Image-Based Backup and Restore of a vCenter Server Environment

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

You can perform a full image backup of a virtual machine that contains vCenter Server, a vCenter Server Appliance, or a Platform Services Controller. The virtual machine must use a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) with correct DNS resolution, or the hostname must be configured to be an IP address. If the hostname is configured as an IP address, the IP address cannot be changed.

VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection is a data protection framework that enables backup products to perform centralized, efficient, off-host LAN free backup of vSphere virtual machines. For information about VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection, see the VMware Web site. For information about the integration of backup products with VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection, contact your backup vendor.