Calling all linux and Barracuda experts

We were able to convert a Barracuda WebFilter 410 into an ESX virtual machine. We used G4L to do a raw image copy/restoration which seemed to keep all the partitions intact.

The problem is that ESX requires you to use SCSI (virtual) disks. The Barracuda appliance is equipped with IDE. Therefore, the thing won't boot properly.

My boss, who is a greater linux guru than I, went through all the configs he could find and changed HDA to SDA. He also tried for hours different mount commands, symbolic links, and a host of other things. We were basically following this article:

Phil Windley's Technometria | P2V: How To Make a Physical Linux Box Into a Virtual Machine

When the machine boots, we get:

Kernel panic: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.

However the mkinitrd command fails because it lacks a loopback (no, not the network kind).

This is purely for experimental/testing purposes, but would really like to figure this out!

Thanks.

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Comments

astorrs

My only suggestion is to look at upgrading to vSphere 4.0 (which among many other benefits) has support for IDE disks.

Oh and without even looking, I'd guarantee this violates the EULA on that Barracuda box.

Hyper-Me

I'm also kind of curious as to why you would want to remove a major part (hardware) from a 6000$ appliance...?

benbuiltpc

astorrs wrote: »

My only suggestion is to look at upgrading to vSphere 4.0 (which among many other benefits) has support for IDE disks.

Oh and without even looking, I'd guarantee this violates the EULA on that Barracuda box.

We are using vSphere4... do you have any more info on using IDE? I can't find any options.

Also, this is for testing, non-production purposes. We already have current paid support for our 2 physical boxes. As far as why we are doing it... well, let's just say that we're thinking outside the "box".

astorrs

benbuiltpc wrote: »

We are using vSphere4... do you have any more info on using IDE? I can't find any options.

If this is a new disk on the VM, Edit Settings > Add > Hard Disk > Create a new virtual disk > Next on the "Create a Disk" page > Under Virtual Device Node on Advanced Options choose an IDE controller, you can take it from here.

If you want to change an existing VM you'll need to manually edit the VMX file.

benbuiltpc

astorrs wrote: »

If this is a new disk on the VM, Edit Settings > Add > Hard Disk > Create a new virtual disk > Next on the "Create a Disk" page > Under Virtual Device Node on Advanced Options choose an IDE controller, you can take it from here.

If you want to change an existing VM you'll need to manually edit the VMX file.

Aha! I only get the IDE option when using Version 7 while creating a new disk. Thanks!

astorrs

benbuiltpc wrote: »

Aha! I only get the IDE option when using Version 7 while creating a new disk. Thanks!

Yes I should have mentioned that, v4 virtual hardware s ESX 3.x compatible. v7 is where the new features are.