Replication from ESXi (free) to vSphere and Veeam upgrade

[Fox54]

Hi,

I am using Veeam 3.0.1 to replicate some VM from an ESXi (free version) used as the production server to an ESX 3.5 server used as a backup server. In Veeam version 3.0.1, the ESXi host can be used as a VM source for replication but not a target.

I am planning an upgrade of the ESX 3.5 server (backup server) to vSphere 4 and also the ESXi host will be upgraded to vSphere 4.

I am also planning to upgrade Veeam to 4.1 but i am confused about the planning

My initial plan was

Upgrade ESX 3.5 to vSphere 4
Upgrade Veeam to 4.1
Replicate VM from ESXi (free) on newly upgrade vSphere 4 server with Veeam
Upgrade ESXi(free) to vSphere 4
Replicate VM from Vpshere backup server to vSphere production server with Veeam

Since i heard that veeam 4.1 does not support ESXi (free), how can i plan my upgrade ??

[Gostev]

Hello, you should get special Veeam Backup 4 license that enables supports ESXi 3.5 free (as customer who purchased Veeam Backup before ESXi free support has been discontinued, you are eligible for such license). Please contact your sales representative to obtain it.

Also, because it is not clear from your description whether you are upgrading ESXi(free) to paid or free ESXi 4, I want to specifically mention here that free ESXi 4.0 is not supported by Veeam Backup even with special license key, and no matter of product version.

Thanks!

[Fox54]

The ESXi free is upgrade to fully licensed vSphere4 server. So i don't expect any problem

Thanks