1

Hi All,

I have a scenario where I would like to take one of my physical servers and convert that into Hyper V. I know how to do this, the issue is I would like the hardware that the server is sitting on to become the Hyper V host. I need to keep the same computer name due to path mapping of files that need to stay with the same computer name, and also keep the same IP address when moving over to the VM. Has anyone ever done anything like this? What is the easiest way to complete this? The biggest struggle I am going to have is the Server has 9TB drive with 8TB used. I do use Veeam for backup which they do have a P2V option.

Thank you for your response!

29 Spice ups
2

Back it all up first, Then you could use Veeam’s P2V conversion to create a VHD of your physicals server making sure that the VHD (or VHDX) file matches the space used on the servers hard drive.

Then I would prep the physical server, firstly change it’s name temporarily and it’s IP address so that the original name and IP are free for the VM, then restart. Install Windows server OS on the Physical server if its not already there then the Hyper-V role through the server manager or you could use a PS script. Then configure networking, storage and the usual Hyper- V stuff.

then your just going to create a new VM on the Hyper-V host, using the VHD/VHDX file you created during the P2V conversion and allocate the necessary resources based on the physical servers original configuration.

You might have to install Hyper-V integration Services or adjust drivers. Make sure you rename the VM to the original server name and assign the IP address. Make sure you test are working properly and if so you should be able to decommission/repurpose the original server

9 Spice ups
3

I did the same last year with a 7TB physical server. Not sure if it’s the best way, but I did an instant recovery using Veeam to the Hyper-V server, and then put it into production, which copied all the data over. Took a wile with that amount of data (and 1G networking), but it worked smoothly with only a few minutes downtime as I shut down the old server before running the instant recovery.

6 Spice ups
4

The methods would differ depends on what type of server this is, especially due to the size of the storage required & used ?

The “easiest” method would be a fresh installation & data migration as that would have the least issues and “easiest” method of recovery if anything goes wrong.

Another method is to backup using Veeam Agent for Windows, then use Veeam Backup & replication 12.x for Hyper-v to restore to the Hyper-v server.

3 Spice ups
5

Unlike Veeam B&R or Microsoft Disk2VHD, the free V2V Converter V2V Converter / P2V Converter - Converting VM Formats will migrate in one single shot, keeping all the data and configuration. As long as the hypervisor is configured correctly, your converted virtual machine should come up using the same hostname and all you will have to do is configure a proper IP address on a newly added virtual network adapter. Just follow the guide over here StarWind V2V Converter Help : Convert Physical Machine to remote Microsoft Hyper-V Server .

1 Spice up
6

You haven’t specified which Veeam product(s) you have. My general steps would probably look something like this:

  1. Take a backup in Veeam (you’ve tested restores before, right?)
  2. Format the host and install Hyper-V.
  3. Restore file server from Veeam to Hyper-V
7

This sounds like it may be the way to go. I’m assuming that I would delete the disk with all of the file server data on it after I build the new virtual machine with the VHD file. I am worried about this because I would have limited time and having that much Data copy over worries me. I would at most have a weekend and on top of that tt’s a remote location so if something went wrong and the machine went down I wouldn’t be able to connect back to it. Maybe It would be a matter of getting the VHD file over prior to even changing the name or IP address. Thank you for your input.