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Veeam Migration Path — Validation & Checklist

Validation steps for each migration hop and the complete pre-migration checklist.

Hop 1 Go / No-Go Sign-off

Do not proceed to Hop 2 until every VM in this batch passes every check below

The Hyper-V staging host is your last rollback point before Azure Migrate consumes the VMs. Once Hop 2 replication starts and succeeds, rolling back to Nutanix requires restoring from backup.

After Veeam failover or restore, sign off on each VM individually before committing the batch to Hop 2:

Check Command / Method Expected Result Signed off
VM boots and stays running Hyper-V Manager — check VM state Running (not Paused or Off) ☐
Network connectivity to gateway ping <gateway-ip> from inside VM Successful ☐
Correct IP address assigned ipconfig /all (Windows) / ip addr (Linux) Matches planned IP ☐
DNS resolution (forward) nslookup <hostname> Resolves to correct IP ☐
DNS resolution (reverse) nslookup <vm-ip> Resolves to correct hostname ☐
AD domain membership Test-ComputerSecureChannel (Windows) True ☐
Can reach domain controllers nltest /sc_query:<domain> Success ☐
All critical services running Get-Service / systemctl status Expected services active ☐
Application smoke test Browser / curl / DB query / ping app port Expected response ☐
Can communicate back to source network Ping dependent servers / databases by hostname Successful ☐
Disk integrity Check Event Viewer (Windows) or dmesg (Linux) No disk errors ☐
Re-IP applied correctly (if applicable) ipconfig /all / DNS check New IP active, DNS updated ☐

Batch Hop 1 Sign-off:

Field Value
Batch
VMs in batch
Date / Time completed
All checks passed? ☐ Yes — proceed to Hop 2 ☐ No — rollback
Sign-off by
Application owner confirmation

Hop 1 Validation — Hyper-V Staging (Detail)

After Veeam failover, validate each VM before committing:

Check Command / Method Expected Result
VM boots Hyper-V Manager — check VM state Running
Network connectivity ping <gateway> from inside VM Successful
DNS resolution nslookup <hostname> Resolves to correct IP
AD domain membership Test-ComputerSecureChannel (Windows) True
Services running Get-Service / systemctl status Expected services active
Application smoke test Browser/curl to app URL or DB query Expected response
Disk integrity Check Event Viewer or dmesg for disk errors No errors

Document your baseline

Before starting any migration, record the expected state for each VM (IP, service list, app test URL/query). This becomes your validation checklist post-migration.

Hop 2 Validation — Azure Local

After Azure Migrate cutover, repeat all Hop 1 checks plus:

Check Method Expected Result
Arc status Azure portal → Azure Local → VMs Connected
Azure Monitor agent Azure portal → Monitor → Agents Reporting
Defender for Cloud Azure portal → Defender for Cloud VM appears, no critical alerts
Update Manager Azure portal → Update Manager VM inventoried
DNS (if re-IPed) nslookup <hostname> from multiple clients Resolves to new IP
SPN registration setspn -L <computer-account> SPNs intact for SQL/IIS services
Kerberos authentication Test app login with domain account Successful
Application sign-off App owner performs full functional test Pass

IP and DNS Verification

  • ipconfig /all (Windows) or ip addr (Linux) — verify IP matches expected
  • nslookup <hostname> — verify forward DNS resolves to correct IP
  • nslookup <ip> — verify reverse DNS (PTR) resolves to correct hostname
  • From other servers: ping by hostname to verify DNS propagation
  • Verify new IP assigned correctly after Veeam failover
  • Update DNS A records: Set-DnsServerResourceRecord or via DNS Manager
  • Update PTR records (reverse zone)
  • Flush DNS caches on key servers: ipconfig /flushdns (Windows), systemd-resolve --flush-caches (Linux)
  • Verify SPN registrations if SQL Server, IIS with Windows Auth, or other Kerberos services are present

Rollback Decision Points

Stage Rollback Action
After Veeam failover — validation fails Undo Failover in Veeam → source AHV VMs power back on
After Commit Failover — Azure Migrate test fails Power off Azure Local test VMs, restore source AHV VMs from Nutanix snapshots
After Azure Migrate cutover — issues found Open source AHV VMs (still powered off, not deleted) and power them back on

Never delete source VMs until holding period expires

Maintain source Nutanix VMs in a powered-off state for a defined holding period (typically 2–4 weeks per batch) after Azure Local validation is complete. Only then decommission them permanently.

Pre-Migration Checklist

Item Status Owner Notes
Veeam B&R v12+ installed ☐ Infra Confirm version
Veeam licensed (VUL count confirmed) ☐ Infra Minimum 10 VUL for rolling batches
Nutanix AHV/ESXi added to Veeam ☐ Infra AHV proxy deployed and healthy
Hyper-V staging host(s) added to Veeam ☐ Infra Transport service installed
Hyper-V storage sized and available ☐ Infra ≥ used disk of largest batch
Azure Migrate project created ☐ Cloud Subscription + RG selected
Azure Migrate appliance deployed ☐ Cloud Registered, discovery complete
Azure Local cluster healthy ☐ Infra Arc-registered, CSV capacity available
Network ports verified open ☐ Networking All ports in prerequisites table
VM inventory sorted into batches ☐ Migration Lead Batch spreadsheet complete
IP/VLAN mapping spreadsheet complete ☐ Networking Source → target for all VMs
DNS TTLs lowered (if re-IPing) ☐ Networking Set to 300 seconds, 48 hours before Batch 1
Application baseline documented per VM ☐ App Owners IPs, services, smoke test procedure
Rollback procedure documented and tested ☐ All Undo Failover confirmed working
Stakeholder maintenance windows approved ☐ PM Per-batch windows scheduled
Source VM holding period policy agreed ☐ All Minimum 2 weeks recommended