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.