Can clone only one of 13 disks - can't see the LVM disks

A partition and disk imaging/cloning program

Brought to you by: steven_shiau

Can clone only one of 13 disks - can't see the LVM disks

Forum: Clonezilla live

Creator: Carlos Trentini

Created: 2020-05-24

Updated: 2020-07-27

Carlos Trentini - 2020-05-24

Hi there,

We are decomissioning a legacy cluster and we needed to migrate every virtual machine to another cluster. We did all (with Clonezilla over network) but one. This last one is an appliance from VMware (VCSA 6.7) running Photon OS, and I can't clone it completely.

This specific machine has 13 disks (from "sda" to "sdm"), 1 being GPT and the others in LVM2. All of the disks are detected when booting/starting the live ISO, and also the physical volumes, volume groups and logical volumes. But, when I try to clone (I need to clone it to a mirror machine in other cluster, so I only change the network settings when needed), it only lists one disk (the GPT one, with "normal" partitions), the others are missing.

The curious thing is that when I try to restore, all disks are listed, including the LVM ones, with their current UUIDs. Before this screen I can see Clonezilla shutting down the volume groups and then it lists "Disk number: 13", and then the ncurses open with all of them. When cloning, it does the same, but lists "Disk number: 1" and I can't clone the other disks. We did this same procedure with 30+ machines (Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian and Microsoft Windows - and one of the CentOS had LVM enabled) in the same cluster and to the same destination; only this one is showing this behaviour. I tryed rebooting many times, using the same session or new session, "vgscan", "pvscan", beginner and expert modes, "dd" method, none worked. I also tried with both, Debian and Ubuntu Clonezilla editions.

Another curious thing that I've detected is that this machine has 2 SCSI controllers, but disks are only attached to one (the first); this is by design, when deploying the appliance it creates it, and I don't know if it could be related or some special configuration from this "Photon OS" (from what I see, it's an VMware modified Linux). And, I also noted using "fdisk -l" that except from the disk with GPT, the others doesn't have a disk identifier (they are only listed as "virtual disks").

Attached, is the last session that I've runned today (except the image files), to get the files. If needed, I can manage to record a video. I also cloned the source machine so we can work on it without stopping the services if needed.

Thank you very much in advance.

Last edit: Carlos Trentini 2020-05-24

2020-05-24-11-img.zip

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

Carlos Trentini - 2020-05-24

Hi there,

Just an update. Curious with this situation, I've tried to recreate a similar machine in a VirtualBox test machine, and all partitions/disks were read without problems. So, I went back to the cloned machine to check the partition tables on the disks and found something interesting, they are marked as "unknown".

I've attached some more outputs of this test.

Thank you very much in advance.

output-disksby-fdisk-parted.zip

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

Steven Shiau - 2020-05-29

No idea... Which version of Clonezilla live did you use? Not sure if the Linux kernel detects your device correctly, or the partition tables are really unknown to Linux? If so, then Clonezilla does have problem to deal with that.

Steven

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
- Carlos Trentini - 2020-06-01
  
  Hi Steven,
  
  Thank you very much for your reply. I used both Debian and Ubuntu based versions, the "clonezilla-live-2.6.6-15-amd64.iso" and "clonezilla-live-20200428-focal-amd64.iso" files, downloaded from SourceForge.
  
  Because it was urgent to migrate this machine, I kept trying until I've managed to clone this virtual machine by loading up Clonezilla live, using the console, copied disk by disk using "dd" over SSH, but I'm still very intrigued with this situation. I use Clonezilla for years now (with Microsoft, Linux and Unix machines) and this kind of situation never happened to me.
  
  This virtual machine is a VMware appliance (vCenter 6.7). When trying to clone FROM it with Clonezilla, I can see it unmouting the volume groups before listing the disks, so, it's a LVM system, but they never showed up. Even if I run "fdisk" or other tool, they mark the partition table as "unknown". However, if I try to clone TO this specific machine, the disks are listed. Maybe a special flag or something under these virtual disks?
  
  Well, anyway, I still got this virtual machine running and, if you need any further analysis, I can clone it and try to investigate or get any info or log that you ask for.
  
  Again, thank you very much. Best regards.
  
  Last edit: Carlos Trentini 2020-06-01
  
  unnamed.png
  
  If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

Steven Shiau - 2020-06-06

From the image file you have provided, I can not find any LVM-related files. Somehow they were not correctly detected. Very weird. However, I do not have the source disk in that type I can try. If you can share that virtual disk, of course nothing classified inside. Then maybe here we can try to fix this issue.

Steven

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
- Carlos Trentini - 2020-06-06
  
  Hi Steven,
  
  I'll try to clone and sanitize the current VM, then make (and test first) an OVA that has the same behaviour. It isn't in production anymore, but it has to be running until november/2020, for licensing reasons, in a secondary cluster.
  
  How is the best method to share it with you guys? I guess the final size to be around 3-5GB.
  
  Thank you very much.
  
  If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

Steven Shiau - 2020-06-07

You can put it on google drive or dropbox, and email me the link at "steven at stevenshiau org".
Thanks.

Steven

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
- Carlos Trentini - 2020-06-09
  
  Hi Steven,
  
  I've sent you the link to the OVA to the address that you told me.
  
  I've tried to deploy it in my personal computer using VirtualBox, but it gave me immediately an error message, regarding a disk, so that's a sign that's something very odd with this machine.
  
  I've then managed to open the OVA in 7-Zip and, looking at the OVF file, there are a bunch of profiles (we deployed ours with the "tiny" profile) with entries that seems to be LVM disks (but there are only 3 VMDK files in the OVA) that it creates while deploying the system I guess. That could be the problem.
  
  As I told in the thread, the only way I've managed to clone it was using "dd" over SSH (to a machine with the same specs); Clonezilla doesn't find the disks when cloning, only when restoring.
  
  I understand that this is a specific scenario, but I hope that it helps. If you need anything else or really need the virtual machine (I shared only the original OVA) to work with, I'll try to get it to you.
  
  Many thanks and best regards.
  
  If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

Steven Shiau - 2020-06-16

Hi Carlos,
This bug should have been fixed in Clonezilla live >= 2.6.7-21 and 20200616-*:
https://clonezilla.org/downloads.php

Please give it a try and let us know the results.
Thanks.

Steven

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
- Carlos Trentini - 2020-06-17
  
  Hi Steven,
  
  Just tested it with version 2.6.7-21, as requested, in that virtual machine and it's working partially, but at least it show the disks now in some modes. I also tested it in the OVA that I've sent you imported in a VirtualBox machine, and it has the same behaviour. All screenshots are attached, running on VMware and VirtualBox.
  
  In the "remote-source", it seems that it find the disks, but still doesn't show in the screen after, just show "sda" and "sdb", missing the disks from "sdc" to "sdm". In local modes, seems that Clonezilla misses the "sdb" (seems like a partition with a ISO or something like it).
  
  If you want, I can also try to record a video to show you the procedures that I'm doing if you need too.
  
  Thank you very much again.
  
  Best regards.
  
  Last edit: Carlos Trentini 2020-06-17
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 074242.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 074502.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 074635.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 074654.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 074805.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080103.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080227.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080334.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080413.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080449.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080523.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080553.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080709.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080734.png
  
  Anotação 2020-06-17 080848.png
  
  If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

Steven Shiau - 2020-06-23

Please give Clonezilla live >= 2.6.7-22 or 20200619-* a try. The disk with PV should be shown in the selection. Please let us know the results.
However, for remote-source, only one disk can be chosen for the moment, so...
In the future, we should support multiple source disks for remote disks cloning.

Steven

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
- Carlos Trentini - 2020-06-25
  
  Hi Steven,
  
  Thank you very much again for your attention and sorry for my late response again.
  
  I've just tested it and it seems that's is working almost fine now. The only issue that remains is that "sdb" disk, that still not listed in the "device-image" mode (save disk), but is listed in every other mode ("device-device", "remote-source" and "remote-dest"). It's seems like the "Anotação 2020-06-17 080334.png" file from previous posts; in the other modes, it's all ok.
  
  About the "remote-source" mode and it's current limitation of 1 disk per run, I'm aware of it. I always rerun after finishing a disk and so on, until I've finished all the disks. This was the mode that I was using (with many machines before) when I found the issue with this scenario.
  
  Again, thank you very much and best regards.
  
  Last edit: Carlos Trentini 2020-06-25
  
  If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

Steven Shiau - 2020-07-01

Hi Carlos,
Thanks for your feedback. The CD-ROM (/dev/sdb) should not be listed in any mode. We will hide it in the future.
We planned to release Clonezilla live 2.6.7-25 and 20200630-focal as the stable release these days. Now they are in the testing branches.
Please let us know the results after you test that.

Steven

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
- Carlos Trentini - 2020-07-14
  
  Hi Steven,
  
  Sorry for the late respose again. Besides the "sdb", everything is working fine from what I've tested. Thank you very much for your attention and support, and I also hope that it helped other people with the same issue.
  
  Best regards.
  
  If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

Steven Shiau - 2020-07-27

OK, thanks for your feedback. We will imporve that in the future.

Steven

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

Log in to post a comment.