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jondonnis
Contributor
Contributor
‎06-22-2012 12:24 PM

ESXi 5 on USB stick backup solution

I'm an amateur ESXi user and self taught.  I followed a guide to get it installed on a USB stick.  Been running fine like that since version 4 and with the upgrade to version 5.

I now (although should of before the upgrade) want to take a backup of the install on the USB stick.  How would I do this?  And once backed up, how would you restore it?  Because I actually want to transfer it to another stick.  It's actually on an SD card at the moment, but I want to use the SD Card Reader, so want to transfer the install to a USB stick (and back it up as well).

Any ideas?

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3 Replies
fabro
Contributor
Contributor
‎06-22-2012 01:16 PM

Hi jondonnis!

Why do you want to backup your ESXi installation? The best option is to make a Host Profile (if you have vCenter) and make a new install. After that you'll only need to apply the Profile to your new ESXi.

Regards,

Fabricio.

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jondonnis
Contributor
Contributor
‎06-23-2012 03:54 PM

Because I'm new to ESXi and learning so assume if something fails on it I'll need to reinstall and set it all up again with it's settings.  Also I want to move it off the SD card and put it on a USB stick instead.

I don't have VCenter

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal
‎06-23-2012 04:29 PM

You can use vicfg-cfgbackup from the vSphere Command Line Interface (vCLI).

Example - http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.vcli.examples.doc_50/cli_manage_hosts.4.4.html

Download (windows / Linux ) -  http://www.vmware.com/download/download.do?downloadGroup=VCLI50U1

You can also get a VM appliance that includes the vCLI or if you prefer PowerShell there are VMware extensions for PowerShell that allow you to backup and restore the hosts configuration.

vicfg-cfgbackp and the PowerShell equivalent only deal with the system configuration of the host (no VM backup with those commands).

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