Bluescreen after testing a replicated VM

[vmwarektnx]

Veeam Backup and FastSCP 4.1

We have about 25 vm's replicating to a disaster site once per day in three different replication jobs.
I would like to test the replicated vm's from time to time to check that they work as expected.

When testing this i start the "virtual machine_replica" VM from vCenter, do some tests and stop it again.
After this the replication jobs for this vm continue as they did before without any errors.
But if i try to start the replica vm again after another replication has completed the vm starts and bluescreens.

I assume this is because the replica has been changed when i started it and the replica has been corrupted.

in short:

1. Replicate VM
2. Start replica vm - ok
3. Stop replica vm - ok
3. Veeam runs another replica job - success
4. Start the same replica vm again - Bluescreen

Why is there no warning that this could happen and what is the best procedure for testing a replica VM?

If the tested vm needs to be deleted after a test it looks like i have to delete all the vm's in the replication job..

thanks for any feedback

[Gostev]

Hello Roger,

You should use the following procedure when testing replica in order to be able to continue the replication afterwards:
http://www.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... ing#p10941

[vmwarektnx]

Thanks for the reply, i assume you mean this procedure:

Testing replica with Veeam is really easy:
- Disable the Veeam replication job temporarily
- Use VMware Infrastructure Client to create snapshot on replica (so that VMDKs do not change during the testing, and you can continue replicating)
- Use VMware Infrastructure Client to edit replica VM configuration and change VLAN from production to test network
- Power on replica VM with VMware Infrastructure Client, and see if it can boot up properly
- Shutdown replica VM
- Use VMware Infrastructure Client to remove (discard) snapshot from replica - this returns replica to the original state
- Enable the Veeam replication job back

This worked for for me, but make sure you remove the snapshot correctly so that whatever changes you make while testing are discarted.

Remove snapshot by :

(After stopping the VM)
Start SnapShot Manager (VMware Infrastructure Client)
Choose Goto "Snapshot name"
"Current State of the VM will be lost" - Yes
Delete all Snapshots