Business Process Manager and V2V Troubleshooting

The Abiquo Business Process Manager / V2V Conversion Services Server is used to convert virtual machine templates from one disk format to another. This server performs conversions when you: create an instance, create a persistent VM, add an image, etc.

What processes run on the BPM / V2V Server?

The server has two main modules: v2v-diskmanager and mechadora.

v2v-diskmanager performs format conversions
mechadora performs dumps to volumes and reads from volumes and disks.
These v2v-diskmanager uses two utilities to convert templates: qemu and vBoxManageSVC.

When does the Business Process Manager / V2V Conversion Manager run?

No.	Action	When is it used	Module
1	Conversions from one template format to another	When loading a new template and when conversions are requested	v2v-diskmanager
2a	Conversion of a template to RAW	Step 1 of creating a persistent VM	v2v-diskmanager
2b	Dumping a RAW template to a volume	Step 2 of creating a persistent VM	mechadora
3a	Dumping a volume to a RAW disk	Step 1 of creating an instance of a persistent VM	mechadora
3b	Conversion of RAW to an Abiquo format	Step 2 of creating an instance of a persistent VM	v2v-diskmanager

Note: the (a) and (b) actions are automatically executed by Abiquo in sequential order.

Possible Questions

I created a datacenter and added the remote services, including the Business Process Manager/V2V machine. Why does the remote service check give a red light for BPM/V2V?
Why didn't my conversion work?
Why wasn't my instance or persistent virtual machine created?

All of the above indicate problems with the V2V Conversion Services. You should perform the checks given below.

Where does Abiquo store the V2V conversion?

The working folder for V2V Conversions is /opt/abiquo/v2v-conversions.

The completed conversions are stored in the Appliance Library in the formats folder.

BPM/V2V Checks

How can I check a V2V conversion that is in progress?

Using ps

If a conversion is in progress, the v2v-diskmanager and mechadora processes will be running. You can check them with the following commands.

Check the v2v-diskmanager process is running - see Service Management#v2v-diskmanager.
- ps aux | grep v2v

Check the mechadora process is running
- ps aux | grep mechadora

Using top

If a conversion is in progress and you are running "top", you will see the following:

qemu
vBoxManageSVC

What configuration properties should be set on the V2V Server properties?

The V2V properties are shown in the following sample file (by default this is: /opt/abiquo/config/examples/abiquo.properties.v2v)

Sample abiquo.properties on V2V Server

[remote-services]
abiquo.rabbitmq.host = <RabbitMQ-Server-IP>
abiquo.rabbitmq.port = 5672
abiquo.rabbitmq.username = guest
abiquo.rabbitmq.password = guest
abiquo.datacenter.id = Abiquo

You should set abiquo.rabbitmq.host to the IP address of the RabbitMQ Server. The default is the Abiquo Server.
The abiquo.datacenter.id should be a unique value for each datacenter and the same value as for the Remote Services Server.
The other values should be set to appropriate values for your installation of RabbitMQ. You do not need to change these values for a default installation.
See Abiquo Configuration Properties

Is the NFS Repository required on the V2V Server?

Yes, the NFS Repository is required on the V2V Conversion Services machine. Check that the NFS repository is mounted in the correct location. You can use the "df" command for example. The default location is /opt/vm_repository

What ports should be opened for the V2V Server?

The ports and communications required for the V2V Server are listed on the main Ports and Communications page. Check the V2V Server has access to the appropriate IP addresses and ports. Remember that the V2V Server requires access to RabbitMQ on the Abiquo Server.

Errors in Persistent VM Conversion Process

Symptoms
Persistent VM conversion fails with an

"ERROR c.a.b.callback.StatefulDiskCallback - ErroCode:1 , Error:/bin/dd: writing `/dev/disk/by-path/ip-IP:Port iscsi-iqn.IQN-lun LUN': No space left on device" but command line tools say there is enough space for converting the image.

Solution
As the first step in converting a VM to persistent, Abiquo creates a volume using disk size information from the .ovf file. If the total raw template size is bigger than the ovf parameter, the task fails when trying to dump the template onto the mounted volume. The disk size parameter in the .ovf file must be corrected to successfully complete the conversion task. See Importing Templates into the Appliance Library#Determining the Size of a VM Disk File