howto access esx filesystem

Question

need to copy VM files (vmdk etc) to usb disk for backup purposes. tried booting with partedmagic 4.9..but cannot access the vm files on disk. any thoughts?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 16 '10 at 08:40

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My junior admin found a great utility today called FastSCP from Veeam ( http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esxi-fastscp.html ). It's free, and it allows you to browse ESX(i) datastores. I played with the software for a few hours, and I was really impressed.

answered Apr 16 '10 at 08:40

Matt Simmons

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 16 '10 at 07:37

1

Just use the VIClient/VSClient app, browse to the datastore and copy directly to the USB stick.

answered Apr 16 '10 at 07:37

Chopper3

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I'm pretty sure he won't be able to see the usb stick using the datastore browser. – HannesFostie Apr 16 '10 at 07:45
He will if the usb stick is connected to the PC running the VSClient, I know as I tried it before answering. – Chopper3 Apr 16 '10 at 08:17

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 16 '10 at 07:32

I mostly used the datastore browser to do this when I wanted to clone a VM, but here's a quick walkthrough to enable SSH access.

Use Alt-F1 to access console (you will need physical access to the machine)
Type the word "unsupported" (that's right, console access is not supported by VM for ESXi)
Login as root
vi /etc/inetd.conf and find the rule starting with #ssh and uncomment it. Save and quit
run /sbin/services restart and you should be good to go

howto access esx filesystem

3 Answers3