Backup and Restore VM Host

  1. To backup ESXi configuration:
    1. Run the following command: vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config
    2. Export the configuration file by going to the URL in the output. (Replace * in the URL with the IP address.)
      Putty
    3. If unable to download the config file through the browser, it can be found in /scratch/downloads/<<GUID from output in step b>>/configBundle-hostname.local.tgz. Use winscp to transfer the file from ESXi to the local machine or copy to a datastore
  2. Restore configuration back to ESXi host:
    1. Make sure the same build of ESXi from where the backup was taken from, is installed back onto the host.
    2. Copy the backup file back to the ESXi host. Use winscp to copy the config file back to the host /tmp directory.
    3. Rename the file from configBundle-<host name>.tgz to configBundle.tgz.
      Example:
      cp configBundle-esxi7001.vmlab.local.tgz configBundle.tgz
    4. Put the host into maintenance mode.
    5. Run command:
      vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/restore_config /backup_location/configBundle.tgz
    6. If there is an error stating UUID mismatch, then add a 1 to force the override of the Universal Unique Identifier (UUID).
      Example:
      vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/restore_config 1 /tmp/configBundle.tgz

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