Live P2V SQL Server

  • Hello,

    Has anyone ever done a live physical to virtual conversion? If so, were there any special considerations or planning steps you took? Did you run into any issues during the process? My plan is going to look something like this:

    Audit online data, take down anything unnecessary

    Make remaining databases read only

    Start copy only backups with compression to move databases over (we have 3rd party backup software that I don't want to confuse with full backups)

    Image physical server

    Create VM

    Shut down physical machine and change host name

    Bring up virtual server and restore databases from backups

    I know I have to be missing stuff along the way.

    Thanks for any advice

  • sqldriver (7/29/2014)


    Hello,

    Has anyone ever done a live physical to virtual conversion?

    Yes, more than i care to remember :crazy:

    sqldriver (7/29/2014)


    If so, were there any special considerations or planning steps you took? Did you run into any issues during the process?

    Stop the SQL Server services before starting the P2V, otherwise you may encounter issues when the VM server comes online.

    The source servers disk drives are transferred one at a time. In my scenario the data drive image was transferred before the log drive image, consequently the 2 did not match and when the VMs SQL Server services started a large number of the databases failed.

    sqldriver (7/29/2014)


    Make remaining databases read only

    Start copy only backups with compression to move databases over (we have 3rd party backup software that I don't want to confuse with full backups)

    Image physical server

    Create VM

    Shut down physical machine and change host name

    Bring up virtual server and restore databases from backups

    I know I have to be missing stuff along the way.

    Thanks for any advice

    If you shut the instance down first then none of the above will be necessary

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • I have those steps planned because I've been asked to not shut the server down until the VM is up and running for testing, in case we need to back out/roll back. If we were doing it the 'easy' way I would have just used the wizard 🙂

    Thanks

  • wouldnt hurt to try it with the databases read only, good luck

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • Thanks. I'm still trying to find a thorough checklist for a similar situation. Thankfully this isn't due for a couple days.

  • See this link

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

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