I'm using VMWare ESX 3.5.
I've just created a couple of different-flavour VMs (a Windows 2008 one and a Windows 2003 one), installed windows updates, and am generally happy with their pristine nature.
I will want to run them now, but reuse them from their current state later. So, I want to archive off a snapshot now, to come back to when I want to spin up more.
What are my options?
- Manually zip up the directory that contains the VM and physically store that someplace else?
- Something specific to VMWare ESX?
I have allocated xGb for the virtual disk; is unused-but-allocated space still taken up on the "real" disk?
Note: Backups are not my question – I'll handle that separately.
Edit:
- I'm not using vSphere or vCenter; that's AFAIK not available to me as an option here (separate license? Am unfamiliar).
Best Answer
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.