Real-world VMware 6.5 feedback?

[bhagen]

We're currently running a VMware 5.5 stack, using Veeam 8 Standard in a limited capacity for B&R.

We're in the process of building a new VMware 6.5 stack and plan to move all current VMs to it once it's complete...then we'll shut down the 5.5 stack permanently. The new stack will consist of 4 new "home built" HCI hybrid hosts (yes, all components are on the HCL) and 2 new physical switches in the HQ, and the same setup in the colo. SSD's for caching tier, SAS drives for storage tier, using VSAN. The plan is to use Veeam 9.5 Update 1 to replicate everything and to facilitate fail over in case the the HQ falls down; plus normal data protection/recovery.

I'm reading thru the forums, but I'd love some feedback from those of you who have implemented this setup and have unfortunately had to test out failover in the real world. How did it go? What did you run up against that you weren't expecting? How did the re-IPing work out? What did you run into when you failed back to the main site after the rebuild? In hindsight, what tips would you give us to make things go smoother?

If you have links to your story that you've already published, those would be appreciated. Or if you have quick tips for any of the above, leave your comments.

Thanks; I'm looking forward to knowing how VMware 6.5, VSAN, and Veeam 9.5 all play together in the real world, as I build them up in my (for now) test world!