Vertualizing (P2V) Veeam B&R Server

[marius roma]

I plan to migrate a Veeam B&R Server currently hosted by a physical Windows Server 2008 R2 server to a VM hosted by the same vSphere infrastructure the Veeam B&R server manages.
Is there any best practice to refere to?
My idea is stopping all the Veeam services on the physical server and then perform a P2V migration.
Is there any other isue I should consider?
Can I go on using the current licenses on the VM after migrating or should I do anything to let B&R work?
Regards
marius

[nielsengelen]

You can reinstall the windows server and then VBR. Afterwards you can export the configuration from the physical server and import it to the virtual one. This would be better as P2V has it disadvantages.

[marius roma]

Thank you for your message.
- Is there a Step-by-Step guide to perform export and import of the configuration (including SQL DB, I presume)?
- Which are the known disadvantages of P2V?
Regards
marius

[nielsengelen]

We have a KB about it: https://www.veeam.com/kb1889

P2V isn't that bad but it does take over everything it had on the physical server and with that maybe some wrong settings which aren't optimal for virtual. Other things I have seen is issues with block sizes and this resulting in backups of the server being twice as big. My advice is always to start fresh

[phillbl]

install veeam endpoint. back up the vrb file to a different location. use the utility to to export the vrb to a vmdk file.
create a new vm in vsphere, dont add a disk.
upload the disk to the datastore where the vm lives and then attach the drive
once the server has booted login and and view the hidden devices in device manager and delete the the ones that apply to the physical server. you will notice them as they are lighter in colour almost greyed out. if you like use this https://ghostbuster.codeplex.com/

once this is done reboot and you should be fine.

[marius roma]

Thank you for the interesting hint.
Do you think the suggested procedure works better than VMware Converter?
Where can I locate the utility to export the vrb to a vmdk file?
I performed a test with VMware converter (without connecting the converted VM to any network) and it looks that the converted VM works fine after uninstalling HW specific tools: is there any specific issue I should care?
Regards
Marius

[nielsengelen]

He is talking about the Export option which is available if you use endpoint to backup to a Veeam repository; more info can be found at https://helpcenter.veeam.com/endpoint/1 ... store.html

[marius roma]

Imagine a Windows server 2008 R2 physical server running as a Veeam B&R 9.0 server.
I need to convert it to a VM to be used in a VMware environment.
I made some attempts with VMware Converter with no success.
Is there any other tool I can use in order to convert it to a VM without losing the Veeam configuration and the Veeam jobs?
Regards
marius

[$username]

When you do the P2V what happens? You just lose the config and jobs?

Back up the Veeam config and restore it post P2V?

[marius roma]

No, I am simply unable to complete the P2V conversion.
marius

[csydas]

Marius,

@$username is right -- use the Veeam Configuration Backup: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95

Just make a new VM, install Veeam, then restore from the Configuration Backup

Edit: If there are very specific Windows configurations you need to preserve (mapped drives, etc), then use the Veeam Agent for Windows to backup the Server, then restore it.

[wishr]

Dear Marius,

We recommend you to check the solution proposed by Csydas above.

Thanks!