Migrating from EVE-NG¶

nova-ve includes an importer for EVE-NG, UNetLab, and PNETLab addon trees. It copies supported image assets into the nova-ve image layout, generates templates for supported vendors, and records a manifest for audit and follow-up.

The default import mode is non-destructive. Source files are preserved unless you explicitly choose a destructive mode.

One-Shot Import Script¶

On a normal installed nova-ve host, use the one-shot wrapper installed with the git checkout. With the default paths, you only need two commands after the EVE-NG tree is available at /opt/unetlab:

cd "${NOVA_VE_REPO_DIR:-/var/lib/nova-ve/nova-ve-git}"
./deploy/scripts/import-eveng-templates.sh --dry-run
sudo ./deploy/scripts/import-eveng-templates.sh

The first command is a dry-run plan; the second performs the import. The wrapper reads /etc/nova-ve/backend.env, finds the backend virtual environment, and uses these defaults:

Purpose	Default
Service checkout	`${NOVA_VE_REPO_DIR:-/var/lib/nova-ve/nova-ve-git}`
Source EVE-NG tree	`/opt/unetlab`
nova-ve image destination	`/var/lib/nova-ve/images`
Generated template destination	`/var/lib/nova-ve/templates`
Run manifest	`/var/lib/nova-ve/import-manifest.json`

If the EVE-NG source is on another machine, copy it to the nova-ve host first:

sudo rsync -a --info=progress2 \
  root@old-eveng-host:/opt/unetlab/ \
  /opt/unetlab/

The importer migrates addon assets and templates, not saved EVE-NG lab topologies. After a successful run, imported templates appear in the nova-ve add-node flow alongside built-in templates.

--dry-run and --help may be run without sudo. The real import requires sudo because it writes nova-ve-owned image, template, and manifest files.

Plan First¶

Run a dry run before the first real import:

cd "${NOVA_VE_REPO_DIR:-/var/lib/nova-ve/nova-ve-git}"
./deploy/scripts/import-eveng-templates.sh --dry-run

--dry-run walks the source tree and prints the planned summary without writing images, templates, or import-manifest.json.

Import¶

When the plan looks correct, run the importer without --dry-run:

cd "${NOVA_VE_REPO_DIR:-/var/lib/nova-ve/nova-ve-git}"
sudo ./deploy/scripts/import-eveng-templates.sh

By default, the importer copies files, verifies sha256 at the destination, and keeps the source tree intact. Re-running the same command is idempotent: files that already match are skipped and recorded in the manifest.

Destructive Opt-In¶

Use --delete-source only when you intentionally want source files removed after a successful verified copy:

cd "${NOVA_VE_REPO_DIR:-/var/lib/nova-ve/nova-ve-git}"
sudo ./deploy/scripts/import-eveng-templates.sh --delete-source

--delete-source is an explicit opt-in. Do not use it until you have a backup or have verified that the imported destination is the authoritative copy.

Manifest Review¶

Every non-dry-run import writes import-manifest.json to the path passed with --manifest. Review it after each run:

jq '.summary, .imported, .skipped, .errors, .templates' /var/lib/nova-ve/import-manifest.json

Entries marked needs-manual-review mean the importer preserved the image assets but could not produce a complete, ready-to-use template. For those entries, inspect the manifest details and hand-author or adjust the template under /var/lib/nova-ve/templates/ before using it in production labs.

Next Steps¶

See the importing guide for details on supported image kinds, manifest fields, and vendor template coverage: