Converting a Linux operating system fails with the error: Unable to create virtual machine

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Converting a Linux operating system fails.
• You see the error:
  
  Unable to create virtual machine 'vm_name'
  
  
• The Converter logs may contain entries similar to:
  
  
  • [Task] Error from agent during time estimation: converter.fault.VmCreationFault
  • [Task] Caught an exception while waiting on the agent task to complete. Gathering agent logs before propogating the exception further. Exception message: converter.fault.VmCreationFault
  • Disk id fake-disk-from-vg(VolGroup00) does not identify an existing disk
  • VmTransformerImpl::SeparateBootDisk: Unable to find VirtualDisk for diskId=fake-disk-from-vg(Vol
    Group00)
  • Vm creation failed with error Invalid argument : VmTransformerImpl::SeparateBootDisk: Unable to
    find VirtualDisk for an active volume
  • Invalid argument : VmTransformerImpl::SeparateBootDisk: Unable to find VirtualDisk for an active volume"
    
    Note: For more information on log locations, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware Converter (1010633).

Environment

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs if one or more of the active volumes/partitions are mounted on an unrecognized source volume manager or unrecognized device. Current versions of converter only recognize LVMs for volume managers. Any other volume manager is not recognized and likely results in a failure to clone any volume that is managed by the unrecognized manager component.

The same is true for devices that are not IDE or SCSI, such as multi-path devices and boot from SAN controllers that use a software layer to manage the volumes for boot from SAN configurations on physical systems.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, determine if you are using unsupported volume managers or devices (such as Boot from SAN Multi-path devices).

To determine if you are using unsupported volume managers or devices:

• Check the /etc/fstab and a df -h on the source machine for volumes such as:
  
  /dev/vx/dsk/
  /dev/vx/dsk/appdg/
  
  
• Run fdisk -l and check for output similar to:
  
  /dev/md-1
  /dev/md-2
  /dev/emcpowerb1

As per the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.1 Release Notes and the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.1 Release Notes, VMware vCenter Converter Standalone recognizes only managed source volumes that run on the LVM volume manager. Other volume managers, including but not limited to Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM), are not recognized.

Additional Information

Collecting diagnostic information for VMware Converter