Veeam VM Migrator Tool

The Veeam VM Migrator Tool (Veeam.Backup.VmMigrator.exe) will assist customers in resolving the misalignment of MORef-IDs between what they are in the VMware environment and what is stored in the VBR configuration database, thereby ensuring jobs for VMs whose MORef-ID has changed can resume using incremental processing and avoid those VMs being treated as wholly new VMs.

Detailed Summary

When a virtual machine (VM) is added to a job in Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR), that VM's vSphere-assigned Managed Object Reference ID (MORef-ID) is recorded within the VBR configuration database. In addition to the VM's MORef-ID, the BIOS UUID of the VM is recorded in the database as a secondary reference point for identifying the machine. VBR then uses the MORef-ID to refer to the VM when interacting with the vSphere environment. This ensures that VBR always interacts with the correct VM, and tasks are unaffected should the VM's name be changed.

When a vCenter (VC or VCSA) is either rebuilt with a new database or a new VC is built and old resources are migrated, that vSphere environment will assign the VMs new MORef-IDs. This change in MORef-ID causes the entries within the VBR configuration database to become invalid. This, in turn, causes VBR to be unable to make requests to interact with and protect those VMs because the MORef-IDs it would attempt to reference when communicating with the VC have become invalid.

Resolving this misalignment of MORef-IDs between what they are in the vSphere environment and what was written in the VBR configuration database is the purpose of the Veeam VM Migrator Tool (Veeam.Backup.VmMigrator.exe). The tool will utilize three data points for each VM: name, MORef-ID, and BIOS UUID, and compare those found in the VBR configuration database with those found within the vSphere environment. The tool will then generate a migration task file that lists all potential matches for the user to review. The customer then reviews that list to verify by hand that the proposed MORef-ID changes are valid and then utilizes the VM Migrator Tool to make those MORef-ID updates within the VBR configuration database.

Considerations and Limitations

Before using this migration tool, consider the following:

• It is necessary to make a configuration backup of Veeam Backup & Replication database.
• Do not launch any backups for VMs from the new vCenter until you finish working with the utility. Otherwise - if there are any VMs backed up from the new vCenter - it will not be possible to migrate these VMs (due to the new VM objects already existing in the database).
  
  Note: If, for some reason, you have already added the new vCenter or ran any jobs which will have added new Ref-IDs to the database, you must rollback the Veeam Backup & Replication configuration database using a Configuration Restore to a config backup created before any such jobs were run.
• Old vCenter must not be used by Veeam Backup & Replication after migration.
• If you use the replication feature:
  • The utility supports a source vCenter migration only. If replication target vCenter is changed, you will need to manually map source VMs to their replicas.
  • Replica VMs must be mapped manually using the replica mapping feature in Veeam Backup & Replication console.
• Virtual labs should be recreated manually after migration.
  
• The VM containers will not be updated by the utility, you will need to manually re-add all folders, tags, datastores, clusters and resource pools in the list of VMs in backup and/or replica job settings.