VCSA Updating and Backing Up

VCSA Updating and Backing Up

I've now switched to using the VCSA for my Home Lab. Version 6.5 has a nice UI for web management but it's not quite there yet, some key features are missing. As it's an all in one appliance I wanted to test backup options but also see how it handles updates.

The appliance URL relies on specifying a particular port 5480:
https://labvc.lab.local:5480/#/login?locale=en

Once you get logged in you can view the backup button on the main summary page (right hand side) and the update section as follows:

I'll do a backup first, then update the appliance and carry out another backup.

You first need a Target Store that supports Http/Https/Scp/Ftp/Ftps file transfers

I've gone and installed the Server 2012 R2 FTP server Role and this will do the job I think.....I created a new FTP Site with a local user that has write permissions. I tested this from a windows client first. Next I configured VCSA to use it:
(Note the destination FTP folder must be empty - clear out any test files)

Then you decide what to backup - crumbs, thought the config would be smaller! That's over 2GB!

 Then sit back and wait:

It only takes about 2 minutes, which is nice and you end up with:

Now we can update the appliance risk free. Notice Update Manager is 1.4GB as listed above! This is nearly 4GB of backup data!

You can also backup the VCSA VM itself but I'm not covering that here. You will need to connect Veeam directly to the ESXi Host as I have to in my Lab as I've only 1 host and it's managing itself!

Go to the VCSA Admin UI Update section, check the Repository for available updates (this is VMware's Repository) and choose to install them. Accept the license agreement:

 Then hit install and wait:

During the update the VCSA Admin UI refreshes once but doesn't kick you out or anything.

Now you can reboot to apply the changes. By the time I'd connected to the console it was already on it's way back up!! The Admin UI was reachable but the new HTML5 interface was down for a while:

Don't forget to check your Root password expiration!!

So, to a final backup. One you have to reenter the same information all over again. There is no concept of incremental and your last backup will cause the following error:

So, can this be automated? Yes, but this is above my pay grade!! See the brilliant article below for how to do this:
https://www.brianjgraf.com/2016/11/18/vsphere-6-5-automate-vcsa-backup/