{"id":3010,"date":"2023-01-23T11:01:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T11:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/?p=3010"},"modified":"2023-01-23T11:03:42","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T11:03:42","slug":"how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Backup Home Assistant in ESXi"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p>Running Home Assistant in a virtual machine (VM) on a VMware ESXi host in a home lab allows you greater flexibility and ease of management. By running Home Assistant in a VM, you can easily take snapshots and backups of the entire operating system and configuration, which can be useful for testing and troubleshooting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, you can run other VMs on the same host, such as a VPN or a media server, and use ESXi&#8217;s built-in networking capabilities to easily connect all of the VMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This can also prevent the headache of needing to work out how to backup a dedicated physical machine running Home Assistant as backing up home assistant in ESXI is a piece of cake as we&#8217;ll explain below in our guide on How to Backup Home Assistant in ESXI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_65 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-662a3128d8270\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-662a3128d8270\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Backup_Home_Assistant_in_ESXi\" title=\" Backup Home Assistant in ESXi\"> Backup Home Assistant in ESXi<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Login\" title=\"Login\">Login<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Find_your_Home_Assistant_VM\" title=\"Find your Home Assistant VM\">Find your Home Assistant VM<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Right_click_the_VM_to_access_the_Snapshots_menu\" title=\"Right click the VM to access the Snapshots menu\">Right click the VM to access the Snapshots menu<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Name_your_snapshot\" title=\"Name your snapshot\">Name your snapshot<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Wait_until_the_snapshot_completes\" title=\"Wait until the snapshot completes\">Wait until the snapshot completes<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Backing_up_Home_Assistant_in_ESXi_is_relatively_easy\" title=\"Backing up Home Assistant in ESXi is relatively easy\">Backing up Home Assistant in ESXi is relatively easy<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Scheduling_Backups_of_Home_Assistant_in_ESXi\" title=\"Scheduling Backups of Home Assistant in ESXi\">Scheduling Backups of Home Assistant in ESXi<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Restoring_Backups_of_Home_Assistant_in_ESXi\" title=\"Restoring Backups of Home Assistant in ESXi\">Restoring Backups of Home Assistant in ESXi<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#Summary\" title=\"Summary\">Summary<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Backup_Home_Assistant_in_ESXi\"><\/span> Backup Home Assistant in ESXi<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a look step by step at how to backup Home Assistant in ESXi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For note, the method below demonstrates how to do this directly connected to the ESXi host in which your VM for Home Assistant is installed.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-howto\" class=\"rank-math-block\" >\n<div class=\"rank-math-howto-description\">\n\n<p>How to Backup Home Assistant in ESXi<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"rank-math-howto-duration\"><strong>Total Time:<\/strong> <span>2 minutes<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rank-math-steps \">\n<div id=\"howto-step-1674469037244\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Login\"><\/span>Login<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"804\" height=\"516\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-23.png?fit=804%2C516&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-23.png?w=804&amp;ssl=1 804w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-23.png?resize=300%2C193&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-23.png?resize=768%2C493&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px\" \/><p>Depending on your setup login directly to the ESXI host, or vSphere if managing multiple hosts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"howto-step-1674469233034\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Find_your_Home_Assistant_VM\"><\/span>Find your Home Assistant VM<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"929\" height=\"406\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-31.png?fit=929%2C406&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-31.png?w=929&amp;ssl=1 929w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-31.png?resize=300%2C131&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-31.png?resize=768%2C336&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 929px) 100vw, 929px\" \/><p>From your list of virtual machines find your Home Assistant VM (yours may be called something different)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"howto-step-1674469503386\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Right_click_the_VM_to_access_the_Snapshots_menu\"><\/span>Right click the VM to access the Snapshots menu<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"933\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/esxi-snapshot.jpg?fit=933%2C680&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/esxi-snapshot.jpg?w=933&amp;ssl=1 933w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/esxi-snapshot.jpg?resize=300%2C219&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/esxi-snapshot.jpg?resize=768%2C560&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 933px) 100vw, 933px\" \/><p>Right click on your Home Assistant VM, hover over the &#8216;Snapshots&#8217; menu and click &#8216;Take Snapshot&#8217;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"howto-step-1674469687689\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Name_your_snapshot\"><\/span>Name your snapshot<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"549\" height=\"322\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-38.png?fit=549%2C322&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"esxi snapshot\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-38.png?w=549&amp;ssl=1 549w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-38.png?resize=300%2C176&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px\" \/><p>Name your snapshot and decide if you also want to snapshot the virtual machines memory (which is selected by default)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"howto-step-1674469854122\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Wait_until_the_snapshot_completes\"><\/span>Wait until the snapshot completes<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"83\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-40.png?fit=720%2C83&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-40.png?w=720&amp;ssl=1 720w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-40.png?resize=300%2C35&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><p>Wait until the snapshot completes, it shouldn&#8217;t take more than a few minutes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Backing_up_Home_Assistant_in_ESXi_is_relatively_easy\"><\/span>Backing up Home Assistant in ESXi is relatively easy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Backing up Home Assistant in a virtual machine (VM) on a VMware ESXi host is relatively easy because of the built-in snapshot and backup capabilities of the ESXi hypervisor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the ability to take snapshots of the entire VM, including the operating system and configuration, you can easily roll back to a previous version of the Home Assistant installation if something goes wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Scheduling_Backups_of_Home_Assistant_in_ESXi\"><\/span>Scheduling Backups of Home Assistant in ESXi<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, ESXi allows for easy scheduling of regular backups of the VM, which can be stored on a separate drive or network location. This allows for a simple and efficient way to protect against data loss and quickly recover from any issues that may occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately backups can&#8217;t be scheduled via directly connecting to the ESXI host and instead use the vSphere application or web interface, this is beyond the scope of this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Restoring_Backups_of_Home_Assistant_in_ESXi\"><\/span>Restoring Backups of Home Assistant in ESXi<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Restoring snapshots of Home Assistant in a virtual machine (VM) on a VMware ESXi host is relatively easy because of the built-in snapshot and restore capabilities of the ESXi hypervisor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the basic steps to restore a snapshot of a VM:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Open the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client and connect to the host running the VM that you want to restore.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Right-click on the VM and select &#8220;Snapshot&#8221; from the context menu.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click on the &#8220;Snapshot Manager&#8221; button to open the Snapshot Manager.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the Snapshot Manager, select the snapshot you want to restore, and then click on the &#8220;Revert&#8221; button.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confirm the revert operation, the VM will be powered off and the snapshot will be applied, so the VM will be in the state it was when the snapshot was taken.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once the revert process is complete, power on the VM.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Summary\"><\/span>Summary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Compared to other options, running Home Assistant in a VM on ESXi offers a more streamlined and automated approach to backups and restores which is why it is my current preferred way to run Home Assistant within my home lab environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"How to Backup Home Assistant in ESXi\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/how-to-backup-home-assistant-in-esxi\/#more-3010\" aria-label=\"More on How to Backup Home Assistant in ESXi\">Read Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/How-to-Backup-Home-Assistant-in-ESXi.png?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3010"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3018,"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions\/3018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rapidlydigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}