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Vmware backup practices

I'm fairly new to VMware, have been running Hyper-V since it was released but I am giving this a test run because it has USB support.

What are the best practices for backing up/restoring virtual machines? Can I simply backup the "virtual machines" folder that hosts all the virtual machines in the event my PC crashes and restore using that?

ryder0707

Generally yes you can, a simple backup of the VM folder will do
but the which vmware product you plan to use?
vmware server & workstation VMs are easier to backup becoz all the folders can be seen on the host OS, a normal backup will do
vmware esx/esxi, has couple of methods to backup, including using the latest vmware data recovery, vcb + your backup software, or via scp tool like veeam fastscp or just using the vi client to browse the datastore to download all the VMs
Cheers!

jmchristy

ASKER

I am running VMware Server 2 free edition, since I'm using it as a workstation/server

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ryder0707

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jmchristy

ASKER

Would this process be the same if I were to restore it to new hardware? Just install the VMware server service and copy the folder into the VM inventory?

Appreciate the help.

ryder0707

Yes ofcoz

jmchristy

ASKER

Excellent, thanks!

XChangingIT

what about if you want to backup a VM while its running?? schedule them to backup to a network drive....like leaving a PC running and doing a backup....does the VMware have to be shutdown?? that kinda sux if it does