What a readiness check verifies, how often it runs and what it costs compared with a DataLab test.
From Ultra Transcenders VRO-13 by Tony Rough (coming January 2027)
A readiness check confirms that a plan’s configuration still matches the DR environment, so the plan should run successfully. The documentation describes it as very low-impact and fast (almost zero-impact), so it can run very frequently.
The check works through every plan step and checks each item in the plan. It confirms that:
For restore plans that recover Veeam agent backups to vSphere, the readiness check (and a DataLab test) also verifies that VMware Tools are installed, but only for Windows-based machines; Linux machines must be checked manually.
The documentation recommends a readiness check after creating a plan, after editing it, after testing it in a DataLab (to confirm replicas were shut down and are ready for failover), and after infrastructure changes (to confirm recovery locations still have resources).
| Way to run | Where and how |
|---|---|
| Automatic | Orchestrator runs it daily for every ENABLED plan by default |
| Manual | Recovery Plans: select the plan and click Check, or Publish > Readiness Check Report |
| Scheduled | Manage > Schedule, then set a date and time in the Perform readiness check field |
| After reset | Select Run a quick check after reset is complete in the Reset Plan window |
Results appear in the State column and on the Home Page Dashboard. The Readiness Check Report is available from Reporting as a summary report (plan overview, inventory group summary, colour-coded step results) or a full report (adding recovery location details and the steps that will run). Results are appended to the plan’s report template.
The check has a documented gap in 13: Orchestrator cannot retrieve the compatibility matrix from VBR for the target Hyper-V host and the backed-up VM hardware versions, so an incompatibility is not reported and the restore of an incompatible VM fails.
Common trap: Treating a passed readiness check as proof that machines will boot and applications will work - the check validates configuration and availability; only a DataLab test starts machines and runs verification steps.
This note is one section of Ultra Transcenders VRO-13: Veeam Recovery Orchestrator 13, an independent study guide that explains every topic the course covers by technology, with comparison tables, diagrams and the common traps, plus a glossary linked to the Veeam Help Center.
Due on Amazon in January 2027, in Kindle and paperback editions.
About the book · VRO-13 terms in the glossary · All VRO-13 study notes
Replica, CDP replica, restore, storage and cloud plans: what each recovers from and where.
What each Orchestrator role can and cannot do, and why building and running plans are separate.
How a plan's state shows its readiness and its mode shows what it is doing.
How the embedded backup server restores and fails over in a clean room when production is lost.