How to Backup vCenter Server Appliance

Challenge

There is a need to create a stable backup of your VCSA or restore it properly.

Solution

BACKUP:
To backup the VCSA with Veeam, you simply enable the VMware Tools quiescence as with any non-Windows VM that has VMware Tools installed.

For Database backups on the VCSA, please refer to the VMware Best Practice KB for backing up and restoring the Embedded vCenter Server Appliance Database.

RESTORE:
When restoring the VCSA, there are some Considerations and Limitations from VMware. Once you understand the considerations and limitations, you are ready to perform a Full VM Restore or Instant VM Restore.

Once the VCSA is fully restored, if needed, you are now ready to restore the Embedded Database to the desired point in time using the steps mentioned in the above KB..