Importing a FileWave Appliance into Scale Computing (OVA → QCOW2)

Overview 
 This article explains how to deploy a FileWave Server appliance (OVA) on a Scale Computing HyperCore cluster. 
 Scale does not natively support VMware/VirtualBox OVA imports. To run the FileWave appliance, you must: 
 
 
 Extract the OVA 
 
 
 Convert the virtual disk 
 
 
 Create a VM manually 
 
 
 Attach the converted disk 
 
 
 This guide provides step-by-step instructions for macOS and Windows. 
 
 Prerequisites 
 
 
 Scale HyperCore cluster access 
 
 
 ~2x disk space of the OVA size 
 
 Required Tools:
 
 macOS: 
 
 Terminal 
 Homebrew 
 qemu 
 
 
 Windows: 
 
 QEMU (CLI) OR  StarWind V2V Converter (GUI) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Step 1: Download the Appliance 
 
 
 Navigate to FileWave Downloads: https://kb.filewave.com/books/downloads 
 
 
 Select your FileWave version. 
 
 
 Download the VMware/VirtualBox OVA 
 
 
 
 
 Step 2: Extract the OVA 
 The OVA is a tar archive. 
 macOS / Linux 
 #Make a directory for the .ova files to be extracted to
mkdir ~/Downloads/fw-ova/
cd ~/Downloads/fw-ova/
#Extract the files
#If the file wasn't saved to your Downloads, change the directory
tar -xvf ../FileWave_Server_Debian_*.ova 
 Windows 
 
 
 Right-click → Extract (7-Zip or WinRAR) 
 
 
 Expected output: 
 FileWave_Server_Debian.ovf
FileWave_Server_Debian.mf
FileWave_Server_Debian-disk-0.vmdk
FileWave_Server_Debian-disk-1.nvram 
 👉 Only the .vmdk file is required. 
 
 Step 3: Convert VMDK → QCOW2 
 Scale works best with QCOW2 disks. 
 macOS 
 Install QEMU: 
 brew install qemu 
 Convert: 
 cd ~/Downloads/fw-ova/
qemu-img convert -p -f vmdk -O qcow2 FileWave_Server_Debian-disk-0.vmdk FileWave_Server.qcow2 
 
 Windows (QEMU CLI) 
 qemu-img.exe convert -p -f vmdk -O qcow2 FileWave_Server_Debian-disk-0.vmdk FileWave_Server.qcow2 
 
 Windows (GUI Option) 
 Using StarWind V2V Converter: 
 
 
 Open StarWind V2V 
 
 
 Select VMDK 
 
 
 Output format: QCOW2 
 
 
 Complete wizard 
 
 
 📸 Screenshot: StarWind conversion wizard 
 
 Step 4: Create a VM in Scale 
 Create a new VM manually. 
 📸 Screenshot: Scale “Create VM” screen 
 Required Settings 
 
 
 
 Setting 
 Value 
 
 
 
 
 Firmware 
 BIOS (Legacy) 
 
 
 CPU 
 4–8 vCPU 
 
 
 RAM 
 8–16 GB 
 
 
 NIC 
 Intel E1000 
 
 
 
 ⚠️ Critical: 
 
 
 Do NOT use UEFI 
 
 
 Do NOT attach disk yet (or remove placeholder disk) 
 
 
 
 Step 5: Upload & Attach Disk 
 
 
 Navigate to Control Center > Media 
 
 
 Upload  FileWave_Server.qcow2 to Scale 
 
 
 Attach to VM 
 
 
 
 
 Disk Configuration 
 Disk Type: IDE
Disk Slot: 0
Bootable: Yes
 
 Boot Order 
 IDE Disk (slot 0) → First
 
 
 Step 6: Boot the Appliance 
 Start the VM. 
 Expected result: 
 
 
 Debian boots 
 
 
 FileWave login prompt appears 
 
 
 
 Default Credentials 
 Username: fwadmin
Password: filewave 
 You will be prompted to change the password. 
 
 Troubleshooting 
 ❌ No Bootable Device 
 
 
 VM must be BIOS 
 
 
 Disk must be IDE 
 
 
 Boot order must point to the disk 
 
 
 
 ❌ Kernel Panic / Root FS Missing 
 
 
 Disk conversion issue 
 
 
 Retry conversion 
 
 
 Ensure the correct VMDK is used 
 
 
 
 Why This Works (Important) 
 The FileWave appliance is built for VMware: 
 Disk Controller: LSI Logic SCSI
NIC: VMXNET3
Firmware: BIOS 
 Scale uses different virtual hardware: 
 Disk: IDE / VirtIO
NIC: E1000 / VirtIO 
 Because Scale does not support VMware’s SCSI or VMXNET3 directly: 
 
 
 The disk must be converted 
 
 
 The VM must be recreated with compatible hardware 
 
 
 IDE is used for maximum boot compatibility 
 
 
 
 Optimization (Optional) 
 After successful boot: 
 
 
 Test switching disk to VirtIO 
 
 
 Test switching NIC to VirtIO 
 
 
 ⚠️ Only do this after confirming a stable boot 
 
 Summary 
 
 
 Download OVA 
 
 
 Extract files 
 
 
 Convert VMDK → QCOW2 
 
 
 Create BIOS VM 
 
 
 Attach the disk as IDE 
 
 
 Boot 
 
 
 
 Support 
 If you encounter issues, please contact FileWave Support or your Professional Services representative.