Getting metadata from within VMWare Guest OS

I am not sure exactly why you say mounting the iso with the VIC client would be over the network, maybe I am misunderstanding how you mean you would be mounting it. But in any case, if you go into "Edit Settings" on the machine on the CD/DVD drive tab there is an option to use "Datastore ISO file". This will let you connect to the ISO on the EX server, and is independent of the VIC client window, meaning once you save the setting you can close the client and the ISO will still be accessible. I have several servers running boot CDs setup like this.

Use VMWare Converter to connect to the ESX server - you can then "convert" your VM into a Virtual Appliance file (ovf), and store this on a network share, external hard drive etc. The appliance format will also compact your virtual hard drives, so you aren't archiving empty space.

You can also leave it as a VM, but the single ovf file is easier to manage IMHO.

Back in November 2009 VMware converter seemed to be the only VMware supported method for getting a VMs files out of the Datastore. Quick and easy too. Backup is another option, but VMWare converter is a lot easier to use for occaisonal archiving, or moving VMs around between different networks.

VMware Converter 4 will create ovf and VMs for ESX 3.5 and vSphere - make sure you use the appropriate one for your environment.