Looking for some advice.

I have 6 beta 12 running with a couple linux Xen VMs.  (& 1 Windows that would be nice to keep).

One of these linux VMs is a ubuntu MythTV backend - that is "prod" and needs to be online for all TV viewing..  I understandably have to convert everything to KVM, and I'd love to get all my stuff current.  I'm trying to figure out the best way forward.  I saw something that if I've booted with Xen I can only run Xen and not KVM.  If I boot without Xen I can only use KVM.  Is that right? Is there a release somewhere along the train that I can run both simultaneously so I can figure out how to get these converted?  Is there an "easy" way to convert the VMs?

 

I've already converted my cache to BTRFS and have some dockers running there - I may eventually figure out how to get all my apps as dockers, but I need to learn more about the networking options first. The only thing keeping me from going right to the current version is my Xen VMs.

 

Thoughts?

Looking for some advice.

I have 6 beta 12 running with a couple linux Xen VMs.  (& 1 Windows that would be nice to keep).

One of these linux VMs is a ubuntu MythTV backend - that is "prod" and needs to be online for all TV viewing..  I understandably have to convert everything to KVM, and I'd love to get all my stuff current.  I'm trying to figure out the best way forward.  I saw something that if I've booted with Xen I can only run Xen and not KVM.  If I boot without Xen I can only use KVM.  Is that right? Is there a release somewhere along the train that I can run both simultaneously so I can figure out how to get these converted?  Is there an "easy" way to convert the VMs?

 

I've already converted my cache to BTRFS and have some dockers running there - I may eventually figure out how to get all my apps as dockers, but I need to learn more about the networking options first. The only thing keeping me from going right to the current version is my Xen VMs.

 

Thoughts?

 

Guide to converting Windows Xen VMs to KVM:  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_6/VM_Management#Converting_from_Xen_to_KVM.

 

Linux guest conversion from Xen isn't supported unless you created them in HVM mode.

 

The reality is that you missed the train on a lot of these discussions back when we removed Xen in the first place.  You'll probably need to scour the forum a little bit for further input.  In the future, I recommend staying close to the vine if you're going to participate in a beta.

 

There is no way to run both KVM and Xen at the same time.  Once you upgrade to 6.1.3, you will not be able to even boot into Xen mode anymore.  So you'll just have to pick a weekend to spend some time going through the conversion process.

Yeah, I got busy with work and missed the boat keeping up to date. It's annoyed me for months.  The irony is that I work in virtualization - although more on the vmware "commercial" side.  I know enough about linux to be dangerous - I have to figure out if these are PV or HVM to know what I can do.

Is KVM at my 6b12 level 'mature' enough to be able to handle everything if I just boot out of Xen?  So I can at least do one thing at a time? (switch to KVM, then upgrade) Instead of just upgrading and losing any failback options.

 

Thanks

Or, is there a stop between here and 6.1.3 that would be a better option to handle some VM migration work?

The problem with staying on 6b12 is that you will be on your own, nobody remembers anything about it.  And on an interim release you might spend a week working on a problem only to find out that it was solved in a later release.  It is probably in your best interest to get current.

Understood.. and agreed.. But due to my mix of VMs and such, I need to not just upgrade blindly. And due to my time availability, I need to have the option of failing back over to Xen if I have trouble with KVM. I know that I'm taking a risk - but I'm already in a risky situation and trying my best to get out of it..  What's the last version that supported Xen? I can't find any change notes that go back far enough. Does anybody have a copy I could download?

 

 

 

 

According to the Release Notes, the last and probably the best version for Xen support is 6.0-beta15, only a few releases past yours.  It does have numerous fixes (including security fixes) and upgrades, but I can't recommend another beta.

 

As long as you have a full backup of your flash drive and other configurations and images, you should be able to test-convert unRAID (to latest version) and individual VM's, and revert if necessary.  I do recommend attempting that, with the help of JonP's guide.

Your best bet is to make a full copy of your USB flash device, then upgrade to 6.1.3.  Start converting and if need be, fall back to beta12 by manually copying your back up back to the USB flash.

Ok - slightly different topic.  Are 6Beta12 Xen VMs "xen-standard"?  I have a spare dell PE1950 that I'm thinking of installing Citrix XenServer on and migrate the Xen VMs over - and then upgrade unRAID without Xen being in the picture and move forward.  I'd rather start from scratch with KVM than try and migrate Xen to KVM.  Gives me some time to tinker..

Ok - slightly different topic.  Are 6Beta12 Xen VMs "xen-standard"?  I have a spare dell PE1950 that I'm thinking of installing Citrix XenServer on and migrate the Xen VMs over - and then upgrade unRAID without Xen being in the picture and move forward.  I'd rather start from scratch with KVM than try and migrate Xen to KVM.  Gives me some time to tinker..

 

Xen and XenServer are not synonymous, but you may have success in getting your previous Xen VMs to run under XenServer.

Just to provide closure - it occurred to me that the answer was staring me in the face.

 

My spare dell server has a pair of sata drives, so I've booted it into xen/unraid 6beta12 with a spare usb stick since this is pre-license key requirements.  Have a cache + 1 disk array setup, and it's humming along with my copied over xen images in the identically configured cache only share.  Now I can get to work on the upgrade without xen being an issue, and eventually get those VMs rebuilt in KVM or docker.