Back up and restore ESXi 5.0 host configuration using the vSphere Management Assistant (VMA), including the vicfg-cfgbackup commands for capturing datastore, virtual switch, multipath, and licensing settings to speed up new host deployments and recovery.
Recently I have been backing up ESXI configurations for Backup Objectives and for new deployments to my Virtual environment.
Copying the ESXI Configuration files speed up the restore and deployment times. Configuration files contain datastores configurations, virtual switches configuration, multipaths, local users and groups and licensing information.
You would first need to download the vSphere Management Assistant (VMA) from VMware.
Once you have installed and configured the VMA you can connect using SSH.
Backup ESXI Host:
To carry out a Backup you would need to use the following command :
vicfg-cfgbackup -s -server (ServerIP) /tmp/(Hostname)-Backup
I would recommend creating a backup folder using WinSCP or equivalent e.g /Backups/
Once the Backup is complete you can us WinSCP or other to connect to the VMA Server to copy the file to a location of your choise.
Restore ESXI Host:
Copy the backup file to a folder location on the Target Host.
Restore Command: -l -server (ServerIP) /tmp/(Hostname)-Backup
Once completed the Host would require a reboot before taking effect.
