How to backup the vCenter Appliance 6.5

Backing Up and Restoring the vCenter Appliance

Step 1: Deploy an ftp server. In this case, an Ubuntu Linux instance was used. Below are the  
instructions to install and configure an ftp server.

A. Add the package by typing the following: sudo apt-get update ; sudo apt-get install vsftpd

B. Edit the /etc/vsftpd.conf file using gedit or vi (gui vs cli tools). Uncomment two lines
write_enable=YES and local_umask=022. Add the following four lines ... allow_writable-chroot=YES, pasv_enable=YES, pasv_min_port=40000 and pasv_max_port=40100.
Verify your steps.

C. Restart the ftp process by typing sudo service vsftpd restart. Verify your steps.

D. Add the ftp user by typing sudo useradd -m ftpuser -s /usr/sbin/nologin.

E. Give the ftpuser a password by typing sudo passwd ftpuser. Verify your steps.

F. Add a new line by typing /usr/sbin/nologin to the /etc/shells file. Here is what it should look like.

G. Type chmod -R 777 /home/ftpuser

Step 2:  Connect to the vCenter Appliance using port 5480 and log in as root.

Step 3: Click on Backup.

Step 4: Specify the protocol, the username and name of the backup.

Step 5: Verify that the backup starts and wait a few minutes.

Step 6. Confirm that the backup worked.

Step 7: Look at the results.

Note: Should the backup fail, putty into the vCenter Appliance and access the /var/log/vmware/applmgmt folder. There is a log called backup.log that displays backup related information.

Step 8:  To restore, simply deploy a new one using the iso. Towards the bottom, you will see the restore choice.

Step 4: Once the restore is complete, connect to the new vCenter server and verify functionality.