Test migration functionality for VMware VM migration to Azure Local using Azure Migrate.

Hello NathaSahuKedara-6153, great question! Right now, Azure Migrate’s “test migrate” feature – the one that spins up a throw-away Azure VM so you can validate everything without touching your prod machines – is only supported for cloud (Azure IaaS) migrations. For Azure Local (Azure Stack HCI) scenarios, there isn’t a built-in “Test migrate” button in the portal. You have two main options:

1. Spin up a non-prod Azure Local cluster or dedicate a dev/test partition, replicate your VMs there, then do a planned failover to validate.
2. Use your existing Azure Local instance but treat a subset of VMs as “test” — replicate them, perform a planned migration, validate, then clean up.

Follow-up questions to help us zero in on your needs:

• Which Azure Local/Stack HCI version are you on (e.g. 2503+)?

• Are you using the agentless (appliance-based) flow or an agent-based/custom tooling?

• Do you have a separate dev/test cluster or environment you can repurpose for validation?

Reference docs:

• Migrate VMware VMs to Azure Local using Azure Migrate – https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-local/migrate/migrate-vmware-migrate?view=azloc-2602

• Overview of Azure Migrate for VMware > Azure Local – https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-local/migrate/migration-azure-migrate-vmware-overview?view=azloc-2602