Convert Oracle Linux 7.9 to Proxmox

This is to describe how to convert Oracle Linux 7.9 to Proxmox.

VM creation

Following hardware options can be considered

• BIOS: SeaBIOS (Should be able to see Grub menu)
• Machine: Default (i440fx)
• SCSI Controller: VirtIO SCSI (It might not be used as sata0 to be considered for disk)
• Hard Disk (sata0): disk_image_file
• Network Device (net0): vmxnet3=<mac_address> (This is default for VMware, can use other type too)

Convert the VMware disk to Proxmox disk and attach the disk to new VM

qm importdisk 121 oracle18c.vmdk pool240ssd --format qcow2

Attach the disk as sata0.

Boot

Select item Oracle Linux Server (0-rescue-ed95572bd80641d79f83cd91e03c0283 with Linux) 7.9 from Grub menu to boot into rescue mode.

Note: Tried other option, all got error and unable to boot

Kernel

Find Kernel Package

Login as valid user, then find out the kernel to be used

rpm -q -a | grep kernel | sort

Got following list

kernel-3.10.0-1160.25.1.el7.x86_64
kernel-3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64
kernel-3.10.0-1160.el7.x86_64
kernel-tools-3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64
kernel-tools-libs-3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64
kernel-uek-5.4.17-2102.203.6.el7uek.x86_64
kernel-uek-5.4.17-2102.204.4.2.el7uek.x86_64
kernel-uek-5.4.17-2102.204.4.4.el7uek.x86_64

Choose the latest one, which is also Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel

Recreate Grub kernel files

Find scripts in Kernel package

rpm -q kernel-uek-5.4.17-2102.204.4.4.el7uek.x86_64 --scripts

Following posttrans scriptlet shown

...
posttrans scriptlet (using /bin/sh):
/usr/sbin/new-kernel-pkg --package kernel --mkinitrd --dracut --depmod --update 5.4.17-2102.204.4.4.el7uek.x86_64 || exit $?
/usr/sbin/new-kernel-pkg --package kernel --rpmposttrans 5.4.17-2102.204.4.4.el7uek.x86_64 || exit $?
...

Run above commands to rebuild Grub files, then reboot the system to the menu with kernel recreated.

Note: The error Unable to open file: /etc/keys/x509_ima.der (-2) can be ignored

Network

You can reconfigure network interface the same as VMware, this is to avoid reconfiguration of network settings

Interface Type

Check VMWare vmx file to find disk type, then set the same in Proxmox

ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet3"

Mac Address

You can change Mac Address using the value in VMWare configuration

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:11c:22:33:44:55"

Interface Name

Find out the interface in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts as below.

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ens192

The interface name is ifcfg-ens192

Create the file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-custom-ifnames.rules with the following contents:

SUBSYSTEM=="net",ACTION=="add",ATTR{address}=="00:11:22:33:44:55",ATTR{type}=="1",NAME="ens192"

Then reboot the server, then check the Interface and IP address using ip a command.

References

Consistent network interface device naming