Moving my Veeam VM to a new host

[guitarfish]

I want to move the VM I use for my Veeam backup server to a new VMware ESXi host, and I need some direction on how best to do it.

Presently I am running Veeam B&R 8.0 on an ESXi 5.5 VM, on a standalone host (no vCenter). This VM has three disks spread over two datastores, about 1.5TB each.

The new host is also ESXi 5.5, and it’s managed by vCenter Server Essentials (3 hosts max). I can also connect to the new host using VMware’s Windows thick client, if that matters.

In Veeam, I have Backup jobs for 4 Windows VMs, and 4 Backup Copy jobs to the cloud. My goal is to get the Veeam system VM running on the new host, and existing jobs continuing to run in incremental fashion. I don’t want to run new Full backup jobs in other words.

I’ve copied VM’s from one host to another in a lab setting, although these usually had single datastores, and they were pretty small. Because of my multiple, larger datastores, I want to make sure my plan is solid before I start. How do I do this?

As for copying itself, I could copy over the LAN from host to host on a weekend, or I could use a USB 2.0 external drive during normal hours. Either way, 3TB will take some time.

[Vitaliy S.]

What data do you have on these disks attached to the backup server? Do you use them as backup repositories? Can you add this host to your vCenter Server and then replicate/migrate it to the new host?

If you don't want to re-run full backups for your jobs, then you need to make sure that source VMs stay in-tact. Do you host them in the infrastructure managed by vCenter Server or you host them on the same ESXi box you use for Veeam B&R server?

[guitarfish]

The data on the Veeam VM is backup repositories. The target VM's are managed by vCenter, they aren't moving, just the VM running Veeam. The Veeam VM needs to move from outside center to within it.

[vmJoe]

Moving the guest VM that hosts the Veeam Backup and Replication server to a host managed by vCenter will not have any affect on your backup jobs as long as the VM is kept "intact" with all of the VMDKs attached to it, and there are not any networking changes to the VM.

I feel that the safest way to migrate a VM into a different infrastructure is to use any method that will involve a copy of the VM(s) that need to move. Having a copy will obviously allow you to go back to the original VM in case something goes wrong. The method(s) available to you depends on your Vsphere license level (Storage VMotion, Shared Nothing VMotion). Safe ways of moving a VM include doing a copy of the VM folder to a portable drive and then copying that data into a Datastore.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/micros ... Id=1000936

You can also do an OVF export/Import of the VM, or do a clone to the new host, etc.

Since you already have Veeam Backup and Replication you could just replicate (or do a VM copy) the Veeam server then do a cutover to it.

[guitarfish]

I was able to move my Veeam VM, and hats off to Veeam for making it so easy. I used the article How to: Move a VMware VM from one host to another WITHOUT VMware vMotion

The article explains how to use Veeam Backup Free Edition to move a VM from one host to another. Amazing, easy, and so far, flawless. Took <9 hours to move about 2.5TB across the wire.

Thanks all for the replies.