Migrate a VM with Azure Site Recovery
In the post I will guide you on how to migrate an on premise VM into Azure using Azure Site Recovery service (ASR). These days, Microsoft recommends that you use Azure Migrate: Server Migration instead; the latter supports both physical and virtual machines, but also a raft of other systems, not just infrastructure-lead migrations.
Assuming you already have configured your ASR, have set up a replication to your Recovery Services vault and targeted some VM’s to replicate, there are some important steps you need to do before you can finalize a VM migration.
Pre-Migration tasks:
- Prepare the VM to be hosted by Azure, including Windows Server 2008 SP2
- Ensure the VM has the latest Windows Updatesinstalled
- Install the latest Azure VM Agent
Note: For Windows Server 2008 SP2 guests, refer to these notes regarding support and compatibility before migrating.
- Check Azure Recovery Services vault for any errors and resolve first before proceeding.
Pre-Failover tasks:
- In the Azure Portal, navigate to Recovery Services vault and select the specific RSV used by the ASR
- Under the ‘Replicated items’ blade, select the VM to migrate
- Select [Failover] and accept the options to proceed, and select the latest 'Recovery Point'
Important: This will commence the cut-over from on premise to Azure, deactivating the on premise VM. You cannot power on the on premise VM unless you cancel the failover.
Post-Failover tasks:
- Once the migration completes (around 15~20 minutes), go to the VM's Overview blade, select the ‘Disks’ blade and change the disk type to a Managed Disk; this will require a restart and allow several minutes to complete
- If needed, change the VM Size to a suitable specification
- Under the 'Networking' blade, select network interface > IP configurations > IPv4 > change from 'Dynamic' to 'Static' > keep or select an alternative IP > Save, and update DNS if required
Note: Updating the NIC and VM Size properties will cause the VM to reboot.
- Confirm communications/services are working as expected
- Disable on-premise backup (ABS) on the old guest
- Include migrated VM to Recovery Services vault Backup
- Select [Complete migration] and [Commit] to finalize the migration
- Enable BitLocker Disk Encryption