How to Easily Backup VMware ESXi VM While It is Running?

Data security is always a hot topic in recent years and it is also important in vSphere virtual environment. Making ESXi VM backup can avoid losing data for all kinds of disasters.

The basic VM backup method is copying the folder or virtual disks to another storage. IT administrators can import the files later to recover VM.

However, files can't be copied while it's being read so it often causes exporting VM to fail, requires IT administrators to power off the VM to complete the procedures, and leads to downtime in production environment.

To avoid downtime in such a situation, you need a solution to backup running ESXi VM.

P.S. ESXi host configuration also can be saved. Please refer to the post Backup ESXi Host Configuration.

How to simply backup a ESXi VM while it's running in vCenter?

VMware once has an application VMware Data Recovery, VDR, to let its users easily backup VMware Virtual Machine but later it provides a better solution vSphere Data Protection, VDP, to replace VMware Data Recovery. At present, both VMware Data Recovery and vSphere Data Protection are discontinued because VMware has left the API for backup service vendor to provide better backup solution. If you are interested, you can go to another post to see their features.

Although these applications can be used anymore, you still have another internal solution to backup ESXi VM.

To save data while VM is running, you can take a VM snapshot. Snapshot is often compared with backup and sometimes it can work like backup. Snapshot will save the status of the VM and take less time than backup. For a short-term backup plan (no more than 72 hours), it is good but it will grow and affect the performance of system if the snapshot exists too long so don't retain the snapshot for too long and remember to manually delete it.

In vCenter, you can easily take a snapshot of the VM.

Just select the VM > click Snapshots > click Take Snapshot > type the snapshot name and description > check Include virtual machine's memory > click Create

When it is needed to restore the VM, just select the snapshot and then select Revert.

Snapshot is not the real backup. To make real VM backup, most companies will select a professional backup solution for their virtual environments.

How to backup running ESXi VMs with Vinchin Backup & Recovery?

Hot backup is essential for production environment because it protects the VMs without requiring powering them down, greatly reducing downtime. Vinchin Backup & Recovery will be your professional backup and disaster recovery solution to help you backup ESXi VMs while they are running.

Vinchin Backup & Recovery supports agentless backup in vSphere environment. You just need to add the ESXi host to Vinchin backup system and then you can select any VMs to backup. This means you can easily group the VMs to make a unified backup plan.

Step 1. Select VMs on the ESXi host

Vinchin Backup & Recovery provides a user-friendly web console to let you manage vSphere environment so you just need to log into the backup system via a browser.

In Vinchin Backup & Recovery, expand VM Backup on the left > select Backup > select the ESXi VMs > click Next

Step 2. Select the backup storage

You can use many kinds of storage to store VM backup including local partition or disk, logical volume, local directory Fiber Channel Storage Area Network (FC SAN) storage, iSCSI storage, NFS storage, and CIFS storage.

Select Target Node > select Target Storage > click Next

Step 3. Select backup strategies

Backup strategies can help you backup ESXi VMs in the way you wish.

You can configure the schedule to automatically backup VMs even when they are running, and check Incremental Backup and Differential backup to save backup storage.

There are also many other useful backup strategies like Data Deduplication, Data Compression, Data Encryption, GFS Retention, HotAdd, CBT, ect. to let you optimize your backup plan.

After configuring backup strategies, you can click Next and Submit the job to the system.

Vinchin Backup & Recovery has other advanced features like monitoring the backup system via visualized screen, preventing tampering, etc. It has helped thousands of companies protect their vSphere environments. You can also have a 60-day full-featured free trial to use this powerful system. Just click the button to get the installation package.

Sum Up

Production environment backup is essential and backing up running ESXi VM can avoid much downtime. vSphere doesn't provide the internal solution for hot ESXi backup but you can still use vCenter to take a VM snapshot while it is running as the short-term backup.

Snapshot can't fully replace backup. To backup running ESXi VMs, you can choose Vinchin Backup & Recovery to easily protect vSphere environment. Don't miss the free trial.