Planning Migration of Veeam Server to another Server

[habibalby]

Hello,
I'm planning to migrate my current Veeam Server to a newer Physical Server and I was wondering if there is any tips or steps that I could follow, but what I thought of as follows and I hope someone can point me to the right direction.

1. Backup Veeam DB which is installed on SQL Express.
2. Export Veeam Configuration
3. Stop SQL and Veeam Services
4. Detach the SQL Express DB.
5. Install SQL / Express
6. Create new DB with Same existing DB.
7. Attach the old DB to the newly created DB.
8. Install Veeam and point it to the imported DB.
9. Import Veeam Configuration.
10. Detach the iSCSI Initiator LUN and attach them to the new Server.
11. Configure the new Repositories.
12. Map the existing backup job to the backup job file on the repository.
13. Configure the new proxies.

The new server role's will be;
1. Veeam Backup & Configuration.
2. Repository Server
3. Symantec Backup Exec 2012

Any recommendation is highly appreciated.

Thanks,

[veremin]

It seems to me that you’re overdoing slightly.

If you’re willing to utilize previously used proxies and repositories, you can just follow these steps:

1) Perform configuration backup on your existing VB&R server.
2) Install VB&R on your new server from the scratch.
3) Import configuration.
4) Detach the iSCSI Initiator LUN and attach them to the new Server.

That’s all.

Information about proxy servers, jobs, jobs files, and repositories is stored in configuration file, so there is no need in overwhelming majority of steps you’ve mentioned above.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[habibalby]

Hi,
What about the DB part it doesn't require?
Regards,

[veremin]

During configuration backup, configuration data is retrieved from the SQL database. Information, as it’s described in the corresponding User Guide (p.297), includes the following:

• Backup infrastructure configuration data: ESX(i) hosts, Windows servers, backup proxies, backup repositories, virtual labs, application groups and other.
• Jobs configuration data: backup, replication VM copy and other jobs, registered backups, replicas, restore points and other.
• Veeam Backup & Replication settings: user roles, SMTP settings and so on.
• Additionally, Veeam Backup & Replication retrieves data for dynamic objects: for example, folders in the server hierarchy.

In fact, I have a hard time understanding what type of additional information regarding VB&R one might want to preserve. So, my answer is yes, you can skip the part responsible for attaching/detaching DB.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[vMO]

also regarding credentials it's better to use Veeam Configuration Backup/Restore.
Credentials are saved in the DB encrypted with machine key, if you only change the DB, login to Servers and proccessing VM's will not work. If you recover the Config with Veeam Configuration Backup, the credentials where new written into the DB and also encrypted with the new Machine key.

[habibalby]

Thanks for all your replies guys, it seems this is not a simple task specially in my environment I have lots of scripts, and intergration with BE 2010 that need to be considered as well. Symantec EV being backed by Veeam those scripts requires a consideration as well.

I'm documenting everything and will go slowly with this migration. Once everything is fine, I will put the steps so someone else might benefit.

Thanks once again guys,

Cheers

[real_tarantoga]

hello board,
I wouldn't start a new topic, what I want to say is associated with the theme sql migration...

THANK YOU!
after having a lot of troubles some time ago I now have to say the recovering of the backup infrastructure with all existing backup files was a real pleasure this time (mhm ).
We had to migrate the database to another, centralized sql server. The system was pathed to version 6.5.0.128.
During the reinstallation of of the vb&r software the db connect was successful, but finally the system could not start the backup service. I suppose the setup package (version 6.5.0.109) could not properly communicate with this newer database version. (perhaps you should evaluate this on your lab?!).
I drawed a deep breath - and installed on a clean db. After importing the configuration backup - all is fine! I didn't know that I#ve missed the v6.5 feature of config backup - but I won't never miss it again!

Once again, thank you for that!
Stefan

[habibalby]

Hi Once again.,

regarding the server name, I would like to maintain the same existing server name, is it possible make all the configuration on different server name and once everything is fine, I can rename the new server to match the old server?

Thanks,

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Hussain,

I'm not sure how SQL Server can handle it, but renaming the backup server machine itself doesn't cause any issues.

Thanks!

[habibalby]

Hi Vitaliy,

Thanks for your reply... I'm just searching the internet I found lots of blogs discussing about issues with Veeam Services when the IP/Server Name got changed.

Does the Veeam Configuration Backup requiers the restoration to be the same server name? Or that doesn't matter!!

Let me think of how this issue can be tackled by some workaround process

Thanks,

[Vitaliy S.]

You do not need to preserve server name when you're restoring Veeam configuration. Workaround? Hmm...do not connect the new server to the network or use a dedicated VLAN, in this case you shouldn't have any conflicts with the original server.

[habibalby]

Thanks,
Will come back to this thread soon

regards,

[HDClown]

Bumping this thread instead of posting a new one. I need to move B&R 6.5.0.144 to new server

Current Server: Windows Server 2008 R2 with Veeam's DB running on SQL Express 2005 SP4 as installed by older version of Veeam.
New Server: Windows Server 2008 R2, will utilize SQL Express installation as installed by Veeam

According to this post, the process would be

1) Install B&R 6.5.0.109 on new server
2) Patch new server to 6.5.0.144
3) Perform Configuration Backup on old server
4) Restore Configuration Back on new server
5) Disable jobs on old server

If I do this as listed above, the new server will no longer process any jobs (as they are all disabled) and the new server will function 100% the same as the old server. Is this correct?

Given that Veeam's configuration backup for my install is only 20 megs and my existing Veeam SQL DB full backup is 460 megs, there's a lot of stop that is not going to be moved to the new server. The obvious one is job history, which is important to me. I do not want to have to keep the old Veeam server available indefinitely simply to access job history. Is there a way to migrate job history?

What else do you lose by moving to a ne server using configuration backup and new a move of the SQL DB?

Instead of using the Veeam configuration backup/restore route, can I simply backup the SQL DB on the old server and then restore it to the new SQL? Would this make the new server function identically to the old server, with all history in place?

[Vitaliy S.]

According to this post, the process would be

1) Install B&R 6.5.0.109 on new server
2) Patch new server to 6.5.0.144
3) Perform Configuration Backup on old server
4) Restore Configuration Back on new server
5) Disable jobs on old server

If I do this as listed above, the new server will no longer process any jobs (as they are all disabled) and the new server will function 100% the same as the old server. Is this correct?

Yes, that's correct.

Given that Veeam's configuration backup for my install is only 20 megs and my existing Veeam SQL DB full backup is 460 megs, there's a lot of stop that is not going to be moved to the new server. The obvious one is job history, which is important to me. I do not want to have to keep the old Veeam server available indefinitely simply to access job history. Is there a way to migrate job history?

To migrate the job history data, you need to migrate the entire Veeam backup database to the new server and then re-use this database with the new installation.

What else do you lose by moving to a ne server using configuration backup and new a move of the SQL DB?

All data that has history.

Instead of using the Veeam configuration backup/restore route, can I simply backup the SQL DB on the old server and then restore it to the new SQL? Would this make the new server function identically to the old server, with all history in place?

Yes, that would also work. Here is the KB article that describes this procedure in all details: http://www.veeam.com/kb_articles.html/kb1250

Thanks for re-using the existing topic!

[HDClown]

Thanks Vitaliy. I ended up giving this a shot and everything worked out fine, although I disabled the jobs as step #1 instead of the last step as that was a safer route to go to prevent any jobs from accidentally starting on the new server before I can check over everything.

After opening up Veeam on the new server using the old servers SQL DB, all of the Windows managed servers showed as unavailable, but simply opening properties and clicking through to finish resolved that issue. Overall, very easy process.

[HDClown]

I actually had to reset the passwords everywhere. All managed servers, all backup jobs that use application aware processing and the mail server setting which used authentication.

Perhaps if I did the SQL DB move, and then did a config backup/restore, the password would not have been an issue?

[Vitaliy S.]

I actually had to reset the passwords everywhere. All managed servers, all backup jobs that use application aware processing and the mail server setting which used authentication.

Yes, this is expected behavior, since all passwords are encrypted with machine-specific key, so when you change the machine, you need to re-enter all passwords used in the backup console. I believe it should also be mentioned in the KB article I've referenced above.

Perhaps if I did the SQL DB move, and then did a config backup/restore, the password would not have been an issue?

No, when you restore the Veeam backup configuration, there is a step to re-enter all user names and passwords for the connected servers as well as backup/replication jobs using "application-aware image processing" option.

[ecelma]

Hello,

This my first post here but I have to recognise that I have been reading for 1 year. I have searched but I haven't found any similar issue, so here we go...

This is the enviroment:

VM with vCenter 5.1 & VB&R 6.5.0.144 storaged in a MSA2000fc

Storage for replicas & Backups --> NAS Iomega


And this is the situation: last week we had some problems with the VM where are installed vCenter & VB&R, so we have decided to separate them in two new VMs.

To migrate VB&R I have used Veeam backup configuration utility, what seemed quite easy, jobs and configuration have been restored. However, I am able to see backup restore points and to recover guest files but I can not see replica restore points.
When I try to rescan replicas it show this message in the dialogue: "Error The following backups are not supported: ....."

Does anybody know what I am doing wrong?

Meanwhile I am working with the old server, I wouldn't like to do new replicas...

I would appreciate your help....it is driving me crazy...


Thanks in advance

Regards

[GTMK]

Hi,

I have a physical B&R server that is still accessible but in a critical state. It's a W2K8 running B&R 6.5 which over time has been migrated from the original B&R 4.1. It still has the SQL 2005 Express database. I need to reinstall the OS and would like to use W2K12. When I install B&R 6.5, it comes with the SQL 2008 R2 64-bit database.

What steps do I have to do on the old database and the old server before it is gone (I still have a backup of the DB), and how can I import the database to a fresh B&R 6.5? (I am sorry, I am not a SQL guru...)

I assume that it would be possible to install W2K8 and start off with B&R 4 again, migrate that through V5 to 6.5 and copy to old database, but I would rather like to have a recent and clean installation.

Thanks, Georg.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello Georg,

Please take a look at this KB article that should guide you through the migration process: http://www.veeam.com/kb_articles.html/kb1250

In addition to this, please read this topic for more info on configuration utility which also can be considered as option 2 in your scenario.

Thank you!

[GTMK]

Hi Vitaly,

thanks for pointing me to that article. I just tried it in a test VM - installed W2K12, B&R 6.5, then detached the fresh database and attached the database copied from the old server. Worked like a charm.

Thanks again, Georg.

[ecelma]

Hello,

This my first post here but I have to recognise that I have been reading for 1 year. I have searched but I haven't found any similar issue, so here we go...

This is the enviroment:

VM with vCenter 5.1 & VB&R 6.5.0.144 storaged in a MSA2000fc

Storage for replicas & Backups --> NAS Iomega


And this is the situation: last week we had some problems with the VM where are installed vCenter & VB&R, so we have decided to separate them in two new VMs.

To migrate VB&R I have used Veeam backup configuration utility, what seemed quite easy, jobs and configuration have been restored. However, I am able to see backup restore points and to recover guest files but I can not see replica restore points.
When I try to rescan replicas it show this message in the dialogue: "Error The following backups are not supported: ....."

Does anybody know what I am doing wrong?

Meanwhile I am working with the old server, I wouldn't like to do new replicas...

I would appreciate your help....it is driving me crazy...


Thanks in advance

Regards

Hello,

Regarding my issue and just in case somebody face same problem, the problem is that replication jobs were created in B&R 5.1 and these jobs are not compatible with B&R 6.5 so if you are thinking about migrating to a new server and updating your B&R, you should migrate first and update B&R later.

Regards

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello Eloy,

I guess you've wanted to say - upgrade your Veeam B&R v5 first, run jobs and then migrate to another server with 6.5 version of Veeam B&R, right?

Thank you!

[systeembeheerder]

casenumber: 00484000

Tried restoring the backup of the config to a new server and it failed.
Old server: Windows 2k8R2, Veeam B&R 7.0715, SQL 2008 Express
New server: Windows 2k12R2, Veeam B&R 7.0715, SQL 2012 Express

installed Veeam (7.0690) with the defaults, except the DB, as I allready created an instance.
run the patch right afterwords so It became: 7.0715.
created a repository locally to put the config file in and started the restore. Added all the passwords (except some of SOAP accounts with root as user, as I don't have those passwords)

Code: Select all

restore starts and fails on: Unable to restore database VeeamBackup. Invalid object name 'Track_changes'.

When trying to start Veeam BR afterwords, it failes terribly on the database.

Code: Select all

 Could not find stored procedure 'GetPermissionsByPermissions

and

Code: Select all

 Could not find stored procedure ''AddBaseSessionRow'

Not the expected outcome. How can I restore the config file now?

[Gostev]

Normally, you should be restoring configuration backup to the same version and build number. We do not currently support this for migration between versions. I don't know for certain if this is the issue here though.

[systeembeheerder]

Hi Gostev,
See my info: the versions of VeeamBR are the same. both the old and new server are 7.0715. Only the OS and database differ.

[veremin]

The restoration of same build configuration between different SQL servers should work fine. So, keep working with support team on addressing this issue. Thanks.

[kdubz]

Veeam is currently installed on the same server as the database. I would like to move the Veeam installation to a different server but leave the database where it is.

If I uninstall Veeam will it leave the database?

Or, should I install Veeam on the new server first, attach to the existing database and then uninstall off the old server. Would that cause issues uninstalling off the old server?

Also, will I have issues moving the license?

TIA,
Kurt

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello Kurt,

You can safely uninstall your existing Veeam backup server and then use its database while installing new Veeam server. As to the license key, then you will have to specify it during installation once again.

After installing new server, you will also need to re-enter all connection settings as they are encrypted with a machine specific key.

P.S. to be on the safe side, make sure you have a backup of Veeam database or have a backup of Veeam infrastructure that is automatically performed by the built-in configuration utility.

Thank you!

[ehrnst]

Hello,

Did this issue get resolved? We experience a similar issue