using replica and/or virtual lab as dev/test environment

[nike284]

I am in the process of evaluating Veeam to possibly be our dev/test environment.
I went through a whole list of threads earlier, but wanted to list it out to make sure all considerations are evaluated.
Please note that I did not get the chance to try the SandBox yet, I only tried the SureBackup so far. We use Backup and Replication package at the moment,
I don't see Sandbox in our interface, is SandBox available to us?

My goal is to setup a dev/test environment where it can communicate with production both directions.
1. reading from the threads, it seems like the replica and Sandbox are not designed for this, one issue that came up in history threads is the re-IP is not supported.
I am curious at start up, the IP cannot be changed beforehand, I'm assuming I can change the IP after boot up, or is the IP config not available for change?
2. If I have an exchange server in 1 VLAN, and my DC's in another VLAN in production. if I replicate, does the masquerade IP and routing replicate?
3. Host licensing does not need to be considered, since the backup VMs do not sit on them. Meaning I can run the SB and replication jobs on a unlicensed host, according to older threads)
4. I see that Veeam has vmotion capability in the SandBox environment, does it operate just like a Vmware vmotion, or are there any restrictions? Assuming it needs to be able to storage vmotion also.
Can I vmotion a tested Sandbox VM to our production for failover or fallback?

If there are other points I need to consider, feel free to share.

thanks!

[PTide]

Hi,

I don't see Sandbox in our interface, is SandBox available to us?

Please check this article.

4. I see that Veeam has vmotion capability in the SandBox environment, does it operate just like a Vmware vmotion, or are there any restrictions? Assuming it needs to be able to storage vmotion also.

Since VMs that run in a virtual lab are just ordinary VMs with disks placed on an NFS share vMotion is applicable to them.

3. Host licensing does not need to be considered, since the backup VMs do not sit on them. Meaning I can run the SB and replication jobs on a unlicensed host, according to older threads)

You can deploy vritual lab on unlicensed host but you cannot replicate from the unlicensed host.

2. If I have an exchange server in 1 VLAN, and my DC's in another VLAN in production. if I replicate, does the masquerade IP and routing replicate

Masquerading and routing is performed by proxy appliance, so if you just migrate VM from virtual lab to production you will surely get a collision.

1. reading from the threads, it seems like the replica and Sandbox are not designed for this, one issue that came up in history threads is the re-IP is not supported.
I am curious at start up, the IP cannot be changed beforehand, I'm assuming I can change the IP after boot up, or is the IP config not available for change?

Not sure what you mean, please elaborate.

Thank you.

[nike284]

1. reading from the threads, it seems like the replica and Sandbox are not designed for this, one issue that came up in history threads is the re-IP is not supported.
I am curious at start up, the IP cannot be changed beforehand, I'm assuming I can change the IP after boot up, or is the IP config not available for change?
Not sure what you mean, please elaborate.

your Sandbox thread answered my question.

For the Sandbox, if I want to use it for external user testing, have them test from the web/external network, is it feasible?

[Vitaliy S.]

For the Sandbox, if I want to use it for external user testing, have them test from the web/external network, is it feasible?

Yes, you will be able to access VMs in the Sandbox environment via VMs masquerade IP address.

[Rettep91]

Hi!

Is it possible to migrate a vm currently residing in a veeam surebackup sandbox environment back to production after making some test changes to the VM?
Like upgrading an application or the OS of the VM and see if it´s working, then just replace the existing VM in production with the one from sandbox?

Best regards,
Petter

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Petter,

Yes, that's possible, just don't power off the VM, otherwise, all changes will be discarded. See this post for more info.

Thanks!