Advice please - P2V options?

[lando_uk]

Hi
I have an old server I'm backing up with the veeam agent.

I want to virtualise this server and it looks like i can do this using the Instant Recovery.

The thing is, I want to restore it to a test lab first, I don't want use Instant Recovery using vPowerNFS. I just want a basic option like I see with standard VM backups to "Restore Entire VM..." So i can chose the testlab vcenter/host and just make a clone of the last restore point just to see if it runs ok and work out timings.

Also, the physical server in question has a large single volume with c: and d: partitions. I'd like to separate these two partitions into their own vdisks as part of this process. I don't see any way of doing that, will i have to ultimately use Vmware Converter?

Thanks in advance.

[david.domask]

Hi Mark,

Out of curiosity, why do you want to avoid using Instant Recovery here? For the P2V process with Veeam, you need to use Instant Recovery for the most convenient method; Instant Recovery will let you configure this and pick a specific host/network (or leave the network disconnected), and you can then poke around and check that everything is working well.

Alternatively, you can use the the Recovery media you can create from your Veeam Agent for Windows backups. One of the steps allows you to map volumes from the backup to specific disks if you desire, so this would also allow you to accomplish your second request.

But for just testing the restore to your Vmware environment (as I get it you're using Vmware), Instant Recovery will be best way to just check that it works first before trying to separate out the volumes to new disks.

[lando_uk]

Hi.
My prod veeam hw with the current backup is pretty hardened and locked down, it doesn't have the connectivity to the testlab host that would enable NFS to work.

I then thought maybe if i exported the agent backup to a standalone VBK i might get offered different options, but it's the same - I guess it knows the VBK is a agent backup and not a VM backup.

Wouldn't using the recovery media require me to spin up a vanilla windows VM as a source beforehand? That sounds a bit too much like hard work!

Splitting off the volumes isn't essential, but desirable as the current c: is low on space and i wish to also do an OS upgrade once its virtualised.

[david.domask]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the clarifications. I'm afraid that one of the two choices would be required; your understanding on the Recovery Media is correct; you can also consider exporting the disks from the backup and copying those to the host directly.

So any of the options would work -- if a temporary network access can be granted for Instant Recovery, I do think this would be easiest for you, but I understand change management can take awhile.

[lando_uk]

Hi Again.
Right, I'm trying the export disks option instead. Originally i thought this would be tedious as the VM is quite large, eg i'd have to find a local host with 2TB of disk, export the vdisks then import manually into esxi - and it would take forever. But trying now it lets me export straight into the testlab esxi datastore and its running at 190MB/s so that's pretty neat!

[david.domask]

Oh, indeed it's great to hear that the direct export is working well for you I must confess I forgot we could directly target the datastores else I would have suggested that also But if this is suitable for your purposes, then it's a quite fine strategy.