Preparing UNIX VMs with CentOS 8 and Later and RHEL 8 and Later for Conversion to VMware

For VMs that run either CentOS 8 (or a more recent version) or RHEL 8 (or a more recent version), before performing a backup that will be used for VM conversion, you must install the vmw_pvscsi driver.

Procedure

To determine whether the required driver is built into the kernel itself, do the following:
1. Run the following command:
```
grep -i pvscsi /boot/config-$(uname -r)
```
2. Look for values of VMW_PVSCSI in the command output.
  
  If a driver’s line reads y, then the driver is built into the kernel and it will be available by default during boot.
  
  if a driver’s line reads m, then the driver needs to be part of the initial RAM disk.
To determine whether the driver is part of the initial RAM disk, run the following command:
```
lsinitrd | grep -i vmw_pvscsi
```
If the driver is missing from both the kernel and the initial RAM disk, rebuild the initial RAM disk to include the missing driver, as follows:
1. To recut the initial RAM disk image, run the following command:
```
dracut --force --add-drivers "vmw_pvscsi" –v
```
2. To list the initial RAM disk image contents and to verify that the driver is added, run the following command:
```
lsinitrd | grep -i vmw_pvscsi
```