Using this module, you can create a backup of a VMware ESXi host configuration:

- name: Create an esxi host configuration backup
  vmware_cfg_backup:
    hostname: "{{ vsphere_host }}"
    username: "{{ vsphere_username }}"
    password: "{{ vsphere_password }}"
    validate_certs: "no"
    state: "saved"
    dest: "/tmp/"
    esxi_hostname: "{{ exsi_host }}"
  delegate_to: "localhost"
  register: cfg_backup

Please note that this module will automatically put the host into maintenance and then save the configuration too. In the preceding example, from /tmp, you can use the information registered to grab a copy of the backup using the fetch module.

You can also use this module to restore a configuration:

- name: Restore an esxi host configuration backup
  vmware_cfg_backup:
    hostname: "{{ vsphere_host }}"
    username: "{{ vsphere_username }}"
    password: "{{ vsphere_password }}"

    validate_certs: "no"
    state: "loaded"
    dest: "/tmp/my-host-backup.tar.gz"
    esxi_hostname: "{{ exsi_host }}"
  delegate_to: "localhost"

Finally, you can also reset a host configuration back to its default settings by running the following code:

- name: Reset a host configuration to the default values
  vmware_cfg_backup:
    hostname: "{{ vsphere_host }}"
    username: "{{ vsphere_username }}"
    password: "{{ vsphere_password }}"
    validate_certs: "no"
    state: "absent"
    esxi_hostname: "{{ exsi_host }}"
  delegate_to: "localhost"