Enterprise VMware-to-Hyper-V migration

I moved production workloads from VMware ESXi to Windows Server 2025 Hyper-V while protecting the source SAN data, preserving VM identity, and validating the complete service before controlled cutover.

Context

The work crossed VMware, Windows Server 2025 Hyper-V, an enterprise SAN, Veeam, Active Directory, DNS, applications, and production networking. A separate conversion host provided an isolated conversion and validation point.

My role

I planned and carried out the conversion, storage-handling, isolated-testing, and validation steps across the migration path.

Result

The workloads moved with their identity, disk layout, networking, and application function preserved while the source remained a controlled recovery point.

Safe working sequence

How I reduced risk

Discover
Protect source
Convert
Isolate
Cut over
Verify

Conceptual workflow only. No live topology, identifiers, or operational data are shown.

The problem

Why the work needed more than one tool

A platform migration can look like a disk-conversion task when it is really a dependency and recovery problem. The virtual machines were tied to SAN presentation, network identity, domain services, applications, backup state, and the order in which source and target storage became visible.

What could go wrong

Writing to or initializing the wrong SAN LUN
Booting duplicate production identities on the live network
Losing MAC addresses, static network identity, disk order, or application dependencies
Treating a booted VM as proof that the service had recovered
Removing the source recovery path too early

What I did

The working sequence

Inventoried virtual machines, disks, datastores, LUNs, networks, backup state, and service dependencies
Designed temporary and permanent SAN layouts for conversion, restore staging, and final Hyper-V placement
Configured SAS initiators, host groups, LUN mappings, MPIO, and read-only source access
Used Windows SAN Policy OfflineAll and disabled automount before presenting storage
Configured the Hyper-V host as a Veeam-managed server and Direct SAN proxy
Restored multi-terabyte VMware virtual machines directly from SAN-backed datastores
Preserved VM identity, MAC addresses, disk layout, and static network configuration
Used isolated Hyper-V networks for boot and service testing before production cutover

How I validated it

Evidence before completion

Verified source LUN identity and read-only state before target initialization
Checked restore points, virtual disk count, VHDX placement, and checkpoint state
Tested guest boot, storage, networking, authentication, and application startup in isolation
For domain controllers, verified DNS, SYSVOL, NETLOGON, FSMO ownership, replication health, and static identity
Moved workloads into the final production state only after dependency checks passed

What this demonstrates

The skill behind the tools

This project demonstrates that I can move between virtualization, SAN storage, backup tooling, Windows identity, networking, and application validation without losing sight of production safety.

Production details are intentionally anonymized. I do not publish organization names, internal addresses, credentials, private topology, or sensitive recovery information.

Platforms and tools

VMware ESXi Windows Server 2025 Hyper-V Temporary conversion host enterprise SAN Veeam Backup & Replication SAS MPIO VMFS ReFS Active Directory

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