Unable to backup ESXi host configuration

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Unable to take configuration backup for ESXi Host using the below command due to Internal error.

vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config

(vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
   faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
   faultMessage = <unset>,
   reason = "Internal error"
   msg = "Received SOAP response fault from [<<io_obj p:0x000000fb8f2275e8, h:5, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 33657'>, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 8307'>>, /sdk>]: backupConfiguration
A general system error occurred: Internal error"
}

Environment

VMware ESXi 6.5.x
VMware ESXi 6.7.x
VMware ESXi 7.0.x

Cause

ESXi Host backup will not succeed due to missing downloads directory.

Resolution

Create downloads directory in /scratch partition using the below commands.

• cd /scratch
• mkdir downloads

Verify that downloads directory is created.

Take configuration backup again.