Log into ESXi using the VMware vSphere Client software.
In the left column, expand Host server to view the virtual machines you have created; click on the virtual machine you wish to restore, then click the “Snapshot Manager” icon.
In the pop-up window, click on the name of the snapshot you wish to restore, then click
You will see a pop-up message warning you that the current state of the virtual machine will be lost. Click
You can monitor the status of the restoration by viewing the “Recent Tasks” from the primary window.
After the restoration has completed, the “Recent Tasks” will display “Completed”. Click the
button on the snapshot manager window.Log into ESXi using the VMware vSphere Client software.
In the left column, expand Host server to view the virtual machines you have created; click on the virtual machine you with to create the snapshot for, then click the “take a snapshot” icon.
In the pop-up window, enter the name and a description for the snapshot. Name: The name should be brief and unique. This will be used to identify the snapshot when you need to restore from it.
Description: The description should be accurate enough to describe the current state of the virtual machine.
[X] Snapshot the virutal machine’s memory (This should be checked)
[ ] Quiesce guest file system (Needs VMware Tools installed) (For more information regarding this feature, please see the VMware knowledgebase.)
You will be able to monitor the progress of the snapshot by viewing “Recent Tasks” at the bottom of the VMware client. Once the snapshot has completed, the status will change to “Completed”
A common question, usually just after a person has migrated their website data from one server to another is, “How can I test my sites to see if the migration was successful?” Ah, an excellent question and I’m glad you asked! It is extremely important to test the functionality of your site before changing the DNS to point to the new server.
There are two common methods, use a temporary URL or edit your hosts file. While I will discuss both, I am only recommending the first, that is, change your hosts file.
The one sure way to verify your migration was successful, is to change your hosts file. This can be performed on Windows, Linux and Macs. This method tells your browser to ignore the publicly available DNS and to use a specific IP that you designate. By using this method, your javascript, css and all other aspects of your site are served from the correct server and everything should perform as expected.
When editing your hosts file, you must use fully qualified domain names. i.e. www.domain.com
Wild card characters (‘*’) are NOT allowed!
Inside Windows Explorer, navigate to the following folder:
Computer > Local Disk (C:) > Windows > System32 > drivers > etc
Right click “hosts” and select “Open”
If prompted, select Notepad then click . Notepad should be the default, so do not be alarmed if this step is not required and you can skip to the next step.
Scroll to the bottom of the file and add a line similar to the line displayed.
Save the file and close Notepad. File > Save
Finally, completely close all instances of your browser and reopen it. You should now be able to enter you domain name in the address bar and view the site at its new location.
sudo /etc/hosts
Add a line at the bottom of the file similar to the example below.
IP.ADD.RE.SS mydomain.com www.mydomain.com
Save the file and close it. If you are using Nano, use
nano /private/etc/hosts
Add a line at the bottom of the file similar to the example below.
IP.ADD.RE.SS mydomain.com www.mydomain.com
Save the file and close it. Use
Temporary URLs are often made available when using a control panel such as Plesk or WHM/cPanel, with each using a different method. While temporary URLs allow you to access your files via a browswer, they do nothing to help with any hardcoded links in your site that link back to the website’s domain name. Because of this, you might find that often the javascript or css files do not load and the site does not perform correctly. This method also often fails when using PHP sessions.
https://IP.ADD.RE.SS:8443/sitepreview/http/mydomain.com/
http://IP.ADD.RE.SS/$sitepreview/mydomain.com/
Plesk Temporary URLs do not work with subdomains, such as blog.mydomain.com. To view a subdomain, see the section “Edit Hosts File”
http::IP.ADD.RE.SS/~cpanelUserName/
or
https::IP.ADD.RE.SS/~cpanelUserName/