Back up a vCenter Server Instance by Using the API

You can use the Management API to create a backup of the vCenter Server database and key components of the vCenter Server instance.

This procedure explains the sequence of operations you use to create a backup file of the vCenter Server instance. You can do this as part of a regular maintenance schedule.

Prerequisites

• Verify that the vCenter Server instance is in a ready state. All processes with start-up type automatic must be running.
• Verify that no other backup or restore jobs are running.
• Verify that the destination storage location is accessible to the backup process.
• Verify that the path to the destination directory exists, as far as the parent directory.
• If the destination directory does not exist, the backup process creates it. If the directory does exist, verify that it is empty.
• Verify that the destination storage device has sufficient space for the backup file. For information about how to calculate the space needed for the backup file, see Calculate the Size Needed To Store the Backup File.

Procedure

1. Authenticate to the vSphere Automation API endpoint and establish a session.
2. Use the RecoveryBackupJobBackupRequest data structure to describe the backup operation.
   The data structure specifies several properties, especially the backup location, the protocol used to communicate with the storage server, the necessary authorization, and which optional parts of the database you want to back up. The core inventory data and Alarms are always backed up, but you can choose whether or not to back up Statistics, Events, and Tasks. Collectively, this optional part of the backup is referred to as seat.
3. Issue a request to start the backup operation.
4. From the response, save the unique job identifier of the backup operation.
5. Monitor the progress of the job until it is complete.
6. Report job completion.