
> > >
> > > To install Windows on top of VirtIO, you'll need to boot Windows ISO,
> > > plus a second virtual CD-Drive, with the VirtIO drivers on it, then,
> > > during Windows install, when asked, point to the second CD...

> > Thanks for the recommendation.
> >
> > A long time ago that I don't read about VirtIO drivers for Windows. The
> > last time I did, they were experimental.
> >
> > I just do a little research and found this page [1] of the KVM project.
> > Do you mean to one of the ISOS published here [2]?
> >
> > These ISOs have drivers for any version of Windows and any architecture
> > (32 and 64 bit)?
> >
> > [1] http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/Download_Drivers
> > [2] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Windows_Virtio_Drivers

> Yep, this is it!   :-)

Great! Thanks for confirm! :-)

> I have many Windows 2008 R2 64-bit running in production, with those
> drivers:
> 
> https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso 

I see that it is the Stable virtio-win iso. It is good to know that
you're using it in production with good result.

> I only tested Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 R2, both works fine...
> Boot Windows ISO as primary CD, and virtio-win.iso as secondary CD, all
> good...

According to what I was looking at some videos, just when starting the
Windows installation CD, would I have to choose a "custom installation"
option for loading drivers from a CD, right?

I've seen it in a video where they use Windows 7, but maybe for other
versions of Windows I would have to follow the same procedure.

> Oh, also, I am using SPICE VDI, instead of ugly VNC... Super smooth
> video experience for Windows guests. After all installed (don't need to
> provide video drivers during Windows install), you can download SPICE
> drivers from here:
> 
> http://www.spice-space.org/download.html:
> 
> http://www.spice-space.org/download/windows/spice-guest-tools/spice-guest-tools-0.100.exe
> 
> 
> All running on OpenStack! Only diff is that I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 as a
> host and now, 16.04, but Debian is just fine too, of course...   =)

Interesting. Thanks for the references!

The first time I tried VirtManager on Jessie I have noticed that it is
now using Spice as default for graphical consoles (before it was using
VNC), but I have not yet tried Spice. What client are you using to
connect to the guest using this protocol? Because I have not seen it,
for example, in Remmina.

Thanks for sharing your experience.


Kind regards,
Daniel

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#167502

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Hi, Thiago.

On 04/05/16 18:58, Daniel Bareiro wrote:

>> I only tested Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 R2, both works fine...
>> Boot Windows ISO as primary CD, and virtio-win.iso as secondary CD, all
>> good...

> According to what I was looking at some videos, just when starting the
> Windows installation CD, would I have to choose a "custom installation"
> option for loading drivers from a CD, right?
> 
> I've seen it in a video where they use Windows 7, but maybe for other
> versions of Windows I would have to follow the same procedure.

I downloaded the ISO image that you had mentioned. I mounted the ISO
image and was reviewing its content. The drivers for HDD and NIC devices
are found on the 'viostor' and 'NetKVM' directories?

Although the directory structure of the ISO in this [1] video is
different, it seems that the Windows installer displays only INF files.
In our ISO I see we have other files (cat, pdb and sys files). I guess
these INF files will refer to other files, right?


Kind regards,
Daniel

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thVmhIw4-jU

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