Backup/Restore ESXi 4 VM?

[domb]

I am going to set up a very basic backup system using the RCLI and Veeam Fast SCP. The idea is to shut down the guest vm's using 'vmware-cmd.pl', copy them off with FastSCP and then start them backup again with 'vmware-cmd.pl'. This works fine but what if I want to restore the VM's at some point? Which files should I be backing up?

I'm thinking of changing the hard drive configuration from RAID 1 to RAID 5 as well which will obviously means re-installing ESXi so if I wanted to restore a VMs config and VMDK which files do I need? Thanks if you can help!

[AntonVZhbankov]

Backup all the files, except .log

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MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[domb]

Ok thanks. What if I want to restore everything to a new server or re-install? Presumably I SCP everything back to the datastore but then what?

[AntonVZhbankov · Accepted solution]

Browse datastore, find .vmx, right-click and "Add to Inventory"

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MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[domb]

Thanks a lot!