As of 02-03-2018

<color #ed1c24>NOTICE:</color> VMFS6 (Virtual Machine Version 11) or newer will not delete prior snapshots. This will cause an issue when restoring vms later. I have a fix below for this. _

<color #ed1c24>NOTICE:</color> Though I provide this version of the script you have the choice to update to the latest version Here. Also note that I don't own this file simply posting the version that was available at the time of creating the youtube videos above.

All credits go to the original creator: Here is his GitHub Page.

• William Lam
• lamw

Install Debian 9 or later.

Setup Debian with no standard user just a root account will do!

mkdir /home/script/
mkdir /home/script/MOVE-TO-ESXI

Download each file needed for Debian below.

cd /home/script/

wget https://sesipod.info/DATA_FILES/ESXI/ghettoVCB/backup.txt
wget https://sesipod.info/DATA_FILES/ESXI/ghettoVCB/runme.sh

Download each file needed for ESXI below.

cd /home/script/MOVE-TO-ESXI

wget https://sesipod.info/DATA_FILES/ESXI/ghettoVCB/ghettoVCB.sh
wget https://sesipod.info/DATA_FILES/ESXI/ghettoVCB/vms_to_backup

nano /home/script/backup.txt

Change the following lines:

1. cd /vmfs/volumes/DRIVEtoUSE/BACKUP-SCRIPT
   • Change DRIVEtoUSE to the Datastore you want to use for backups.

nano /home/script/runme.sh

Change the following lines:

1. sshpass -p 'esxiPW' ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@esxiIPaddress < /home/script/backup.txt
   • Change esxiIPaddress to the ip of your ESXI server.
   • Change esxiPW to the password of your ESXI server.

nano /home/script/MOVE-TO-ESXI/ghettoVCB.sh

Change the following lines:

1. VM_BACKUP_VOLUME=/vmfs/volumes/DRIVEtoUSE/BACKUP-VMS
   • Change DRIVEtoUSE to the Datastore you want to use for backups.
2. DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT=
   • Set this to Thin to save space on the destination.
3. VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT=
   • Set the number of backups you'd like to keep.
4. POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP=
   • I set this to 0 - Allows for up time = more server load.
5. ALLOW_VMS_WITH_SNAPSHOTS_TO_BE_BACKEDUP=
   • I set this to =1
   • This is broken as of VMFS6 ( Virtual Machine Version 11 or newer )

Add a VM name per line and then save / close the file.

nano /home/script/MOVE-TO-ESXI/vms_to_backup

Make the folders needed by the script. Open the datastore that you decided to use above for backups.

Make a folder called BACKUP-SCRIPT
Make a folder called BACKUP-VMS

1. Change esxiIPaddress to the ip of your esxi server.
2. Change DRIVEtoUSE to the drive where you'd like to store VM backups.

scp /home/script/MOVE-TO-ESXI/* root@esxiIPaddress:/vmfs/volumes/DRIVEtoUSE/BACKUP-SCRIPT/

ssh into ESXI and set ghettoVCB.sh as exactable.

ssh root@esxiIPaddress 
cd /vmfs/volumes/DRIVEtoUSE/BACKUP-SCRIPT/
chmod +x ghettoVCB.sh

cd /home/script/

./runme.sh

To check if worked check your Datastore and folder name for each vm you should see STATUS.ok

<color #ed1c24>NOTICE:</color>

If you don't see Remove snapshot like below then you will need to do the below Fix.

crontab -e

0 0 * * *  /home/script/runme.sh

<color #ed1c24>Fixes:</color>

On the Debian server make a rmsnapshot.txt that holds the VM ids for VMs you want to backup.

Run the following command and copy the id # for each vm that you want to backup - matching the vms_to_backup file.

vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | sed -e '1d' -e 's/ \[.*$//' | awk '$1 ~ /^[0-9]+$/ {print $1":"substr($0,8,80)}'

cd /home/script/

nano rmsnapshot.txt

add a line per each vm add the id at the end.

vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.removeall 1
vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.removeall 2
vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.removeall 42

Add the following line to runme.sh

nano /home/script/runme.sh

sshpass -p 'esxiPW' ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@esxiIPaddress < /home/script/rmsnapshot.txt

runme.sh should look like this once done.

sshpass -p 'esxiPW' ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@esxiIPaddress < /home/script/rmsnapshot.txt
sshpass -p 'esxiPW' ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@esxiIPaddress < /home/script/backup.txt

• Change esxiPW to the password of your ESXI server.
• Change esxiIPaddress to the ip of your ESXI server.