vCenter Server Backup and Restore

The vCenter Server database is the single source of truth for the configuration, so it should be backed up regularly. When creating a vCenter Server backup strategy, consider the following:

Full virtual machines backups are, by far, the easiest to perform to create a backup of vCenter Server. In this case, all systems should be suspended or quiesced prior to backup.

The databases should be backed up on a regular basis if external to the configuration.

If a full machine backup is not performed, be sure to back up the certificates and the configuration files for vCenter Server, in addition to the database.