SLES 12 SP5 DMS migration fails. WARNING:root:Configured instanceArgs module could not be loaded

This document (000021023) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5
PAYG and BYOS instances on Azure, GCE, AWS

Situation

A Distribution Migration System (DMS) migration from SLES 12 SP5 to SLES 15 SP1 fails with the following SLES15-Migration version:

SLES15-Migration-2.0.35-6.x86_64.rpm

These error messages are found in the distro-migration.log:

Calling: ['/usr/sbin/updatesmtcache']
 EXEC: Failed with stderr: WARNING:root:Configured instanceArgs module could not be loaded. Continuing without additional arguments.
 ERROR:root:Request not answered by any server after 3 attempts
 ERROR:root:Exiting without registration
 , stdout: (no output on stdout)
 Preparation of zypper metadata failed with /usr/sbin/updatesmtcache: stderr: WARNING:root:Configured instanceArgs module could not be loaded. Continuing without additional arguments.
 ERROR:root:Request not answered by any server after 3 attempts
 ERROR:root:Exiting without registration

Resolution

Install the previous SLES15-Migration package version, 2.0.34-6, and then attempt the migration using the “run_migration” method.

1) Install earlier SLES15-Migration

# zypper in --oldpackage SLES15-Migration-2.0.34-6

2) Start the migration from the command line

# run_migration

For AWS EC2 Xen-based instances which do not support kexec, the “reboot method” must be used to start the migration. One additional step is required.

1) Add a dummy entry to the /etc/hosts file

# echo "1.2.3.4 www.mycompany.com" >> /etc/hosts

2) Install SLES15-Migration-2.0.34-6.x86_64.rpm

# zypper in --oldpackage SLES15-Migration-2.0.34-6

3) Start upgrade with a reboot

# /sbin/reboot

Cause

The live ISO image upgrade environment contained in the SLES15-Migration-2.0.35-6 package uses a newer version of the registration client, cloud-regionsrv-client-10.0.7-150000.6.83.2, which requires new framework-specific python libraries that are needed to collect information about the instance from the platform's metadata service API to pass to region servers for instance registration during the migration. These new dependencies were not included in the DMS installation environment.

The path to the region server certificates "regionService/certs" in regionServiceClientConfig<framework> also recently changed from /var/lib to /usr/lib, which the DMS does not account for.

Both of these issues should be resolved in the next DMS release.

SLES15-Migration-2.0.34-6 uses an older registration client, cloud-regionsrv-client-10.0.5-150000.6.76.1, which was released before these changes.

Status

Reported to Engineering

Additional Information

The "run_migration" method should be used unless it is not supported by the hypervisor (Xen-based).

A recent wickedd change wipes out the /etc/hosts file on reboot if there have been no changes to it which results in gethost errors during the migration. The older SLES15-Migration-2.0.34-6 release does not have the bug fix introduced in the version 2.0.35-6. Creating a dummy entry in /etc/hosts mitigates this issue.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

Document ID:000021023
Creation Date: 27-Mar-2023
Modified Date:17-May-2023
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications

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