Old News: ESX 3.5 Update 3

So, this is a bit of old news, and you have likely heard it from no fewer than thirty other places so far, but I feel I need to chime in too.

ESX 3.5 update 3 is now available!

The release notes mention a pretty cool feature that’s been added, that will help make life quite a bit easier, and that is the VMDK Recovery Tool. It’s not exactly a backup solution, and is not meant to be. There are plenty of those available (esXpress, Veeam, etc). What it does do, is let you back up a single VM, or all VM’s on a host from one datastore to another. Something like this:

[root@esx11]# vmfs-undelete

########################################################

# VMFS Data Recovery and Backup #

# #

# This tool is NOT a replacement for regular backups #

# Please backup your data on a regular basis #

# There is absolutely no guarantee #

# Use at your own risk #

# #

# VMs with Raw Disks (virtual or physical) are #

# Not supported!!!! #

########################################################

————————————————–

Select [b]ackup, [r]estore [q] to quit: b

——————————————

0 ) /vmfs/volumes/48b033a5-b8c3c297-424d-0019bbd51b56/Win2k3DC-64/Win2k3DC-64.vmx

1 ) /vmfs/volumes/48b033a5-b8c3c297-424d-0019bbd51b56/mandel-rhel3-32/mandel-rhel3-32.vmx

2 ) /vmfs/volumes/48da37be-22e0d1a4-b076-0019bbd51b56/spanis/spanis.vmx

3 ) /vmfs/volumes/48da37be-22e0d1a4-b076-0019bbd51b56/rhel4/rhel4.vmx

4 ) /vmfs/volumes/48da37be-22e0d1a4-b076-0019bbd51b56/spanfc/spanfc.vmx

5 ) /vmfs/volumes/48932bc1-a4b8a07e-ac22-0019bbd51b58/Win2k3DC-32/Win2k3DC-32.vmx

——————————————

found 6 vms

Choose a VM to backup, [99] for all registered VMs or [q] to quit: 1

number of vms to backup 1

Ready to write to data to disk

Enter path and filename of where to save the recover log to:/back/test

________________________________________

working on VM: /vmfs/volumes/48b033a5-b8c3c297-424d-0019bbd51b56/mandel-rhel3-32/mandel-rhel3-32.vmx

Checking for VM Snapshots…

Creating Snapshot…

read block list for /vmfs/volumes/48b033a5-b8c3c297-424d-0019bbd51b56/restore/mandel-32.vmdk

removing snapshot….

Done……

########################################################

# VMFS Data Recovery and Backup #

# #

# This tool is NOT a replacement for regular backups #

# Please backup your data on a regular basis #

# There is absolutely no guarantee #

# Use at your own risk #

# #

# VMs with Raw Disks (virtual or physical) are #

# Not supported!!!! #

########################################################

————————————————–

Select [b]ackup, [r]estore [q] to quit: q

You can also restore from the same:

[root@esx11 /]# vmfs-undelete

########################################################

# VMFS Data Recovery and Backup #

# #

# This tool is NOT a replacement for regular backups #

# Please backup your data on a regular basis #

# There is absolutely no guarantee #

# Use at your own risk #

# #

# VMs with Raw Disks (virtual or physical) are #

# Not supported!!!! #

########################################################

————————————————–

Select [b]ackup, [r]estore [q] to quit: r

enter file name to restore from: /back/test

—————————————-

1) /vmfs/volumes/48b033a5-b8c3c297-424d-0019bbd51b56/mandel-rhel3-32/mandel-rhel3-32.vmx

Found 1 VMs available to restore

select VM to restore [1 – 1] or ‘q’ to quit:1

Available VMDKs to restore:

—————————————-

1) /vmfs/volumes/48b033a5-b8c3c297-424d-0019bbd51b56/restore/mandel-32.vmdk

select VMDK to restore [1 – 1 ]: 1

1) /vmfs/volumes/spannedISCSI ——> [VMFS UUID: 48ad7ec0-e325a051-b085-0019bbd51b56]

2) /vmfs/volumes/esx11:storage1 ——> [VMFS UUID: 48ad95b7-a4fbcfd2-3ae5-0019bbd51b58]

3) /vmfs/volumes/datastore4 ——> [VMFS UUID: 48da37be-22e0d1a4-b076-0019bbd51b56]

4) /vmfs/volumes/100gb ——> [VMFS UUID: 48932bc1-a4b8a07e-ac22-0019bbd51b58]

5) /vmfs/volumes/spannedFC ——> [VMFS UUID: 48ada29d-e6f0dd4b-c312-0019bbd51b58]

6) /vmfs/volumes/templib ——> [VMFS UUID: 000a8416-362eaee8-b274-00145e5a474f]

select VMFS DataStore to restore to [1 – 6] : 4

Enter the directory to restore to: restore

/vmfs/volumes/100gb/restore already exists

Are you sure you want to restore to /vmfs/volumes/100gb/restore [y/n]: y

Enter the file name to restore to: [ex: recovered.vmdk]: test.vmdk

restoring VM: /vmfs/volumes/48b033a5-b8c3c297-424d-0019bbd51b56/mandel-rhel3-32/mandel-rhel3-32.vmx

Disk: /vmfs/volumes/48b033a5-b8c3c297-424d-0019bbd51b56/restore/mandel-32.vmdk

to : /vmfs/volumes/100gb/restore/test.vmdk

restoring data….

[==> 4%

Pretty cool.