Overview
OVM 3.4.4 was released recently , and I wanted to upgrade OVMS to the latest version.
References
- Oracle VM Server for x86 ISO
- Oracle VM 3.4
- Oracle VM Installation and Upgrade Guide for Release 3.4
- VICTORIA
- Michael Kerrisk - man7.org
Preparation
Clean Up Old VMs
The following VMs were removed from VICTORIA :
Save VM Images
The following VMs were saved from VICTORIA :
These were backed up, along with the ISO images, using the following commands:
tar -cvzf running_pool.tgz /OVS/running_pool tar -cvzf iso_pool.tgz /OVS/iso_pool
They were copied to PENRITH for safe-keeping.
Planning
05 Install OVMS 3.3.1 says that the last version of OVMS installed was 3.3.1.
According to 5.6 Upgrading Oracle VM Server for x86 from Release 3.3.x or Between 3.4.x Errata Releases , I have to:
Create a bootable disc from the Oracle VM Server ISO file and perform the upgrade. You should use this upgrade method only if it is not possible to perform the upgrade from Oracle VM Manager.
Since I do not have an OVM manager, I need to use this option.
Upgrade
Download Software
I downloaded the ISO image ( Oracle VM Server for x86 ISO ) from OTN. This was burnt onto a CD-ROM.
Install OVMS From CD-ROM
Followed the procedure in 2.1.2 Installing Oracle VM Server From a DVD-ROM .
Establish OVMS
Now that I have installed the latest version of OVM, I need to restore the VM images I had saved earlier.
Review Disk Partitioning
In order to restore the VM images, I need to create and mount a /OVS file-system. First, are there any available partitions?
parted /dev/sda
The output was:
GNU Parted 2.1 Using /dev/sda Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands. (parted) print Model: ATA ST1000NM0011 (scsi) Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: msdos Number Start End Size Type File system Flags 1 1049kB 525MB 524MB primary ext4 boot 2 525MB 54.2GB 53.7GB primary ext4 3 54.2GB 62.3GB 8112MB primary linux-swap(v1) 4 62.3GB 1000GB 938GB primary (parted) quit
It would appear that the following two (2) partitions are available:
- /dev/sda2
- /dev/sda4
Since there is no file-system indicated on /dev/sda4 , I would assume that this partition is available for my use.
Mounted File Systems
Are these two (2) file-systems in use? That is, are they already mounted?
mount -l | grep "/dev/sda"
The output was:
/dev/sda2 on / type ext4 (rw) /dev/sda1 on /boot type ext4 (rw)
This further indicates that /dev/sda4 is available for my use.
Prepare File-System
Having established that /dev/sda4 is available, I attempted to initialise that partition for use as follows:
mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda4
The output was:
mke2fs 1.43-WIP (20-Jun-2013) /dev/sda4 is apparently in use by the system; will not make a filesystem here!
Investigation of Error Message
Following the advice given in mkfs fails complaining that: “/dev/sdb is apparently in use by the system; will not make a filesystem here” , I ran the following command:
fdisk -l
The output was:
Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00079d24 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 64 512000 83 Linux Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sda2 64 6591 52428800 83 Linux /dev/sda3 6591 7578 7921664 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda4 7578 121602 915898368 83 Linux Disk /dev/mapper/OVM_SYS_REPO_PART_35000c50040068cd3: 937.9 GB, 937879928832 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 114024 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000
The second disk mentioned looks like a likely candidate:
ls -l /dev/mapper/OVM_SYS_REPO_PART_35000c50040068cd3
The output was:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Jan 5 08:14 /dev/mapper/OVM_SYS_REPO_PART_35000c50040068cd3 -> ../dm-0
So, I have a multipath device set up.