Change Domain of Hyper-V Hosts and VMM Server

[CraigHJ]

I need to change the domain that the Hyper-V hosts and VMM server are on.
The VM backup selections are done using VMM tags.
Is there a way to do this without getting duplicate backups?
I tested with one host and ended up starting a new restore point chain for each VM.
This would then start a fresh backup when I change the host domain and another fresh backup when I change the VMM domain.
Any ideas to reduce storage and bandwidth usage would be great.

[Mildur]

Hi Craig

Welcome to the R&D Forum.
We have a KB article, which explains how you can change the name of managed servers in Veeam without removing the host and adding it again. Have you tried the one Host with this command?
https://www.veeam.com/kb1905

Always make sure to have a configuration backup before you use that command.

Thanks
Fabian

[CraigHJ]

Hi Fabian,

I ran some tests on the spare host, moving from old domain to new then removing from Virtual Machine Manager and re-adding.
The command works well to correct the server name in Veeam instantly, but it still created a new backup set instead of continuing the existing.

Steps:

Shutdown VM’s
Record Tags
Stop Veeam jobs
Switch Host to New Domain
Remove host from VMM
Add Host back to VMM
Run powershell command to change server name in Veeam
Re-Add Tags
Run Job

Thanks
Craig

[Mildur]

Hi Craig

By any chance, were the VMs on the HyperV host also removed and reintegrated into the VMM? I assume they have a another ID as before, which means they look like new VMs to Veeam.

Thanks
Fabian

[CraigHJ]

Hi Fabian,

I had to remove the host from VMM and re-add because the fully qualified name changed and VMM didn't recognize the server anymore.
I didn't do any specific operations on the VM itself.

Craig

[Mildur]

I meant, that VM's running on that host were also removed from the VMM database when you removed the host.
When you added the Hyper-V host back to the VMM with a new name, the VM's got re-registered again with VMM with new ID's.

Thanks
Fabian

[CraigHJ]

HI Fabian,

I know what you mean but not sure how that mechanism works. They were not removed from the host itself but maybe re-adding the host in VMM changed the ID.
Do you know the command to get the ID that Veeam uses? I could compare each one.

Thanks
Craig

[Mildur]

I expect the ID will be changed when they are added back to the VMM.
You are probably seeing the VMs twice in the list if you want todo a restore? That is a good indication that the VM ID given by the VMM is a different one than before.

Thanks
Fabian

[CraigHJ]

Hi Fabian,

I tested migrating the VM off the host, changing the host domain, then migrating back.
This maintains the Tag ID and VM ID in VMM and works successfully in Veeam.

Are you confident that there will be no issues changing the VMM server name/domain using the powershell command?
I can use this to change the domain of VMM and the migration method to maintain the backup chain.

Thanks
Craig

[Mildur]

Hi Craig

If you move the VM to another Host, it doesn't get removed from the VMM. So the ID stays the same.
I believe, you don't have to use the commands in veeam to change the host after renaming it.
For the Hosts, a simple rescan should detect that the host with the old hostname was removed and readded again with the new hostname.

How is the VMM renamed? Do you following a process like that?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answer ... machi.html
I seems to me, that would keep the database with all VM ID. Probably you should this process in a Microsoft forum.
After you successfully changed the VMM hostname, you can use our powershell command to switch the connection details to the new host.
I suggest to have backups of VMM, VMM DB and Veeam DB (configuration backup)

Thanks
!Fabian