Restore virtual machine for testing

[abrown1983]

Hey guys, I may get slammed for this but I did some *quick* searching and only found reference to Veeams virtual lab which I do not have access to. What I am attempting to do is restore a domain controller and my Exchange server for one to test restoring them and see how long it takes and two so I can install SP2 on Exchange to see how it goes and if I have any issues. I have two hosts and was just going to restore the two VMs to the same hosts on a different vswitch, with different names and a different data store. Will this cause issues for the original virtual machines? Or cause any other unforeseen issues? Sorry if this has already been asked and thanks in advance! If this is not the correct way to go about testing this what is?

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Andy,

You need to use On-Demand Sandbox to verify your Exchange and DC VMs. If you do not have an opportunity to use this feature, you can setup an isolated network environment by yourself and then connect the restored Exchange and DC VMs to this network. This would allow you to avoid conflicts with your production VMs.

Thanks!

[abrown1983]

So I can restore them to the same hosts with different names and they will not affect the Production VMs?

[Vitaliy S.]

Yes, but you need to make sure you're not using your production network for restored VMs.

[abrown1983]

Right, I have separate virtual switch with no physical adapters that I was going to put them on. Is that what you are talking about?

[Vitaliy S.]

You should be using an isolated VM Network (it might be either separate switch or not). The VMs you're going to restore need to be isolated from your production network and this is exactly what our Virtual Lab automatically does. Hope this helps!

[abrown1983]

I understand that, unfortunately, with the version we have, we do not have access to the virtual lab.