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vCenter file-based backup is the native backup mechanism built into the VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA). It backs up the appliance’s core configuration inventory and historical data to a remote location using supported protocols such as SFTP, SMB, FTPS, HTTPS, FTP.
The feature is managed through the VAMI interface on port 5480 and supports scheduled or on-demand backups to remote repositories. For many VMware administrators, this is the fastest way to protect critical vCenter configuration data before a VMware migration, upgrade, or infrastructure maintenance.
What Does vCenter File-Based Backup Actually Protect?
vCenter file-based backup is designed for recovering the vCenter Server Appliance itself, not for protecting production virtual machines. Below table tell what the backup includes and not includes.
|
Include |
Not Include |
|
vCenter configuration |
VMware virtual machine data |
|
Inventory |
Guest OS files |
|
Roles & permissions |
Application-aware backup |
|
Historical data |
|
|
Tasks/events/statistics |
Instant VM recovery |
So, in this guide, we will walk you through all the configuration and steps for the vCenter Server appliance file-based backup step by step.
VMware vCenter Server supports three backup methods for protecting the vCenter Server Appliance: configuring scheduled backups, performing manual backups, and automating backups with scripts. Below, we’ll walk through each method step by step.
Step 1. Open https://<vcenter-ip>:5480. And log in to the VAMI (vCenter Appliance Management Interface) as root.
Step 2. On the left menu, click “Backup” > “Configure”.
Step 3. Configure a backup task as follows:
Step 4. Click “Create” to commit the backup creation wizard.
Now you can view the backup task under the Backup Schedule, and you can “Edit”, “Disable” or “Delete” the backup.
And after backup, the backup information will be displayed in the “Activity” section.
Step 1. In the VAMI (https://<vcenter-fqdn>:5480), log in as root and click “Backup” in the left panel.
Step 2. A dialog box will be opened. Choose between “Use backup location and user name from backup schedule” or “Enter a backup location and user name”.
Note:
Step 3. Select backup protocol, repository path, provide credentials, and choose optional data sets.
Step 4. Click “Start” to run the backup task.
The VAMI schedule is simple, but it can’t run more than once a day or tie into external orchestration. The VCSA includes a command‑line utility called dcli that can script backup jobs. You can invoke it directly from the appliance shell or via remote automation.
Example script to perform an SFTP backup with a timestamped directory and send an email on failure:
#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_LOCATION="sftp://backup-server.example.com/backups/vcenter/$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M)"
BACKUP_USER="vcbackup"
BACKUP_PASS="yourpassword"
LOG="/var/log/vcbackup.log"
/usr/bin/dcli com vmware appliance recovery backup job create \
--location-type SFTP \
--location "$BACKUP_LOCATION" \
--location-user "$BACKUP_USER" \
--location-password "$BACKUP_PASS" \
+username administrator@vsphere.local \
+password "VC_ADMIN_PASSWORD" \
> $LOG 2>&1
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "vCenter backup failed. Check $LOG" | mail -s "Backup Failure" admin@example.com
fi
Deploy this script via a cron job inside the VCSA (edit /etc/cron.d/ or use systemd timers on Photon OS). Restrict permissions on any script containing passwords.
For SCP, replace SFTP with SCP in the location type. Both protocols use port 22 by default.
Restoration is a two‑stage process that requires a fresh VCSA deployment. Here are the detailed steps.
Step 1. Mount the vCenter Server Appliance ISO and start the installation. Click “Restore”
Step 2. Click the “Next” button when you see the Introduction page.
Step 3. Accept the license agreement and click “Next”.
Step 4. Enter the backup details: “Location or IP/hostname”, “User name”, and “Password” and click “Next”.
Step 5. The Browse Files wizard will be launched. It allows you to view and select any available backup files. Select what you want to restore and “Select”.
Step 6. Review the backup information and specify the appliance deployment target settings.
Step 7. Follow the prompts to “select folder” and “Select compute resource”, “set up target appliance VM”, “select deployment size”, “Select datastore”, “Configure network settings”.
Step 8. Review the settings and click “Finish”.
Wait for the whole to get finished, when you see “You have successfully deployed the vCenter Server” click the “Continue” button.
Provide the backup location and credentials. The installer validates the backup’s integrity and pulls in the configuration.
Step 1. On the introduction page, click “Next”.
Step 2. Check Backup details and click “Next”.
Step 3. In the Single Sign-On configuration page, enter single Sign-on user name and password and click “Next”.
Step 3. Review the settings and click “FINISH”. You may get a warning that you can’t parse or stop the restore from completing. Click “OK” to continue.
Native file-based backup is an important part of VMware infrastructure protection because it enables recovery of the vCenter Server Appliance configuration and inventory. However, it should not be considered a complete VMware backup strategy for production environments because it does not protect VM workloads, applications, or ransomware recovery scenarios.
In production environments, organizations usually combine native VCSA file-based backup with dedicated VMware backup software to achieve complete infrastructure protection. For example, the enterprise backup platform – i2Backup. This is an image-level VMware backup solution provided by Information2 Software (Info2soft).
i2Backup provides:
You can click the button below to get a 60-day free trial:
1. “Unable to connect to the remote server”
This is the catch‑all error. From the VCSA shell (ssh root@vcenter), manually test connectivity:
2. Access denied on SMB shares
SMB shares require that the VCSA’s credentials have both share‑level and filesystem (NTFS) write permissions. The appliance negotiates SMB 2.0 or 3.0; older Samba servers that only speak SMB 1.0 will silently fail. Force SMB 3.0 on the target if possible.
3. Backup stops due to disk space
File‑based backups can be large, especially with historical data. The remote filesystem may have quotas or limited free space. Ensure the target has at least 1.5 times the estimated size (VAMI provides an approximate size during test). For very large inventories, historical data can push the backup beyond 20 GB.
4. Scheduled backup runs but produces no files
Check that the vCenter appliance’s time is synchronised (NTP). A clock skew >5 minutes can cause the scheduler to skip because the job appears “in the past.” Also, verify the backup job isn’t silently failing and leaving a stale lock file on the target.
5. Backup file appears corrupted during restore
Transfers over unencrypted protocols can be interrupted without detection. Always use FTPS, SCP, SFTP, or HTTPS if the backup travels across any switch. To validate a backup bundle, perform a test-restore in an isolated sandbox—there is no standalone validation utility.
6. File-based backup of the vCenter Server has not been created
This VAMI message appears when a scheduled backup job silently fails to start, leaving no backup file on the target. Manual backups often still succeed, which is a clue that the schedule engine itself is at fault. Three root causes account for most occurrences:
If none of these apply, examine the scheduler log directly from the VCSA shell:
grep -i "error\|fail" /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/backupScheduler.log | tail -20This will surface the specific fault that prevented the backup from being created.
1. Question: What does a vCenter file-based backup include?
Answer: Answer describing inventory, configuration, historical data, certificates, and what is excluded.
2. Question: Can I restore individual VMs from a file-based backup?
Answer: No. File‑based backup restores the entire vCenter Server configuration and inventory in an all‑or‑nothing operation. It does not back up virtual machine data (VMDK files, VM configuration), so you cannot recover individual VMs or their files from it. To protect VMs themselves, you need image‑based backup solution like Info2soft’s i2Backup.
3. Which protocol should I use for vCenter file-based backup?
For production environments, choose an encrypted protocol. SCP is the built‑in SSH‑based option in vSphere 8.0, while SFTP (also SSH‑based) is available from vSphere 7.0 and becomes the standard in later versions.
Both encrypt credentials and data in transit, and run on port 22. FTPS with explicit TLS is a secure alternative if you already have an FTP infrastructure, but note that only explicit mode is supported.
HTTPS can work if the web server has WebDAV enabled and uses trusted certificates. Avoid plain FTP and HTTP entirely.
For Windows shops that must use SMB, ensure SMB 3.0 encryption is enabled. NFS is fast on trusted networks but offers no transport encryption, so restrict it to isolated management LANs.
4. Is vCenter file-based backup deprecated?
Clarification that it remains supported in vSphere 8.x alongside image‑based backup.
5. When to Use File-Based Backup vs. Image-Based Backup
File‑based backup:
For anything beyond that, consider image‑based backup. vSphere 7 Update 3 and later introduced native vCenter image‑based backup.
Image‑based backup:
If you have a standard VMware‑aware backup product (Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, etc.), image‑based backup is usually the preferred path. The file‑based method is a built‑in, zero‑cost option for those without such tools, or as a secondary “configuration only” backup in addition to image‑level protection.
vCenter file-based backup is a reliable way to protect critical vCenter configuration and management data. It is especially useful for upgrade preparation, operational recovery, and restoring the VMware management plane after failures.
However, it does not protect VMware workloads or provide broader disaster recovery capabilities. For production environments, many organizations combine native VCSA backup with a dedicated VMware backup solution like i2Backup to improve workload protection, ransomware resilience, and recovery flexibility. Besides VMware, i2Backup also supports other VM platforms, you can use it to backup Hyper-V, OpenStack, ZStack, etc.
