I've done some digging on this and found some old info which may have been for VMware WS 4.0. Having trouble booting in ESXi6. Here's what I done so far:
The source Solaris disk layout (2 disks sda & sdb in software raid)
root@PartedMagic:/# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 32130 1465127999 732547935 bf Solaris
Disk /dev/sdb: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 32130 1465127999 732547935 bf Solaris
1. Booted Solaris server with Partedmagic and performed a dd of the /dev/sda disk (750GB) to a remote CentOS server
dd if=/dev/sda/ conv=sync,noerror bs=128k | gzip -c ssh 192.168.3.88 dd of=/home/jargo/hservers.gz
2. Unzipped the file
pv hserver2.gz | gzip -d > hserver2
3. Converted from raw format to vmdk format
qemu-img convert -f raw -O vmdk hserver2 hserver2-flat.vmdk -p
[root@JArgo-CentOS jargo]# file hserver2-flat.vmdk
hserver2-flat.vmdk: VMware4 disk image (I'm concerned this Vmware4 disk image may only be for a VMware Workstation where I need ESXi6 format)
4. qemu-img info hserver2-flat.vmdk
[root@JArgo-CentOS jargo]# qemu-img info hserver2-flat.vmdk
image: hserver2-flat.vmdk
file format: vmdk
virtual size: 699G (750156382208 bytes)
disk size: 620G
5. Moved flat file to VM datastore, re-checked file size:
#ls -la hserver2-flat.vmdk
| -rw-r--r-- | 1 root | root | 691013419008 Nov 10 01:05 hserver2-flat.vmdk |
6. Created 'missing' vmdk descriptor file using 691013419008 / 512 to give me my RW of 1349635584 and tried geometry from vmware's vmkfstools of the flat file:
[root@MNIS-ESXi-02:/vmfs/volumes/5a01d41c-dbdbd1c1-28b1-3863bb45a2e0/hserver2] vmkfstools -g hserver2-flat.vmdk
Geometry information C/H/S is 1453521/16/63
ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "1453521"
ddb.geometry.heads = "16"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
Also tried using the geometry that VMware originally gave me for the disk:
ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "84010"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
Cannot get this VM to boot Solaris for the life of me. Anyone that can help me please? I would be most appreciative.