You can restore a vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode environment with an external using a third-party solution.

Important: You can back up and restore only virtual machines that contain vCenter Server, vCenter Server Appliance, and Platform Services Controller. You cannot back up and restore physical machines that are running vCenter Server by using a third-party product.

Procedure

  1. Restore the vCenter Server virtual machine onto the ESXi host using a third-party solution.
    The services are masked and are not yet running.
  2. Use the systemctl status applmgmt command to verify that the systemd instance of the applmgmt service has started.
    Wait for all the vCenter Server services to start, which can take several minutes.
  3. Log into the vCenter Server Management Interface, https://appliance-IP-address-or-FQDN:5480.

What to do next

Power on the restored virtual machine that contains the restored vCenter Server instance.