asked on

How to backup VMware Vsphere ESXi 5.0 configurations

A few months ago I bought VMware vSphere 5 Essentials. I have it up and working where I want it, but now I want to backup the VMware configurations encase the flash drive where the hypervisor is installed fails. I am currently managing the host with VMware vSphere Client. I have not yet had time to find an available server to install the vCenter Server and I am not sure if an easier way is built into it. Is there an easy way of backing up the VMware ESXi config?

SOLUTION

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

Also you can use the following to backup the configuration, so you can backup and restore using the vSphere Command Line Interface

To backup the host you would run the command.

vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --server <server_name> -s <backup_file_name>

To restore your backup configuration to your host you would run. This will cause the host to reboot once the process is complete.

vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --server <server_name> -l <backup_file_name>

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

SOLUTION

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

mlsbraves

ASKER

I first installed the vCLI and tried the following command:

vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --server <ip-address> -s backup.bak
Entered User and Pass

I kept getting this error:
Error connecting to server at 'https://localhost/sdk/webService': Perhaps host is not a vCenter or ESX server

I then tried this command which did work:

vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --server <ip-address>
--username <username> --password <password> --save backup.bak

The file was saved in this directory:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\