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Release notes

Making open source more inclusive

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web properties. We are beginning with these four terms: master, slave, blacklist, and whitelist. Because of the enormity of this endeavor, these changes will be implemented gradually over several upcoming releases. For more details, see our CTO Chris Wright’s message.

Forklift 2.9

The release notes describe technical changes, new features and enhancements, known issues, and resolved issues.

Technical changes

Forklift 2.9 has the following technical changes:

  • Upgraded kubevirt version to v1.5.1

    Forklift previously did not allow users to override the default preference for virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) devices in virtual machines. In Forklift 2.9.0, the kubevirt version is upgraded to v1.5.1, which introduces the TPM.enabled field. You can set the TPM.enabled field to false to disable vTPM for migrations of VMware VMs with UEFI settings. If the field is set to false, it overrides the default vTPM preference in VMs post migration.

Upgrade notes Forklift 2.9.0

To upgrade to Forklift 2.9.0, you need to follow the manual upgrade process.

The option to automatically upgrade to 2.9 from 2.8 is not yet available. However, automatic upgrades will be enabled in future releases.

New features and enhancements

Forklift 2.9 introduces the following features and enhancements:

  • In the Forklift 2.9.0 user interface, you can set the skipGuestConversion field to true in the migration plan to raw copy the disk of a VMware guest virtual machines (VM) to oVirt during migration. If you raw copy the guest VM, it does not convert the guest VM, install virtio drivers, and preserve the IP address. You can use this feature to migrate VMs that fail during migration because of unsupported guest operating systems. (MTV-2001)

  • Forklift 2.9.0 is integrated with the storage offloading plugin to delegate the disk data copy process to the storage arrays. The disk data is copied by the storage array to a new persistent volume (PV) that is created on OKD. This PV can be used by the virtual machine. Since the data copy function is not carried over an IP-based network, the storage offloading helps to copy multi-terabyte data from single disk VMs without clogging the network, resulting in faster migrations. (MTV-2241)

Storage Copy Offload is a Developer Preview feature only. Developer Preview features are not supported by Red Hat in any way and are not functionally complete or production-ready. Do not use Developer Preview features for production or business-critical workloads. Developer Preview features provide early access to upcoming product features in advance of their possible inclusion in a Red Hat product offering, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process. These features might not have any documentation, are subject to change or removal at any time, and testing is limited. Red Hat might provide ways to submit feedback on Developer Preview features without an associated SLA.

  • Forklift 2.9.0 supports migrating an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) file with multiple disks by mapping the OVA disks to multiple Storage Classes. (MTV-1340)

  • Forklift 2.9.0 supports persistence of nested VMware VMs after migrations if nested VMs are configured at source. (MTV-2495)

  • Forklift 2.9.0 allows users to change the names of the target VMs in the migration plan before migration. (MTV-2087)

  • Forklift 2.9.0 supports the shared disk property field in the persistent volume claim (PVC) name template that allows you to customize the PVC name for shared disks. (MTV-2337)

  • Forklift 2.9.0 now preserves the original VM name from the plan custom resource (CR) in the migration CR. (MTV-2075)

  • Forklift 2.9.0 CLI allows you to add a display-name in the annotations field of the migration plan. The display-name you enter cannot be used for making API calls or CLI operations. (MTV-2076)

  • Forklift 2.9.0 user interface has the following improvements:

    • Access the Create Provider page for supported providers from the Overview page in the Forklift menu. (MTV-2210)

    • Access the Health and the Settings tabs from the Overview page. (MTV-2210)

    • Use the upgraded plan wizard page, where the status of the plan aligns with the statuses of the VM migrations. (MTV-2547)

Resolved issues

Forklift 2.9 has the following resolved issues:

Resolved issues 2.9.2

Forklift 2.9 does not work in disconnected environments

In previous versions of Forklift 2.9, the system was unable to effectively manage new catalog URLs in offline or disconnected environments, leading to malfunctions and a degraded user experience in such settings. With the introduction of this update, Forklift 2.9.2 now offers support for offline environments, ensuring that it operates correctly in disconnected settings, thereby improving usability. (MTV-3023)

Resolved issues 2.9.1

Forklift used only compatibility mode bus for virtual machines with raw copy mode

In earlier releases, virtual machines (VMs) that enabled skipGuestConversion (raw copy mode) used only compatible mode bus and adapters: Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA), E1000E, and USB (Universal Serial Bus). This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.1 by adding the useCompatibilityMode field. When set to false, the useCompatibilityMode field allows you to use VirtIO devices for VMs with raw copy mode. You must install virtio drivers to use the VirtIO devices before migration. The useCompatibilityMode field does not have an effect without enabling skipGuestConversion. In case of a VM boot failure in the target cluster, you must switch to the compatible mode buses for the guest VMs. (MTV-3009)

Migration plans failed at the reconciliation stage if another plan referred to a deleted virtual machine

VMware only: In earlier releases, migration plans sometimes failed in the reconciliation phase of a warm migration by referring to a deleted virtual machine (VM) that is part of another plan. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.1. As a result, VM deletion in one plan does not impact another running plan. (MTV-2774)

Forklift listed archive plans when the show archived option was disabled

In earlier releases, the Forklift user interface listed archived plans when the show archived option was disabled. As a result, users could not track active plans easily. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.1. Now, the archived plans are listed only when the show archived option is enabled. (MTV-2955)

Forklift user interface displayed an uncaught runtime error when editing prehooks in plans

In earlier releases, when you tried to update a prehook in a plan, the Forklift user interface displayed an uncaught runtime error. Consequently, users could not edit prehooks in plans. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.1. (MTV-2791)

Forklift user interface did not update network and storage mappings in plans

In earlier releases, an Forklift user interface issue did not permit updates to the current network and storage mapping. This issue that prevented users from changing network and storage mappings in plans has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.1. (MTV-2789)

Resolved issues 2.9.0

Forklift enabled vTPM for source Windows Server 2022 virtual machines without vTPM device

VMware only: In earlier releases of Forklift, after warm migration of Windows Server 2022 virtual machines (VMs) with UEFI settings, the virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) device was added to the VMs even though the source VMs did not have the vTPM device. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.0. (MTV-2014)

Forklift failed to start the virtual machine with a non-aligned disk size after migration

VMware only: In earlier releases of Forklift, after migrating a VM with a disk size that did not align with the underlying storage, the VM failed to start. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.0. (MTV-2524)

Forklift does not refer to an incorrect URL in the VDDK error message

When you created a VMware provider with an incorrect VDDK URL and then created a migration plan, the plan displayed a VDDK init image invalid error message without a reference to the incorrect URL. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.0. (MTV-1150)

Forklift swapped the MAC addresses after migrating VMware virtual machines with multiple NICs

In earlier versions of Forklift, if the order of network mapping was different between the source VM and the migration plan, the MAC addresses of the network interface cards (NICs) could be switched during warm and cold migrations of a VMware VM with multiple NICs. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.0. (MTV-2025)

Forklift failed OVA migration from an unsupported source

In earlier releases of Forklift, when you tried to import an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) file from a non-VMware source, the import failed due to Megabytes unit not being supported for the resource. This issue has been resolved in 2.9.0 by adding a warning about OVA from an unsupported source. (MTV-2314)

OpenShift Container Platform to OpenShift Container Platform migration of VMware VM failed

In earlier releases of Forklift, after you successfully migrate a VMware virtual machine (VM) from oVirt to a KubeVirt cluster and then migrate the VM to another KubeVirt cluster using Forklift, the VM failed to start with a No bootable device error. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.0 (MTV-1544)

Forklift changed the disk name of a virtual machine after migration from an OKD cluster to another OKD cluster

After you migrate a VMware guest VM to an OKD 4.18 cluster and then migrate that VM to another local OKD 4.18 cluster by using Forklift, the disk names were changed. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.0. (MTV-2367)

Forklift does not fully preserve VMware virtual machine UUID after migration

In earlier releases of Forklift, the Universally Unique Identifiers (UUID) of VMware VMs were not fully preserved after migration to OKD. This issue has been resolved through a warning in migration plans to inform you that VM UUIDs are truncated to 20 characters for virtio disks. (MTV-1368)

Forklift does not preserve the host name of guest virtual machines after migration

In earlier releases of Forklift, after migrating a VMware guest VM running Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the host name configured in the /etc/hostname setting was not preserved in the target VM. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.0. (MTV-2364)

Cold migration of VMware ESXi virtual machines with IP address fail

In earlier releases of Forklift, cold migrations of ESXi VMs that were created with a host IP address by using the vSphere provider failed because virt-v2v used the VM’s host name instead of the IP address. This issue has been resolved in Forklift 2.9.0. (MTV-2153)

Known issues

Forklift 2.9 has the following known issues:

Persistent volume claim name template does not support the shared field

The persistent volume claim (PVC) name template in the Forklift user interface does not support the shared field to name volumes shared by multiple virtual machines. (MTV-2721)

VMware guest virtual machines running Red Hat Enterprise Linux v6.0 cannot boot in Forklift

VMware guest VMs running Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) v6.0 cannot boot into the operating system (OS) because the virtio disk of RHEL 6.0 requires the virtio-transitional device. (MTV-1895)

Migration plan of virtual machines with NVMe disks hangs in Forklift

When you select virtual machines (VMs) that use non-volatile memory express (NVMe) disks for creating a migration plan, the plan does not display an error but the migration stalls after the DiskAllocation phase because the migration of VMs with NVMe disks is not currently supported. (MTV-2703)

Source storage is not mapped in the Forklift user interface for OKD to OKD migration

When you select the storage mapping in the plan for a virtual machine for an OKD to OKD migration, and update the source storage on the Storage Maps page, Forklift displays a SourceStorageNotValid error. (MTV-2784)

Migration of VMware virtual machine from OKD to OKD cluster stalls due to changed name

When you migrate a VMware virtual machine (VM) to an OKD cluster, the VM name is modified. When you try to migrate the VM again from the OKD cluster to another OKD cluster, the plan hangs with an invalid value error for the VM name. (MTV-2810)

TPM device of a virtual machine uses a different persistent-state PVC after OKD to OKD migration

When you migrate a virtual machine (VM) with trusted platform module (TPM) from OKD to OKD, the VM uses a new persistent volume claim (PVC) that is created for the persistent-state TPM device after migration. (MTV-2838)

OKD to OKD migration of virtual machines with pre-migration or post-migration hooks fail

Cold migration of virtual machines (VMs) from an OKD cluster to another OKD cluster fails if the migration plan contains a pre-migration or a post-migration hook. (MTV-2894)

VDDK image upload failure prevents the creation of VMware provider in the Forklift user interface

When you upload a VMware virtual disk development kit (VDDK) image to the service inventory in the Forklift user interface (UI), the upload fails with a Forbidden error. This prevents you from creating a VDDK directly in the UI. You can create a VDDK for virtual disk transfers by following the instructions in Creating a VDDK image. (MTV-2888)

For a complete list of all known issues in this release, see the list of Known Issues in Jira.