boot

Azvise

Repair / troubleshoot a Linux VM – Azure

If you encounter a boot or disk error with a VM, you need to get the OS disk into another VM to troubleshoot the issue.

The command we will run into Azure Cloud Shell is az vm repair create. To create a troubleshooting VM, follow these steps:

  • Open Azure Cloud Shell in bash or install Azure CLI in your bash environment.
  • Run the following command: az vm repair create -g “resourcegroupname” -n “VMname” –verbose
  • Insert admin credentials for the newly created VM into the bash shell
  • Connect to the newly created server and start analyzing the problem

Azvise

ASR Kernel modules fail to load while installing the Mobility Service (VMware) – Azure

If some kernel modules fail to load (such as in the example below) while installing the Mobility Service agent, please check:

  • If the kernel is supported in your Configuration Server version
  • If secure boot is enabled
#EXAMPLE using SUSE 15 SP2
exampleserver0:/tmp/ASR # sudo ./install -d /usr/local/ASR/ -r MS -v VmWare -q
All product pre-requisties are met.
Generating the certificate.
[...]

Filter driver kernel module is not loaded. Attempting to load it, please wait...
insmod /lib/modules/[kernelversion]-default/kernel/drivers/char/involflt.ko 
Filter driver could not be loaded successfully.
Check the log file /var/log/ua_install.log for detailed diagnostic messages or installation success/failures...
Vx agent installation exit code : 208.
Check the log file /var/log/ua_install.log for detailed diagnostic messages or installation success/failures...
Installer exiting with code: 208

Check the following page to see if the kernel version is supported:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/vmware-physical-azure-support-matrix#ubuntu-kernel-versions

If it’s supported try launching the following command: 

mokutil --sb-state

If it’s enabled you should get something along the lines of: 

SecureBoot enabled

Please note that SecureBoot is not supported at the moment with VMware DR in ASR:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/vmware-physical-azure-support-matrix#storage

To disable SecureBoot proceed as following:

  • Click on the virtual machine in vSphere (or vCenter)
  • Shut down the VM
  • Click on Edit Settings
  • Go in VM Options, then Boot Options
  • Deselect the Secure Boot check box
  • Click on OK
  • Start the VM