Restore SBS 2011 to Dissimilar hardware? Possible?

[Alan_ORiordan]

Hi

We are thinking of using Veeam endpoint backup to backup/restore to dissimilar hardware a SBS 2011 physical server for a charity we support

While it may not be technically supported has anyone tried this or had any success in doing this?
The source server has software RAID on dymanic disks and the destination server has hardware?

After researching this I see some indications of issues with vss writers etc.

My question is in the latest version of endpoint backup has anyone tried this and if so how did it go, where you successful? Did you have issues in backing up or restore?

Thanks

Alan

[Dima P.]

Hi Alan,

Restore to dissimilar hardware is supported. You may need to change hardware drivers during bare metal restore, so keep it close to your recovery media (you can include the drivers in the recovery media during it’s creation).

[Alan_ORiordan]

Thanks Dima

Is it supported with server OS like Small Business Server 2011 though which have SQL and Exchange. Have you (Veeam) had experience of successes or failures you could share?

[Dima P.]

Since SBS 2011 is based on Windows 2008R2 it is supported. Our QA team used SBS servers to test the application aware backups and application item level recovery for version 1.5

[Alan_ORiordan]

Can you confirm if going from the source on Dynamic software raid disks to the Host on basic, hardware raid to possible? We are having trouble with the recovery environment mapping partitions. Even if we select manual and choose the RAID driver the partition window remains blank and can't proceed, auto detect fails.

[Alan_ORiordan]

We deleted the existing RAID array and re-created the array and have got further, it is now restoring the sytem reserved and C drive. We are told we have to restore the Dynamic Data drive from the console once the server boots....watch this space

[Dima P.]

Alan,

Dynamic disk backup is supported. During bare metal recovery you can restore dynamic volume as a simple volume. However, if you want to restore a dynamic disk in original layout – you can perform a volume level recovery once original OS is restored.

[Alan_ORiordan]

Well I think I am there

After re-installing NIC exe drivers, chipset drivers and a few other settings etc the server seems functional. I have still to test client features like domain join/disjoin, Outlook access, UNC shares etc but so far it looks good. It has been documented so hopefully it will be plain sailing on the go-live refresh build.

Endpoint backup is a good product and credit for giving it away free fully featured when it is better than some 3rd party paid for software

[Dima P.]

Thanks for the heads up Alan! Glad to hear you are up and running now.

[jboulanger23]

Alan I am looking to do the same thing as you, restore SBS2011 to new hardware. Can you offer and insight or share your restore documentation with me? I appreciate any help.

[Alan_ORiordan]

Hi

I suggest getting familiar with the migration process first on a test PC is you have access to one
Then when happy with that get a Veeam endpoint backup created along with recovery media from the SBS, it will be able to work alongside built-in server backup (if you use that) without a problem just schedule as a one off job for instance
I'd uninstall manufacturer specific utilities if the new hardware is a different brand, Dell > HP for instance.
If you get the correct RAID drivers prepared for during the wizard.
If you use dynamic disks there are a few dialog boxes to read and deal with but it will work
After the restore which may sit for a long time initialising the desktop you will have to install target machine NIC (set the static IP) and chipset drivers and give the system a full once over as there will be a few other minor issues to correct but nothing too scary.

I would do a full trial run with the restored new hardware server on an isolated network to avoid DHCP conflicts etc.

Good luck

[Mike Resseler]

Good stuff Alan!

Thanks for helping out Joe.

The only part I am not sure about is the NIC and the static IP. That information should be in the backup so does that mean it wasn't restored?