Physical to Virtual Migration with Veeam


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VMware just announced to remove vCenter Converter from the list of VMware product downloads this week. If we plan to P2V migration today, we may look for another approach. Veeam is a good approach for P2V migration. Today we will discuss how to physical-to-virtual migration (P2V) with Veeam VBR.

P2V Procedures
1. Install the Veeam Agent on the source host
2. Create the backup job
3. Restore the backup into the target host
4. Migrate to production

Demo Environment
Veeam Backup and Replication v11a
Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows 5.0.2
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 7.0 Update 2
VMware vSphere 7.0 Update 2
Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 (Physical host)

P2V Migration

Install Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows on source host.

Create the backup job of the source host.

Select "Entire computer", then click Next.

Select "Veeam backup repository", click Next.

In Backup Server, specific the FQDN/IP address of VBR. Select the backup repository, click Next.

Select "Enable application-aware processing" and "Enable file system indexing", click Next.

Click Apply to confirm the backup job.

Then it starts to backup the source host.

When the backup job is completed, go to Veeam console to restore the backup into the target host.

Select "Instant Recovery to VMware vSphere"

Specific the required information for the destination host. It will reserve machine BIOS UUID. Click Next.

We can also enable "Scan the restored machine for malware prior to performing the recovery". Click Next.

Click Finish to confirm the restore operation. It will mount the NFS datastore on the target host.

It register the VM into the target host. Then power on the VM automatically and install the VMware Tools in the guest OS.

When the VM is restored successfully, we can verify the settings in the guest OS.

If everything is fine in the guest OS, we can migrate this VM to production.

Back to Veeam console, select "Migrate to production".

Click Finish to confirm the migration.

When the migration is completed successfully, we need to uninstall the "Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows" and unusual software.

In this demo, Veeam shows how to P2V Microsoft Windows into the VMware vSphere.

Appendix

When we P2V Microsoft Windows into the VMware vSphere with VMware vCenter Converter Standalone, it also deploy the Converter Agent into the source host.


58 comments

Userlevel 7
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Awesome post Victor now that converter is no more. 😎

Userlevel 7
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Awesome post Victor now that converter is no more. 😎

That why! We should use Veeam for P2V migration.:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Userlevel 7
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Very nice guide 😎👍🏼

Userlevel 7
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Nice done, @victorwu !

Again you could show how simple this task is!

Userlevel 7
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Nice done, @victorwu !

Again you could show how simple this task is!

Thanks. @vNote42 :grin:

Userlevel 7
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Great guide and a great alternative for the vCenter converter 👍

Userlevel 7
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Absolutely great guide, but the old converter was faster :joy:

Userlevel 7
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Absolutely great guide, but the old converter was faster :joy:

Faster but did not have things like Surebackup to validate your VM.  :grin:

Userlevel 7
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Absolutely great guide, but the old converter was faster :joy:

Faster but did not have things like Surebackup to validate your VM.  :grin:

The old converter did NOT support the incremental sync, it requires much of time for P2V and guest OS customization.

Hi victor,

 

Thanks for sharing this. it was really nice approach, could u please help by replying below quries.

1- does it support Boot from SAN. Meaning, One of my customer running Linux (RHEL 6.8) instance which is booting from SAN. OS Kernel is located on SAN shared storage instead of local server disk.
2- Does this Veeam software free?
 

thanks in advanced

Userlevel 7
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@Anapi I would say it should also work with boot from SAN. The system sees this disk still as local and Veeam will be able create a backup from it. Linux on the other hand is sometimes a bit special with its disks, so it could be that you'll need to manually reconfigure some parts after the migration.

Both the Veeam Agents and Veeam Backup&Replication have a free/community edition.

Userlevel 7
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Hi victor,

 

Thanks for sharing this. it was really nice approach, could u please help by replying below quries.

1- does it support Boot from SAN. Meaning, One of my customer running Linux (RHEL 6.8) instance which is booting from SAN. OS Kernel is located on SAN shared storage instead of local server disk.
2- Does this Veeam software free?
 

thanks in advanced

  1. I should be supported, you'll need to manually reconfigure some disk mount points after the migration.
  2. VBR have a free edition.
  3. You need to uninstall multipath software on Linux if it is installed after the P2V.

very cool buddy!! thnx.

This can be done with physical servers with RedHat or SUSE or Oracle, etc (Linux).

Userlevel 1

Thank you for this nice guide, but it is necessary to install the Agent on Source Host? If i use Backup & Replication 11 (with universal License/Enterprise Plus) i can configure everything there, is it right?

Is there any difference for Windows Active Directory Servers?

Userlevel 7
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You need an agent on the source system - either an standalone or a server controlled agent.

Userlevel 1

@JMeixner 

Thank you for the very fast reply. I thought the Backup & Replication Server installed this Agent automaticly on the source system, or is that another client and in this case not working?

 

Userlevel 7
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The server controlled agent is installed by the VBR server, correct.

Userlevel 1

Is this a disadvantage to use the server controlled agent?

Is it possible to p2v migrate an Windows 2016 Active Directory?

Userlevel 7
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Is this a disadvantage to use the server controlled agent?

Is it possible to p2v migrate an Windows 2016 Active Directory?

No disadvantage at all as you can control things from VBR.

Yes you can P2V an AD server as long as Application Aware processing is enabled.

Userlevel 7
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It is the same agent. If it is installed from the server, the VBR server has more control and gets more information.

I did not migrate an AD server from physical to virtual up to now. I don’t see a problem with this. Activate application aware backup for the AD, then all should be fine….

 

Edit:
Sorry Chris, did not see your answer before.

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@JMeixner @Chris.Childerhose 

Thank you very much. It helps me a lot!

Userlevel 7
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@JMeixner @Chris.Childerhose 

Thank you very much. It helps me a lot!

Not a problem. Let us know how it goes. 👍

Is this P2V conversion also workable in a Hyper-V VM environment? I need to migrate a physical SQL server on 2012R2 to Hyper-V VM, would the steps be the same? Or are there other considerations>

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Is this P2V conversion also workable in a Hyper-V VM environment? I need to migrate a physical SQL server on 2012R2 to Hyper-V VM, would the steps be the same? Or are there other considerations>

Yeah the same steps would apply for this as well.  Back up the SQL box and restore to Hyper-V as a VM.

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