How to Import a VM from vSphere and Deploy it in a Cluster using KubeVirt

This guide describes how to import a VM from vSphere, convert it to qcow2 format, create a containerDisk, and deploy it inside a Kubernetes cluster using KubeVirt.

Requirements

To follow these steps, ensure you have:

A VM in the vSphere environment.

A Kubernetes cluster with KubeVirt installed.

Access to a container registry to store the VM image.

Step 1 - Export OVF Template from vSphere

In vSphere, locate the VM you want to export.

Ensure the VM is powered off before exporting.

Right-click the VM, navigate to Template, and select Export OVF Template.

Provide a name for the exported template and click OK.

The export process will generate three files: *.vmdk, *.nvram, and *.ovf.

Only the *.vmdk file is required for further processing.

Step 2 - Convert the VMDK File to QCOW2 Format

KubeVirt requires disk images in qcow2 format. Use the qemu-img tool to convert the .vmdk file:

qemu-img convert -f vmdk -O qcow2 [input-file].vmdk [output-file].qcow2

Replace [input-file].vmdk with the name of your downloaded VMDK file and [output-file].qcow2 with your desired output name.

Step 3 - Create a Container Image from the QCOW2 File

To use the converted disk inside KubeVirt, create a containerDisk by building a container image with the qcow2 file.

Create a Dockerfile

Create a Dockerfile with the following content:

FROM scratch 

ADD --chown=107:107 [filename].qcow2 /disk/

Replace [filename].qcow2 with the actual filename of your converted disk image.

Build and Push the Image

Execute the following commands to build the image and push it to a container registry:

podman build -t [registry]/[namespace]/[vm-image-name]:[tag] -t localhost/[namespace]/[vm-image-name]:[tag] .

podman push [registry]/[namespace]/[vm-image-name]:[tag]

Replace the placeholders as follows:

[registry]: The URL of your container registry

[namespace]: Your project name

[vm-image-name]: A name for the VM image

[tag]: The version tag (e.g., 1.0.0)

Once the image is pushed, it can be used as a containerDisk in KubeVirt to deploy a virtual machine.

Step 4 - Deploy the VM using KubeVirt

Create a secret for authentication:


kubectl create secret generic kubeops-vm-sec --from-literal=accessKeyId=kubeops --from-literal=secretKey=registry-token --namespace kubevirt-vms-import

kubectl -n kubevirt-vm create secret docker-registry kubeops-vm --docker-server=registry.kubeops.net --docker-username="<username>" --docker-password="<registry-token>"

 kubectl patch serviceaccount default -n kubevirt-vm -p '{"imagePullSecrets": [{"name": "kubeops-vm"}]}'

Create a manifest file for the virtual machine:


apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
  labels:
    kubevirt.io/vm: sk2-master01
  name: sk2-master01-vm
  namespace: kubevirt-vms-import
spec:
  runStrategy: Always
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        kubevirt.io/vm: sk2-master01
    spec:
      domain:
        devices:
          disks:
          - name: datavolumedisk
            disk:
              bus: virtio
          - name: cloudinitvolume
            disk:
              bus: virtio
        resources:
          requests:
            memory: 4092M
      volumes:
      - name: datavolumedisk
        dataVolume:
          name: sk2-master01-dv
      - name: cloudinitvolume
        cloudInitNoCloud:
          userData: |-
            #cloud-config
            chpasswd:
              list: |
              expire: False
            ssh_pwauth: True
            disable_root: false
  dataVolumeTemplates:
  - metadata:
      name: sk2-master01-dv
    spec:
      storage:
        resources:
          requests:
            storage: 68Gi
        storageClassName: rook-cephfs
        accessModes:
          - ReadWriteMany
      source:
        registry:
          url: "docker://registry.kubeops.net/kubeops-vm/kubeops/kubevirt/sk2_master01_export:1.0.0"(change the url to the image you want to deploy)
          secretRef: kubeops-vm-sec

kubectl apply -f filename.yaml

Step 5 - Verify Deployment

Run the following commands to check if the VM is deployed successfully:

kubectl get dv -n kubevirt-vms-import

kubectl get vmi -n kubevirt-vms-import

Ensure that the DataVolume is successfully downloaded and the VirtualMachineInstance is running.