How conversion of physical computers to virtual machines works in Backup Exec
Backup Exec provides the ability to convert a physical computer to a virtual machine in the following ways:
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Back up a physical computer and simultaneously convert it to a virtual machine.
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Back up a physical computer and schedule a conversion to a virtual machine to run after the backup job runs.
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Convert existing backup sets to a virtual machine.
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Convert a running physical computer to a virtual machine without running a backup job.Note: Conversion of a physical Hyper-V host into a virtual machine is not supported. In addition, in a VMware environment, conversion of Windows Server 2012 physical servers that have 4K disks is not supported.
The newly created virtual machine is bootable and is identical to the physical computer from which the virtual machine was converted, with the exception of the network cards and settings. Conversion to a virtual machine enables business continuity for both Hyper-V and VMware environments.
This topic includes the following information:
Conversion to virtual machine options
You use one of the following options on the Backup and Restore tab to set up a conversion to a virtual machine:
Related information
Table: Conversion to virtual machine options
| Name of option | Description |
|---|---|
| Back up to Disk and Simultaneously Convert to Virtual Machine | These options run the conversion simultaneously with the backup job. Because two operations are performed at the same time, this job may take longer to run than a regular backup job. A large backup window is recommended for this option. |
| Back up to Deduplication Disk Storage and Simultaneously Convert to Virtual Machine | A conversion from a full backup creates the new virtual machine. Incremental and differential backups update the virtual machine that was created from the full backup. |
| Note: Incremental backups are preferred over differential backups because the differential backups are inefficient for conversion as compared to incremental backups. | |
| Although the backup runs simultaneously with the conversion, the backup is the primary job. Therefore, if the backup fails, then the conversion fails also. However, if the conversion fails, the backup continues to run. For a conversion failure, the job is marked as a success with exceptions. In the case of a failed conversion, the conversion process runs again during the next full backup. | |
| See Converting to a virtual machine simultaneously with a backup job . | |
| Back Up to Disk and then Convert to Virtual Machine | These options let you schedule the conversion to run after the backup job. These options require a smaller backup window than the simultaneous conversion options. |
| Back Up to Deduplication Disk Storage and then Convert to Virtual Machine | A conversion from a full backup creates the new virtual machine. Incremental and differential backups update the virtual machine that was created from the full backup. |
| Note: Incremental backups are preferred over differential backups because the differential backups are inefficient for conversion as compared to incremental backups. | |
| See Converting to a virtual machine after a backup job . | |
| Convert to Virtual Machine from Point-in-Time | A conversion to a virtual machine from a point in time converts existing backup sets from a backup job in which all components that are necessary for a virtual machine conversion were selected. When all necessary components are selected for a backup job, Backup Exec identifies that job as Fully selected and the Simplified Disaster Recovery option has a status of ON . The option to convert to a virtual machine from a point in time is useful in a disaster recovery situation in which you want to quickly recover a failed server. The backup sets contain all of the critical components of the server. Additionally, you can select application data or user data to include in the conversion. |
| Note: The optionConvert from Point-in-Timebecomes available for selection only after you run at least one full backup that includes all critical system components. | |
| See Converting to a virtual machine from a point in time . | |
| One-Time Convert to Virtual Machine | This option converts a running physical computer to a virtual machine without a separate backup job. A one-time conversion job can be scheduled to run at a later time, but it cannot be scheduled to run more than one time. |
| Only Full (Copy) backups are supported for this type of conversion. Incremental and differential backups are not supported for one-time conversions. | |
| See Creating a one-time conversion to a virtual machine . | |
| Add Stage | You can add a stage to a backup job to convert to a virtual machine. Two types of stages are available: Convert to Virtual Machine After Backup and Convert to Virtual Machine Simultaneously with Backup . |
| See Adding a conversion to virtual machine stage to a backup job . |
Note: Regardless of the option that is used to initiate the conversion, Backup Exec does not power on the virtual machine after creating it.
Backup Exec creates a snapshot of the virtual machine at the end of the conversion process. The snapshot is removed before the next job runs as long as the virtual machine is not powered on and the only snapshot on the virtual machine is the one that Backup Exec created. If you want to start using the virtual machine, you must manually remove the snapshot.
If the converted virtual machine's host fails and you bring the virtual machine online, the existing conversion job continues to run and then fails. In this situation, you must create a new conversion job.
How backup selections are processed during conversion to virtual jobs
When you set up a conversion to virtual job, you select the items to back up before the conversion or simultaneously with the conversion. Backup Exec may automatically exclude or include data in certain situations. The job log lists the items that were excluded from or included in the conversion.
Selections are processed as follows:
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If you exclude a volume from the backup job, then that volume is automatically excluded from the corresponding conversion job.
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If you include an application in the backup job, the disk and volume on which that application resides are automatically included in the conversion job.
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If you exclude a volume from the backup, the disk that is part of the volume is automatically excluded if the volume is the only thing on the disk.
How full, incremental, and differential backups work in conversion to virtual jobs
Conversion-to-virtual-machine jobs create a virtual machine from a full backup. Subsequent incremental and differential backup jobs update the virtual machine that was created by the full backup. Although differential backups are supported for conversion jobs, incremental backups are the preferred method for updating virtual machines. Differential backups are inefficient for conversion when compared to incremental backups.
When using the incremental backup method for conversion to virtual machine jobs, keep in mind the following points:
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Data from volumes is backed up at a file\folder level. Even if only a portion of the file has changed, the entire file is backed up.
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The entire System State is backed up. Incremental backups are supported only for the system file components of System State; the other System State components are backed up as a full backup.
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Block-level backup methods must be selected for SQL. After the initial incremental backup runs for SQL, block-level backups are performed for any subsequent full or incremental backups for which the Simplified Disaster Recovery option is ON. Conversion will not be performed if a block-level backup method is not selected.
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Full backups are always performed for Active Directory. Neither incremental backups nor differential backups are supported for Active Directory.
Conversion of disks or volumes larger than 2 terabytes
Backup Exec supports conversion of disks or volumes that are larger than 2 terabytes (TB) for VMware hosts and Hyper-V 2012 or later hosts.
Note: If the boot volume or the system volume on the source physical computer is larger than 2 TB and you are converting to a VMware virtual machine, then Backup Exec cannot convert it. A boot volume cannot be split or created as a dynamic spanned volume. This limitation also applies if the boot volume on the source is larger than the destination datastore's maximum supported disk size.
Backup Exec converts all disks and volumes on the destination to simple or spanned dynamic volumes. Even if the source disk is a basic disk, the converted disks on the destination will be dynamic. Since Backup Exec supports only simple and spanned dynamic volumes, if the source volume type is striped, mirror, or raid5, then Backup Exec converts that volume to either simple or spanned on the destination.
The following additional information applies only to VMware:
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Conversion of a volume that is larger than 2 TB is supported in the following situations:
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If the volume is not a boot or system volume
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If the volume was created on a dynamic disk
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If the volume is an MBR disk
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Conversion of GPT disks is not supported, regardless of the size of the volume on the disk. Conversions of GPT disks fail.
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In situations where the VMware source disk size is larger than the destination datastore's maximum supported size, the source disk is split into multiple disks. Backup Exec splits the disk based on the destination datastore's maximum allowed size.
Notes about conversion to a virtual machine running on a Windows Server 2012 or later Hyper-V host
Before you create a job to convert a physical computer to a Windows Server 2012 and later Hyper-V host, review the following information:
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Disk data is stored in vhdx files for conversion of a physical computer to a virtual machine running on a Windows Server 2012 and later Hyper-V host. The vhdx files can have a maximum capacity of 64 TB. The physical computer's disk sector size is maintained during the conversion.
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The conversion of physical computers that have simple GPT disks is supported.
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The conversion of physical computers that have dynamic disks is not supported.
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Storage Spaces and Storage Pools are not supported.
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Conversion to any previous versions of a Windows Hyper-V host is not supported, so those jobs fail. For example, if the physical computer runs Windows Server 2012 with an ReFS volume, conversion to a Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V host is supported.
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If the physical computer runs Windows Server 2012 or later with one or more Windows deduplication volumes, conversion to a Hyper-V host is possible, but it may fail. The converted disk data is not deduplicated. In other words, an unoptimized data transfer is performed. For this reason, the conversion may fail if the amount of unoptimized data is greater than the capacity of the destination volume.
Notes about conversion of Exchange servers
Backup Exec disables Exchange services on a newly-created virtual machine after a conversion-to-virtual job. If Exchange databases are present on a converted server, after a conversion-to-virtual job you must open the Microsoft Services Control Manager and manually restart the following Exchange services:
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MSExchangeDagMgmt
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MSExchangeADTopology
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MSExchangeAntispamUpdate
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MSExchangeDiagnostics
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MSExchangeEdgeSync
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MSExchangeFrontEndTransport
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MSExchangeHM
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MSExchangeMailboxAssistants
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MSExchangeDelivery
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MSExchangeSubmission
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MSExchangeMigrationWorkflow
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MSExchangeMailboxReplication
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MSExchangeRPC
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MSExchangeFastSearch
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HostControllerService
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MSExchangeServiceHost
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MSExchangeThrottling
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MSExchangeTransport
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MSExchangeTransportLogSearch
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MSExchangeUM
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MSExchangeUMCR
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