I recently setup an ESX 3.x box with a few VMs on it. I want to start backing up the VMs that are on there and creating templates. I was able to do this with ESX 2.x without much trouble. When I run vmkfstools on the ESX 3.x the system cannot find it. Any thoughts?
Also, I cannot get the root account to SSH console or file transfer from a workstation to the ESX 3.x box. I had to create another user account and use that to first get in. Any ideas? Is this by design?
Thanks!
Hi there,
Root Access for SSH is off by default. This is new in VI3, you need to create a another user and then su -
So you would log into using ur non root account then type
su -
enter in the root password.
I would then try the vmkfstools
What switch are u trying to use to backup the VMs.
Raymond,
Thanks for the reply. I thought that root SSH access would be disabled, but didnt see it anywhere in the documentation.
As to backing up the VMs I used the following command:
vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/storage1/TEST1/TEST1.vmdk -d 2gbsparse /mnt/file1smb/TEST1/TEST1.vmdk
Just a note, the file1smb folder in mnt is an SMB share to a Windows file server.
Any thoughts?
Yep that should work fine. The reason it gave a command not found error for vmkfstools is probably because you omitted the minus sign from the su command, you need to include it sets the paths as root.
Heres a script for automating what you're doing, it's free.
mittell,
Thank you very much! The minus :smileyminus: fixed my problem. I am moving along nicely.
Thanks again!
Bill