Joe Poyzer

Specializing in networking, systems, cloud, and automation.

📌 Overview

This project covers a V2V (Virtual-to-Virtual) migration, moving VM workloads from a VMware ESXi host to a Hyper-V environment using Veeam Backup & Replication. The goal was to build hands-on comfort with cross-hypervisor migration tooling and validate that a clean migration workflow could move workloads without manual rebuilds.

Environment:

  • Source: VMware ESXi host
  • Destination: Hyper-V host
  • Migration tooling: Veeam Backup & Replication, running on a dedicated VM (VeeamServer)
  • Shared backup storage: \\192.168.20.100\VeeamBackups

🖥️ Why a Dedicated VeeamServer VM

Veeam Backup & Replication requires a proper Windows Server OS to install on — it wasn't an option to install it directly on FUSION-DT, since that machine runs Windows 11 Pro rather than Windows Server. The workaround was standing up a dedicated VM, VeeamServer, running Windows Server specifically to host the Veeam Backup & Replication installation, rather than trying to force an install onto an unsupported OS.

🔧 Objectives

  • Migrate VM workloads from ESXi to Hyper-V without a manual rebuild
  • Validate VM functionality post-migration
  • Build repeatable familiarity with Veeam Backup & Replication as a cross-hypervisor migration tool

🚀 Migration Approach

With Veeam Backup & Replication installed on VeeamServer, the migration followed a few key steps:

  • Connect shared backup storage — pointed Veeam at \\192.168.20.100\VeeamBackups as the backup repository, authenticating with the jpadmin local administrator account
  • Add the ESXi host — connected Veeam to the source VMware ESXi host so it could see and back up the target VMs
  • Add the Hyper-V host — connected Veeam to the destination Hyper-V host as the migration target
  • Full backup — ran a full backup of the source VMs from ESXi to the shared backup repository
  • Instant VM Recovery — used Veeam's Instant VM Recovery to bring the backed-up VMs online directly from the backup repository
  • Migrate to production — migrated the recovered VMs into permanent production storage on the Hyper-V host, completing the move

Since this was a V2V migration (VM to VM, rather than physical hardware to VM), the process was more straightforward than a P2V migration, without needing to account for physical hardware drivers or boot configuration differences.

📈 Results

  • VMs migrated successfully from ESXi to Hyper-V with no data loss
  • Migration completed smoothly using Veeam Backup & Replication, with no significant issues encountered
  • Post-migration validation confirmed VMs booted correctly and functioned as expected on the new hypervisor

📝 Notes / Lessons Learned

  • Veeam Backup & Replication's OS requirements matter — a proper Windows Server install is required, which meant standing up a dedicated VeeamServer VM rather than trying to run it on a Windows 11 Pro machine
  • V2V migrations are generally more predictable than P2V migrations, since the source is already virtualized — fewer hardware-specific variables to account for
  • Instant VM Recovery followed by a migration to production storage is a reliable pattern for minimizing downtime — the VM is usable almost immediately from the backup repository, with the final storage move happening in the background
  • Even when a migration goes smoothly, post-migration validation is still worth doing as a matter of process — confirming VM functionality rather than just confirming the migration job completed