vicfg-cfgbackup.pl change in 5.1 !?

[TopFuel007]

Hi, I have a free version of ESXi (@home) that I just upgraded from 5.0.0 6238602 to 5.1.0 914609.

I have previously used vicfg-cfgbackup.pl to backup the configuration (I'm booting of a USB Flash drive).

But after the upgrade vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --save goes okay, but the vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --load fails with this;

Enter username: root
Enter password:
The restore operation will reboot the host.
Type 'yes' to continue:
yes
Uploading config bundle to configBundle.tgz ...
Unable to enter maintenance mode: Current license or ESXi version prohibits execution of the requested operation.. Please ensure no virtual machines are running on the host and retry the operation again.

Yes, all the guest was stopped and the host was i maintenance mode (using VMware vSphere Client)

I also notice that a similar message when using vicfg-hostops.pl to put the host in maintenance mode;

Enter username: root
Enter password:
Host esxi2 cannot enter into maintenance mode.

SOAP Fault:
-----------
Fault string: Current license or ESXi version prohibits execution of the request
ed operation.
Fault detail: RestrictedVersionFault

So, the questions I have;

- Is it intentional that the free version (license) is not allowed to use vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --load (or vicfg-hostops.pl)?

  Like to know if this is a error on my host or not ...

- If so, are there other ways of doing a backup of the configuration?

- If not, I guess a backup of the USB Flash drive is the only way to go, but I have tried to do a disk clone in a lot of ways, but since no USB Flash drive are 100% equal, it often fails (and have to take place when the host are down)

...

[TopFuel007]

Well, nobody can verify this issue with vicfg-cfgbackup.pl?

I cannot get it to work, but I have figured out how to make a backup of the USB Flash Drive, here are the steps;

(The issue/problem was that the partition table was in GPT format, not the normal/older MBR)

I use Clonezilla in vmware player, and connect the USB Flash Drive to the PC before starting Clonezilla;

Backup ESXi USB drive
=====================

Save GPT Data to disk:
------------------------
$ sudo gdisk /dev/sdb
Hit p (Check that you are on the right disk)
Hit b (back up GPT data to a file)
Enter backup filename to save: /home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_GPT.bin
Hit q ( .. yes, to quit)

Save data from the USB drive
-----------------------------
sudo dd if=/dev/sdb1 bs=512 of=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb1.dd
sudo dd if=/dev/sdb5 bs=512 of=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb5.dd
sudo dd if=/dev/sdb6 bs=512 of=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb6.dd
sudo dd if=/dev/sdb7 bs=512 of=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb7.dd
sudo dd if=/dev/sdb8 bs=512 of=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb8.dd

Restore ESXi USB drive
======================

Restore GTP Data to new USB drive
--------------------------------
$ sudo gdisk /dev/sdb
Hit p (Check that you are on the right disk)
Hit r (Recovery)
Hit l (load partition data from a backup file) (Might get a message complaining about drive size, ignore)
Hit w (write table to disk and exit)
Hit y (to confirm)

Restore data to USB drive
-------------------------
sudo dd if=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb1.dd bs=512 of=/dev/sdb1
sudo dd if=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb5.dd bs=512 of=/dev/sdb5
sudo dd if=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb6.dd bs=512 of=/dev/sdb6
sudo dd if=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb7.dd bs=512 of=/dev/sdb7
sudo dd if=/home/partimag/ESXi2_Build_914609_130130_sdb8.dd bs=512 of=/dev/sdb8

... but I really like to get vicfg-cfgbackup.pl or something similar (remote or local on the esxi host???) to work, as its done online, with the above procedure, the vm's and the host has to be offline ...

[def151]

Hi,

Could you try it again with the -f parameter ?

vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --server <server_name> -f -l <backup_file_name>

(-f force, because the build nr. aren't matching anymore)

[TopFuel007]

Nope, using -f does not change anything, I have now also tested this on another installation (in Player) to check, but with build 5.1.0,914609 it not possible to use vicfg-cfgbackup.pl -load  !!??

[lamw · Accepted solution]

Free ESXi (also known just as vSphere Hypervisor) license does not allow for write operations using any of the remote CLI's which relies on the API. This is an expected behavior and is not an error. For more details, you can take a look at this article that I wrote awhile back regarding the "fault.restrictedversion.summary" http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2011/06/dreaded-faultrestrictedversionsummary.html

[TopFuel007]

Thankyou, so its confirmed, and great article BTW.

But one question remains, is backup of the USB stick ( to backup the host configuration/settings) the only way on the free edition of ESXi ?

[def151]

Good article indeed, But if my free esxi host fails. I can do a reinstall of ESXi and restore my back-up with vicfg-cfgbackup.pl in the trial mode. (License key is in the Back-up file so after that the restore i'm back in the free ESXi).

If not same question, are there any other working back-up restore methods then usb?

[rcatech]

Hi,  I'm quite sure that cloning the USB stick is the only way to backup the Free ESXi configuration.  I have simply unplugged the stick while ESXi is running, cloned the stick with clonezilla and plugged the stick in the same USB port of the server again.  You may read this topic to choose the version of Clonezilla ready for VMFS5 cloning: http://sourceforge.net/projects/clonezilla/forums/forum/663168/topic/4749244/index/page/2  -- I've tried to backup a VM using the free version of the Veeam software. it simply didn't worked, because the free licence of ESXi.  Yes, I know that it don't works,  but the Veeam software have recognized my ESXi 5.1 like a free (limited) version, and it was in trial mode...  So, i don't think that the "restore to trial" may work (but I will surely try that way too)  regards, Frank

[lamw]

Here's a much simpler approach for backing up and restoring your free ESXi host configurations http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2013/02/how-to-backup-restore-free-esxi-host.html