Best method to back up VMs to other datastore inside same ESXi host?

[ak88]

I have been practicing on my ESXi testbed. I now have a Gen8 microserver with RAID5 array (P222 controller) and an SSD connected to the B120i (set to AHCI).

 

I would like to host some of my VMs on the SSD but have them backup on a schedule to the RAID5 as I don't have redundancy on the SSD. Is it possible to have these backups run regularly without the need for a client machine? I looked at Veeam but it seems to need to be installed onto a client PC (or perhaps a guest VM), I will be installing it today if I have time to play around and see if automated backups are possible with the free version. 

 

What do other people do to achieve this? 

 

Thanks

[psykix]

I have been practicing on my ESXi testbed. I now have a Gen8 microserver with RAID5 array (P222 controller) and an SSD connected to the B120i (set to AHCI).

 

I would like to host some of my VMs on the SSD but have them backup on a schedule to the RAID5 as I don't have redundancy on the SSD. Is it possible to have these backups run regularly without the need for a client machine? I looked at Veeam but it seems to need to be installed onto a client PC (or perhaps a guest VM), I will be installing it today if I have time to play around and see if automated backups are possible with the free version. 

 

What do other people do to achieve this? 

 

Thanks

 

I tried to use Veeam yesterday to backup my VMs - it complained that my licence was not high enough. I had a read and it seems that you need at least an ESXi essentials licence at circa $500 a year. Ain't happening for me!

 

Veeam seemed to be a huge heavy beast too, installing SQL and all sorts of other bits and pieces.

 

It may work ok if you put your host in maintenance mode.

Edited April 5, 2016 by psykix

[Blipstar]

I too was looking into this Method, luckily for me I have a full licensed ESX unlimited license, but before before I found this Veeam free edition for ESXi. I came across on another forum a company that also provides the same for for ESXi backiup that has a free standard license but I have't really looked into the prerequisites yet, would be interested to see if it works on the free ESXi version. 

 

http://www.thinware.net

[packhamc]

I use TriLead VM Explorer (VMX) the trial version is free and somewhat crippled but it does allow you to do full backups and restores of your VMs. I run it from my PC and backup across the network to my PCs 2TB HDD.

[buzzinh]

I use TriLead VM Explorer (VMX) the trial version is free and somewhat crippled but it does allow you to do full backups and restores of your VMs. I run it from my PC and backup across the network to my PCs 2TB HDD.

+1 for this. I too have successfully backed up and then restored a copy of VM to a different data store with VM Explorer (seem its now owned by HPE)

Edited July 19, 2016 by buzzinh

[mirekmal]

For over a year I use ClodBacko Pro. Basic setup ($99) allows to backup VMs somehow utilizing snapshots - well suited for free ESXi. It has several integration components (including one for VADP) that can be purchased separately (depending on complexity $9 - $199). It runs on Windows, OS X or Linux. It can backup to local file system, ftp, NAS and also to several cloud providers. Runs fine inside VM. The only drawback I found is that it cannot backup machines with RDM or passthrough disks (this is actually limitation of VMware that cannot create snapshots of such disks). There is 30 days fully functional trial available.They also have quite good, responsive support.