Backup and Restore options in vCenter Server 6.x/7.0.x/8.0.x

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article provides an overview of Backup and Restore options available for vCenter Server 6.x/7.0.x/8.0.x

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x

VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x

Resolution

Backup and Restore options available for vCenter Server 6.5/6.7 and 7.0:

vCenter Server 6.5/6.7, 7.0, and 8.0 support File-Based and Image-Based backups.

Note: The recommended backup and restore process for the vCenter Appliance is done through the VAMI on <vCenter FQDN or IP>:5480

To backup and restore vCenter Server using File-Based Backups, see the File-Based Backup and Restore of vCenter Server Appliance .

Note: Before taking a File-Based backup, see Considerations and Limitations for File-Based Backup and Restore .

To backup and restore vCenter Server using Image-Based Backups, see Image-Based Backup and Restore of a vCenter Server Environment .

Note: Before Taking an Image-Based backup, see Considerations and Limitations for Image-Based Backup and Restore .

For more information on:

Environments with an embedded Platform Services Controller,see the Restore a vCenter Server Instance with an Embedded Platform Services Controller .
Environments with a single external Platform Services Controller, see the Restoring a vCenter Server Environment with a Single External Platform Services Controller .
Environments with multiple Platform Services Controller instances, see the Restoring a vCenter Server Environment with Multiple Platform Services Controller Instances .

Backup and Restore options available for vCenter Server 6.0:

Note: End of General Support for vSphere 6.0

You can use any third-party product that is integrated with VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection to back up and restore a virtual machine (VM) that contains vCenter Server, vCenter Server Appliance, or a Platform Services Controller.

To backup and restore vCenter Server 6.0, see Backing Up and Restoring a vCenter Server Environment

For more information on:

Environments with an embedded Platform Services Controller, see the Backing Up and Restoring vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller .
Environments with a single external Platform Services Controller, see Backing Up and Restoring a vCenter Server Environment with a Single Platform Services Controller
Environments with multiple Platform Services Controller instances, see Backing Up and Restoring a vCenter Server Environment with Multiple Platform Services Controller Instances

Additional Information

Note: In some cases, it may be required to reinstall vCenter Server on Windows when using an external database.

For example, Changing the Windows Operating System for vCenter Server 6.x.
For more information, see Reinstalling vCenter Server 6.x with External Database - Migrating/moving vCenter Database [VCDB].

Note: vSphere 7.0.x contains embedded Platform Service Controllers only and also provides Linux based vCenters only. Windows-based vCenter is no longer available in vSphere 7.0.x