Copy or Restore Several VM's to Test Host

[jbodes]

I have a three host production environment with vmware essentials plus, vcenter and Veeam Backup Essentials license for the six cores. I picked up a spare host that I have vmware on as well (no vcenter) and want to use it similar to a lab environment, but will only need to power up test VM's now and again - no real regularity. I have Nics set up for both production network and test network, on the three production hosts as well as the test host. My question is, how can I copy 2 or 3 of the vm's in my production environment using my veeam software over to the test host? I'm not sure how the veeam licensing I have restricts features when the destination is not part of the license. Don't know if I can use Veeam Backup Free somehow? Thanks for suggestions

[nielsengelen]

You can use replication jobs and send them to the spare host. You can then use SureReplica which allows you to use the VM's as a lab for testing whenever you want.

[jbodes]

Didn't know replication jobs didn't need a license on destination host. That's great. What is the downside of doing a Quick Migrate? I know it renames the VM in vcenter but as long as you do not check off the Delete when Done option, it stays around. Does Veeam alter other areas of the VM or Guest OS? Thank you.

[nielsengelen]

Quick migrate is only possible if you do instant VM recovery of a backup (which can be to that spare host). There is a bit of downtime in the end when we finalize the transfer. Furthermore we don't alter anything on the guest OS.

[jbodes]

As long as I pick a slow time (weekend) in order to accommodate the small amount of downtime, this option sounds viable as well. Nice to have options. Thank you.

[jbodes]

Migrated vms this weekend via quick migrate option and test host is up and running. As you mentioned, there was some downtime at the end of the migration jobs and I had to power down the Destination VM on the Test Host and spin back up the renamed production vm. Nothing unexpected and worked as designed. Thanks again for options.