For most of the past two decades, VMware was the unquestioned standard for enterprise virtualisation. It delivered stability, enterprise features, and a broad ecosystem of tools and support.
But infrastructure decisions are rarely permanent.
Licensing changes, rising platform costs, and the increasing maturity of alternative hypervisors have prompted many organisations to reassess their reliance on VMware. For some, the conclusion is clear: it is time to evaluate a migration strategy.
However, leaving VMware is rarely just a technical exercise. The biggest challenge is not choosing a new platform — it is moving workloads safely without disrupting the business.
Fortunately, modern tooling has made this far more achievable than it was even a few years ago.
Two approaches currently stand out:
- Migrating workloads using the HPE VME Migration Tool
- Migrating workloads using backup-driven recovery with Veeam Backup & Replication
Each approach has advantages depending on your architecture, operational maturity, and long-term infrastructure strategy.
Before exploring those options, however, it is important to approach migration in a structured way.
Step 1: Start With Discovery, Not Migration
Most VMware environments have evolved over many years. Virtual machines are added as new projects start, legacy systems are retained for compatibility, and documentation rarely keeps pace with reality.
As a result, many organisations do not have a complete picture of what actually runs inside their virtual infrastructure.
A discovery phase should identify:
- critical business workloads
- application dependencies
- storage and performance requirements
- network dependencies
- backup coverage and recovery readiness
- candidate workloads suitable for pilot migration
This stage often reveals surprises. It is not uncommon to find systems that no longer serve a clear purpose or workloads that are more business-critical than originally assumed.
Skipping this stage dramatically increases migration risk.
Step 2: Validate Your Backup Strategy
Before touching any production workload, you need to know that your recovery processes are reliable.
Migration projects often surface unexpected issues — application dependencies, network constraints, or configuration differences between platforms. When those issues appear, a verified backup becomes your safety net.
Backup validation should include:
- confirming all workloads have recent successful backups
- performing test restores of representative virtual machines
- validating application-consistent backups
- confirming backup retention aligns with migration timelines
- ensuring the backup platform can restore workloads into the destination environment
If your organisation uses Veeam Backup & Replication, this stage can naturally extend into the migration itself, since workloads can be restored directly into new platforms.
Even if a dedicated migration tool is used, verified backups remain essential for rollback capability.
Step 3: Run a Pilot Migration
Before migrating hundreds of workloads, run a controlled pilot.
A pilot migration helps validate the entire process in a low-risk environment and gives operational teams confidence in the tooling and procedures.
A pilot should test:
- migration reliability
- application behaviour on the new platform
- network and storage compatibility
- monitoring and backup integration
- rollback procedures
The goal is not simply to confirm that a VM can boot. The goal is to verify that the workload behaves correctly in its new environment.
Once the pilot proves successful, the migration can move into phased rollout.
Migration Architecture Overview
Below is a simplified view of how the two migration approaches typically work.
VMware Environment
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HPE VME Migration Tool Veeam Backup
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Direct VM Conversion Restore from Backup
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Target Platform Target Platform
(New Hypervisor) (Any Supported Platform)In simple terms:
- HPE VME Migration Tool performs a direct conversion and migration
- Veeam migrates workloads by restoring them into a new environment
Both methods can successfully move workloads off VMware, but they operate differently.
Option 1: Using the HPE VME Migration Tool
The HPE VME Migration Tool is designed to help organisations migrate workloads from VMware into supported target platforms within the HPE ecosystem.
The tool focuses specifically on direct migration.
Key capabilities include:
- agentless migration of VMware virtual machines
- automated disk conversion
- centralised orchestration of migration workflows
- scheduling and batching of workload migrations
This approach is particularly useful when the destination platform has already been selected and aligns with HPE infrastructure.
Because the tool is purpose-built for migration, it simplifies many of the manual steps that would traditionally be required to convert and move workloads.
However, its role is largely confined to the migration project itself.
Option 2: Using Veeam Backup for Migration
An alternative approach is to use backup infrastructure as the migration engine.
With Veeam Backup & Replication, virtual machines can be restored from backup into different environments, allowing organisations to migrate workloads without performing direct disk conversions.
This approach offers several advantages:
- migration is based on already-tested recovery workflows
- rollback remains simple because backups remain intact
- the process works across multiple platforms
- backup infrastructure continues to provide value after migration
For organisations already using Veeam extensively, this approach often integrates naturally with existing operational processes.
It also introduces an additional strategic benefit: the backup platform effectively becomes a workload mobility layer.
Lessons Learned from Real VMware Migrations
Over the past few years, several consistent patterns have emerged across VMware migration projects.
Networking Is Often the Hardest Part
Hypervisor migration is rarely the biggest technical challenge. Network dependencies, firewall rules, and application connectivity tend to cause the most unexpected issues.
Legacy Systems Surface Quickly
Migration projects often expose virtual machines that no one fully understands. These systems require careful investigation before moving them.
Backup Validation Prevents Major Problems
Teams that test their backups before migration encounter far fewer disruptions. Reliable recovery capability dramatically reduces risk.
Pilot Migrations Save Time Later
Small pilot migrations frequently uncover operational issues that would otherwise affect larger migrations. Resolving these early makes the full migration significantly smoother.
Phased Migration Reduces Risk
Attempting to migrate everything at once introduces unnecessary complexity. Moving workloads in stages allows teams to refine the process as they go.
Final Thoughts
VMware remains a powerful and mature platform, and for many organisations it will continue to play an important role in their infrastructure.
However, the barriers to migrating away from VMware are no longer as significant as they once were.
Tools such as the HPE VME Migration Tool and backup-driven migration using Veeam Backup & Replication now provide practical pathways for organisations that want greater flexibility in their virtualisation strategy.
For IT leaders, the objective should not simply be leaving VMware.
The real objective is building an infrastructure where workloads can move when business requirements change.
Because the organisations that maintain that flexibility will always have more control over their long-term infrastructure strategy.
