A step by step guide on how to do VMware ESXi virtual machine (VM) level backup to public cloud storage, such as Dropbox, Windows Azure, Amazon S3, as well as local hard drive.

1. How to backup VMware ESXi
to Amazon S3, Dropbox, Windows Azure, and local hard drive

2. Select a proper
backup software

3. For this tutorial, I’ve chosen CloudBacko
(www.cloudbacko.com) simply because:
• It’s affordable at $138 only per ESXi host, unlimited VMs!
• It’s the ONLY solution that supports ESXi free version!
• It’s the ONLY solution that can do the job, ESXi VM level
backup to common cloud storages, e.g. Amazon S3,
Dropbox, Windows Azure, Google Cloud Storage, FTP,
local/mapped drive

4. It also supports other data type:
Besides VMware ESXi, it also supports: Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft
SQL Server, VMware and Hyper-V, Lotus Domino, Oracle, MySQL, as well as
Windows system image, and Windows System State.

5. It encrypts data and filenames as well
Your backup data on the cloud will 100% secure as data will be encrypted with
256-bit military grade encryption on your local machine before backing up to the
clouds. All the file and folder names will also be encrypted so that no one, not
even the staff from CloudBackup™ and those cloud storages such as Amazon
S3, Windows Azure, Dropbox, or Google Cloud Storage, will be able to know
what you have backed up. .

6. It’s easy to use
CloudBacko comes with the most intuitive user interface that is so easy to use.
No training will be required to get started. Selecting backup sources, managing
destinations, scheduling automatic backups, monitoring the health of your
backups, and restoring data, all can be done effortlessly. Whenever you need
assistance, the Help button on each page provides you with the answer right
away.

7. It can do Continuous Backup
Once configured, CloudBacko will quietly and transparently performing backup in
the background continuously. When your computer is busy with high CPU usage
or network traffic, backup will automatically be paused so as not to affect the
computer's performance.

8. It’s fast
CloudBacko is one of the fastest cloud and local backup software available in the
market because of its built-in speed boosting technologies, e.g. multi-thread,
concurrent backup to multiple destinations, In-File Delta block-level incremental
backup, configurable compression, etc.

9. It keeps unlimited versions, for as long
as you need
You are able to define flexible
versioning rules to keep the historical
versions of your data. If you need to
keep more recent versions and fewer
over time, it can be easily achieved
through the retention policy setup.
Those versions can be kept forever if
needed.

10. Its report is useful
With CloudBacko's reporting tool, you can get clear visibility into the backup
details of all destinations, including usage trend, backup and restore reports,
log for warnings and errors, etc.

11. Let’s see it works

12. First of all, you need to download
their 30-days free trial from their
website: www.cloudbacko.com
Pick CloudBacko Pro, as it is for
backing up servers.

13. Install the software on a Windows Server that is on the same
network as the VMware ESXi host that you need to backup.
Run the software. The front page looks like this:

14. Click the “Backup Sets” button to create a
backup set for VMware backup.

15. Input all the credentials for your
VMware host.

16. Select the VMs you need to backup.

17. Then, setup the schedule for automated backup.
You can setup multiple schedules here.

18. Ok, here you can add all the destinations that
you need to backup to, e.g. Dropbox, local
drive. Just click the [+] button.

19. For example, adding Amazon S3 as a destination is pretty straight
forward. Select Amazon S3, and input the “Access Key ID” and “Secret
Access Key”.
Don’t know where to get those keys? Here’s a tutorial video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4cyVFd04_k

20. Then, press the [Test] button to test if the connection
to Amazon S3 is successful.

21. You can add as many backup destinations you
want. The steps are all similar. Super easy.

22. You can add as many backup destinations you
want. The steps are all similar. Super easy.

23. After destinations setup, you need to configure the
data encryption. I recommend to turn it on if you are
backing up data to the public cloud.

24. The default encryption is good enough, as it will generate a
256-bit truly randomized encrypting key for you.

25. Of course you can setup your own key by select the
[Custom] option.

26. The last thing is to enter your Windows User
Authentication code to the software, so that it
can access your network drive for backup.

27. Okay, backup set created. The backup will be run according
to your defined schedule. You can also fire a manual backup
now, by clicking the [Backup now] button.

28. Choose the options for manual backup, then click
[Backup] to run it.

29. It will then back up to your selected destinations.
Super easy!

30. When backup is done. You can read the backup
report. Click on each row to read the details.

31. You can also see the usage of each backup
destination by clicking the Usage tab.

32. Get detailed product info and
download 30-Days free trial at:
www.cloudbacko.com