Hello!

At unsupported ssh shell in ESXi 4.0 (Free), how can I create a snap backup from a running VM into another directory at the same datastore? Its possible?

Thanks in advance.

You'll be able to do that with vim-cmd. For example your script would include

vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.create <VM ID> ...

vmkfstools -i /sourcepath/source.vmdk /destinationpath/destination.vmdk - to copy the VMDK file

then vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.remove to delete the snapshot.

You can use vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms to get the VM ID for your VMs.

Thanks!
...and God Bless the vim-cmd vmsvc/

Dave, the restore point (snap) has been created and vmdk disks cloned, but when I tried to start the snap backup vm, I got:

Cannot open the disk 'pdc.juliano-000001.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
Nov 20 16:39:04.327: vmx| [msg.disk.configureDiskError] Reason: The system cannot find the file specified.-

Hypervisor is looking for the delta disks at my cloned snap backup vm? I did something wrong. I did:

vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.create 48 todaysnap
cp pdc.juliano.vmx ../tmp/
cp pdc.juliano.vmsd ../tmp/
cp pdc.juliano.vmxf ../tmp/
vmkfstools -i pdc.juliano.vmdk ../tmp/pdc.juliano.vmdk
vmkfstools -i pdc.juliano_1.vmdk ../tmp/pdc.juliano_1.vmdk

And going beyond this, how can I do an incremental backup, for just backup the last delta (snap)? Clone process is very slow to do everyday on very large vm I think.

Thanks, Juliano.

You'll want to copy the vmx file before you take the snapshot. The vStorage API for vSphere 4.0 allows for differential backups but I'm not sure about accessing it via the console. I'll check with someone that might know. You would have to be licensed for at the Essentials level for it to work (well it might work on free but technically you would need Essentials or higher licensing).