Ajcody-Server-Move-VM-Different-Image-OS

Server Move VM Different Image OS

   KB 3922        Last updated on 2016-06-21  




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Server Move VM Different Image OS Page

Please see: Ajcody-Server-Move-VM-Different-Image-OS

Introductory Notes


Note - Please read through Ajcody-Notes-Server-Move first since details are there for various steps mentioned below.

A brief over view on moving Zimbra from one VM to another VM using a different OS.

Setup A New Partition On PROD-VM For ZCS


This is necessary if your current PROD-VM doesn't have dedicated partition/disk images for ZCS.



Setup a new disk partition for the PROD-VM to use and then rsync the data to it [locally] on PROD-VM. Then we'll reuse that underlying partitions on a new NEWHOST-VM image later.

  1. Create new partition for PROD-VM
  2. Mount new partition under PROD-VM - /opt/zimbra-temp
  3. Start a rsync between /opt/zimbra and /opt/zimbra-temp on PROD-VM locally.
  4. Schedule short downtime window to:
    • Shutdown zcs on PROD-VM
    • Do a final rsync between /opt/zimbra and /opt/zimbra-temp
  5. Reconfigure mounts and directory paths
    • mv /opt/zimbra /opt/zimbra-old
    • Adjust /etc/fstab to mount /opt/zimbra-temp to now be /opt/zimbra
    • Remount new partition under /opt/zimbra now
  6. Start zimbra and confirm it works

Prepare A New ZCS Image With New OS and Basic ZCS


  1. Build NEWHOST-VM image that will be able to use the /opt/zimbra partition [dedicated disk image] from PROD-VM.
    • Meaning, the disk image for /opt/zimbra used on PROD will be accessible for the NEWHOST-VM vm configuration. It might be on a SAN, same local disk storage, or be copied/transferred between storage nodes.
  2. Install ZCS of same version that is on PROD-VM but for OS version your using [./install.sh -s]
    • Make sure you allocate enough free space to the root disk
    • You might want to disable ZCS from starting automatically from initd before you shutdown the image.
  3. Shutdown NEWHOST-VM image

Moving To New VM Image


  1. Schedule downtime on PROD-VM
  2. Shutdown ZCS on PROD-VM
    • Modify /etc/fstab to NOT use the /opt/zimbra partition
    • As a precaution, you could configure the PROD-VM image to use another hostname/ip -- just in case someone boots in later, you don't want it to effect the new server.
    • Shutdown the PROD-VM
    • Unconfigure VM properties for PROD-VM to no longer use the /opt/zimbra disk image.
    • Move/copy the /opt/zimbra disk images into the NEWHOST-VM's directory path or whatever is needed so the NEWHOST-VM image can use the disk image.
      • You might need to use the VM tools about moving the /opt/zimbra disk image partition to be under the image directory for the NEWHOST-VM image.
      • The details/how-to on how to do this will be determined by the VMware product and version your using. Please consult with Vmware support if you need help on this.
      • Some of my own notes on moving/copying images are here :
  3. Boot the NEWHOST-VM image
  4. Shutdown zcs if it attempted to run via init.d
  5. Configure the NEWHOST-VM image to now use the /opt/zimbra disk partition image . You could also adjust the ip & hostname on this image to use PROD-VM's now.
  6. Configure /etc/fstab to mount the /opt/zimbra parition
  7. Move the basic zcs install directory - mv /opt/zimbra /opt/zimbra-old ; mkdir /opt/zimbra with correct perms
  8. Mount /opt/zimbra
  9. Continue with the server move wiki steps after all the rsync stuff was done.
    • Way down at the bottom of the wiki:
      • [steps 3 - 6, mostly at the end of step 4]
        • On NEWHOST-VM as ROOT, rerun the installer without the -s option
        • ./install.sh



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