Hi,

the documentation says:

“If the original VMs and VM replicas are located in the same network, consider temporary disconnecting the original VMs from the network to avoid IP address or machine name conflicts.”

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/failover.html?ver=110

So, this behaviour seems to be correct.

In case you want to be sure your replicas are startable, then use SureReplica…

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/recovery_verification_surereplica.html?ver=110

I also think that this is correct, failing over doesn't stop the source VM. A planned failover on the other hand will shutdown the source VM, run an incremental sync and then start the replica; but this is nothing you want to do for testing.

If you want to do a DR test, then I would manually shutdown the VM before failing over.

If you want to regularly test if the replica is recoverable, then I would suggest to go with SureReplica.

Correct @regnor , a planned failover does what @Pegasus expected. But I think this is another usecase.

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/planned_failover.html?ver=110

Thank you so much for this help.

Last question. Should I install veeam on the DR. The reason I ask is if you are keeping your replica for say a week on your DR while you fix the Prod. What is backing up the replica during this time?

I really appreciate all the help.

Jay

I like this answer as our Prod needs a full RAID replacement soon as the HDDs have come of age.

Many recommendations say to install the Veeam server on the DR site. Then you are able to make backups during the time your production site is recovered.

I have in some customer environments a second server at the DR site and copy the configuration backup from the production Veeam server to this maschine.  So, I am able continue with my backups, too. Even in the case my production Veeam server dies...

PS The Prod will be offline and veeam

As I said before, I have the Veeam server at the DR site. Or have at least a usable server at the DR site when it is not suitable to have the production server at the DR site - e.g. because of performance issues...

This is very impressive thank you. I recall veeam licensing allows you to install veeam on all your managed servers with one lic if i recall?

Mhh, don't remember all kinds of licenses. But when you are using one server at a time it should be no problem.

And in my scenario I am using one server at a time only.

So I feel the correct way would be to do a planned fail-over. Once that is done I can start mending the RAID array with new hard drives 2 at a time and let the RAID controller do it business. There are only 8 drives in a raid 10 config. I must just remove the correct drives from the correct Raid driveGroup as not to kill the whole server. Ill check in again before I proceed. The Prod servers drives are 7 years old!

Thank you so much to everyone. Veaam is AMAZING software.

Jay

For the Veeam part this is ok, I think.

I don't know your hardware, so I don't give a recommendation for this part.

Thanks all. I will be sure to check in again!

I appreciate all your replies and your time.

Glad that I was able to help you.

Even when you have marked your own comment as best answer

AAAAh noo!

You can use the license on as many servers as you like, but you need to take care that you don't exceed the licensed sockets/instances in total. For a DR side, if you replicate the same VMs, which you backup at the primary site, then it's valid. You could install enterprise manager which monitors the license status of all your servers. Or you let your DR site do both the backups and replicas. 

For evening else I don't have anything to add, as@JMeixner has already answered everything

By the way, on what platform are your VMs running? VMware with vCenter? 

Great my network is very small. I only have two servers and a total of 7VMs running on HyperV. However I am a perfectionist and always want things perfect. From reading the comments it almost feels that one could just have a command PC that is unlikely to fail. Say a NUC with NVME.

From this command server you could just run backups to both servers thus making the NUC the brain of the operation. With config backups on the NUC and one of the servers-maybe cloud.

Jay

In bigger environments it is recommended to not let the Veeam server on your vSphere or HyperV environment. Just to be able to restore when there is a bigger problem with your production environment .

And yes, one Veeam server can work with several HyperV hosts and can control backup and replication on them. For environments with more than one Veeam server you can use the enterprise manager.

If it's possible for you then I would at least separate the backup server from your production host; either place it on the DR server or on a third system, so that you're safe when the primary host fails.