To restore an ESXi after a failure, you need to reinstall the same version and build number of the failed host using one of the methods covered in Chapter 4, Deployment Workflow and Component Installation, and assign an IP address to the management console.
Restore the configuration to the new host by following these steps:
- SSH the host to backup and enter the root credentials.
- Put the host in maintenance mode by running the following command:
vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter
- Using a tool like WinSCP, copy the backup file to a location accessible by the new host, for example to /tmp/configBundle.tgz.
- To restore the configuration run the following command:
vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/restore_config /tmp/configBundle.tgz
With the old configuration applied, the host will initiate an automatic reboot:
- When the host is booted, exit maintenance mode and use the ESXi normally.
To restore the configuration data, both the build number and UUID of the host must match the build number and UUID of the host on the backup file. The host's UUID can be obtained using the command esxcfg-info -u.
To override the UUID mismatch, use numeric option 1:
vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/restore_config 1 /tmp/configBundle.tgz
Using the vSphere CLI, power off all the running VM on the host and run the following command:
vicfg-cfgbackup --server=ESXi_IP_address --username=root -l backup_file
Here, ESXi_IP_address is the IP address of the ESXi host and backup_file is the name of the backup file.
In order to restore a backup, the build of the host must match the build of the host contained in the backup file. Therefore, you should take a backup each time you upgrade the host.
If the vSphere Host Profile feature is used in your environment to set up your hosts, the host configuration backup is not required.